The Returnship Journey: Part 2

Sharon Munoz’s Journey

Stepping away from an engineering career to focus on caring for family can be a tough decision, but it doesn’t have to be the end of a career. New returnship programs, like the one offered by Cadence, provide a great option for those looking to return to the workplace.

Sharon Munoz has lived through this transition. She originally began working at Cadence in 1997 as an Application Engineer (AE) on the customer support team using her technical skills to help customers leverage Cadence’s tools. “Cadence offered training, invested in me, and I appreciated the value it added to my career,” she said.

In 2002, Sharon took a break from the workforce to provide care for family members. She didn’t expect the break to be so lengthy and after many years out of high tech, she was doubtful that she would be able to find an engineering role. But, that all changed when she was contacted by a Cadence recruiter about the newly launched “Application Engineering Returnship Program” for electrical engineers. This 16-week program provides her with technical training and the opportunity to interact with customers and take on new projects where she can apply her new skills. “I knew this was a miracle just for me,” she said. “This program was designed so that I could get back into the workforce, make a contribution, and feel valuable again.”

Since joining the program in May, Sharon has been ramping up her technical skills, using the assigned training courses to get familiar with the Cadence product lines. While shadowing AEs, she has been practicing her presentation and demo skills to help deliver technical presentations. She stated that her goals for the program are to “work with my manager to identify the areas I need to improve, become proficient with software such as Allegro, help the Field AEs with the customers, and identify what the customer needs.”

“Cadence is still a great place to work and has integrity stamped all over it. I love the people and learning how design methodologies changed. I hope to learn more about the people I work with,” Sharon said.

She continued, “I’m very grateful to be in this program to learn, participate, enjoy, give myself permission to imagine, to dream, meet new friends, gain more wisdom, gain more learning opportunities, be more creative and participate in all the good and wonderful things in life we have to dream about.”

We’re thrilled Sharon joined our Returnship Program where she can utilize her technical background and learn new skills.

To learn more about our Returnship Program, read our previous blog, The Returnship Journey – Part I and refer to our current open returnship positions.