For Joyce C., a product quality engineer, being the main character of her career story meant doing something she hadn’t dared to dream was possible.

Joyce describes her story as having many “ups and downs.” After studying engineering in college, she fell in love with another role: being a stay-at-home mom. Years later, when her marriage ended, she knew it was time for a new chapter. “I wanted to start rebuilding my career,” she shares. “But I hadn’t had a full-time technical job for several years and began to doubt myself.”

After working for a couple hardware start-ups, a call from a recruiter at Meta in 2018 put those uncertainties to rest. “I was so excited about the opportunity with Meta,” she says. “Joining this team was part of rediscovering my strength. Delivering value gives me confidence and reminds me what I’m capable of.”

As Joyce transitioned from contractor to full-time team member in her first year, she re-learned how to be a single working parent while raising her daughter and son, who has autism. Striking the balance was difficult at first, but Joyce knew she wasn’t alone.

“People at Meta are so willing to connect,” she says. “I’ve met other parents who have kids with autism, and we get to talk about our experiences and the resources that can help our kids over lunch or coffee.”

Finding that community at work helped Joyce realize something: she has a story to share. “I have a lot of life experiences — I’ve been married, divorced, and now that my son is 15, I can tell newer parents, ‘this is what worked for me,’” she explains. “I feel like I’ve found my voice. And if I don’t speak up, people won’t know I can and want to help.”

The more Joyce embraced her journey, the more she saw how far she had come. “I realized I was ready to let a lot of things go,” she smiles. “I don’t need to be a certain type of mom or person at work. People need to prioritize self-care and remember that everybody has a learning curve. You’re at a place where people believe in you, so you should believe in yourself. We all have our unique values - let’s be unapologetically authentic.”

For her first three years at Meta, Joyce focused on post-sales support for Portal and Ray-Ban Stories, where she helped equip customer support agents to troubleshoot issues. From helping launch the first-generation Portal to crafting online FAQs for Ray-Ban Stories, Joyce loved the feeling of rebuilding her technical muscle and bringing customer support and engineering together.

Last year, Joyce experienced her full-circle moment by joining the product quality engineering team. “I was so excited to have an engineer title again — I used to wonder if it would be possible after taking time off,” she says. “But I want to be a role model for my kids. You can always do things that interest you and learn something new. It’s okay to switch careers. It’s never too late.”