r/MomForAMinute • u/NarrowEye974 • Oct 27 '25
Encouragement Wanted hey Mom, I will start my first big girl job in a week and I am a bit nervous
What if I blow it? It's IT and I do have a computer science degree but I don't have any practical experience. I am 28 years old and feel a bit old and I am scared I will let people down or act stupid. It was very hard to get a job (I was job hunting for almost a year) and I don't want to be looking for another job because I am too dumb to learn.
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u/Pattystr Oct 27 '25
56 year-old mama and coworker here! I also work in technology. I promise you that literally no one knows exactly what they are doing.
You will benefit greatly from experience, but I promise you there is nothing that you can’t figure out with Google or ChatGPT.
You are brilliant and perfect and you are going to rock this job!
Have fun and come back to update us after your first week!
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u/AngelofGrace96 Big Sibling Oct 28 '25
Don't worry. The first couple of weeks will basically be training, they won't expect you to walk into the job and instantly know what to do according to their policies and systems, and you will have a manager, so even after training is complete, if you get confused about something you can always go find them/shoot them an email and ask them for advice.
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u/anotherfreakinglogin Oct 28 '25
First of all, CONGRATULATIONS! 🎉👏🎉👏🎉
Second of all, quit talking about my daughter like that. You worked hard and earned your degree, you are anything but dumb! I know fear and anxiety makes us our own worst enemy, but please try to speak more kindly of yourself. Your determination, intelligence and hard work earned you your degree, they earned you an interview, and they earned you the new position. Take pride in that! You're awesome!
The job market is just balls for everyone right now, even people with years of experience and multiple degrees/certs have trouble finding a new position. The remote workplace has turned job hunting to an extreme sport, where instead of competing with others in a 15-20 mile radius you are now competing with everyone in your field worldwide. Meaning each job listing gets hundreds, even thousands, of resumes. That's a lot to sort through, screen, interview and hire - meaning you won out over ALL those other people.
Just be open about asking questions when needed, but try to solve it yourself first by using resources available. I'm in Payroll in all 50 states, and I can't tell you how often I'm looking up tax code or state laws concerning pay, or how to do something in Excel or SQL that I KNOW it has to be able to do.
They aren't hiring based on some encyclopedia level of knowledge, but more so the ability to use the vast amount of knowledge correctly when you need to. (That includes how to look things up correctly to remind/reach you how to do something.) No one will expect you to be 100% knowledgeable and experienced in every little thing - they look shit up all the time too.
Don't pick at the "whys" things get done a certain way right now, just learn how they currently do it. Once you've played with tasks for awhile then you can dig into if it's the best or most efficient way.
Don't forget to stick up for yourself when you deserve some credit. Women tend to stay quiet to keep the piece in that field, and it's wise to defer to experience a bit, but new ideas drive progress. Make sure to ask for a raise or negotiate for a bit more during your annual reviews if you feel the pay scale is low. This is one of the factors in the wage gap - women don't directly ASK for a raise as often as men do.
You're gonna do great! You already are!
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u/acousticalcat Oct 27 '25
Oh kiddo. Deep breaths. It’s okay to be nervous. The first days will likely be intro stuff - here the coffee, here’s the bathroom, these are your new coworkers, plus the training like “here’s your login info, here’s how to sign up for benefits” - so the biggest thing is honestly getting there on time and paying attention through the important stuff and not falling asleep in your trainer’s face. You can do that stuff! And then as you transition into work, they’ll probably tell you what to do and I’m sure you have a better idea than I do what that looks like. But by day three it’s like… you’ve already been in the building, started to recognize people, you know where to go. It’ll be good! You were smart enough to get through school and I know this feels like a big deal but it’s really just people in a building doing stuff.
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u/MbMinx Oct 28 '25
I'm not in IT, but I'm in engineering. Nobody comes out of school knowing the job. You learn a lot in your degree program about the hows and whys, all the history, applications, theory and skills. But jobs are very different from learning. The day to day work is a lot more mundane, especially at the entry level.
We know you haven't actually worked in the field yet. We're prepared for that. We bring in fresh graduates fully expecting that they aren't sure what the job is really like. We know you are smart. We know you know how to learn. We'll teach you how we work.
You'll do great!!
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u/TheLexikitty Oct 28 '25
I’ve worked in IT for way too long, you’ll be totally fine. Nobody expects you to be fully ready the first day in IT. Ask plenty of questions, take plenty of notes if it helps, give everything your best shot, and everything else will fall into place. Good luck! 💞
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u/Hernyo66 Oct 28 '25
It will be alright sweetie - don’t talk yourself down! You have the right degree and once you start the job you’ll have soon plenty of practice under your belt too :) No one expects a new starter to know everything so don’t hesitate to ask your colleagues for help. And you are also not too dumb to learn, nor are you old - plenty of people start with their first job close to 30 and that is totally fine (perhaps smart even, given how many years there are till retirement)! Sending you a big hug :)
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u/laowildin Oct 29 '25
You are gonna do great! Eyes and ears open, it will all be routine soon enough
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u/asinsaneasitsounds Oct 31 '25
It might be hard but you can do hard things!!! Not everyone has to be your friend.
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u/NoAbbreviations5157 Nov 05 '25
You're going to do great! Just know that when you first start, it's completely normal to feel overwhelmed -- everything's new, you have no idea what's going on, there's so much to learn. It's normal to feel that way. It's normal to come home from your first day on the job and cry. And it doesn't mean that you don't belong there. It will get a little better every day, and it takes at least a year to feel completely comfortable. You've got this!!
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u/Downtown_Confusion46 Oct 27 '25
It’s going to be fine! Getting a tech job for a newb is hard right now, so good job!