She Told Her Kids 'Mommy Goes to the Moon' — Then Started Over in Tech

Lilia was getting home at eleven at night. Sometimes later. Her two boys were already asleep. She had spent the day at community college, then gone straight to her retail job -- evenings and weekends, the only shifts they gave her. Part-time. Zero benefits. A paycheck that was, in her words, enough "to buy a donut and one coffee."

She was building a life in a new country. But this did not feel like a life.

Closing the Old Book

Lilia is originally from Kazan, Tatarstan -- a republic inside Russia. She moved to the United States in 2014 with her husband and her oldest son. Her degree back home was in Tatar language and literature. About as far from IT as you can get.

She knew what it meant to start from zero. New country. New language. Everything different. But she made a decision early on that changed how she saw every hard thing that came next.

"When you move in some new place in some particular age, not when you're a teenager or a toddler, you have to start your life from zero, from the beginning. And it's very important how you look at that moment. Is it like new opportunity, or you are going always sit and be like, oh I had so much great life in the past."

She chose to see it as a new opportunity. She closed the book on her previous life and opened a new one.

"No Way I'm Going to Hospital"

While she was grinding through community college and retail shifts, her husband suggested nursing. Good pay. Stable career. Logical choice for someone starting over.

Lilia's response was immediate.

"No way. No way I'm going to hospital. I cannot work over there."

Her husband meant well. But Lilia knew herself. She did not want to work in a hospital. She just did not know what she wanted instead. Not yet.

Then her friends -- women from her home country, living in different states -- started telling her about an IT training program. They had enrolled and were already coding. They called her, excited, bragging about what they were learning.

Lilia told them to go ahead without her. She had to finish community college first. But she was watching them. And a thought kept growing in her head.

If they can do it, why can't I?

When COVID Took Her Out

Lilia enrolled in the CYDEO program before COVID hit. The first weeks were manageable. She was still working retail, still going to class, still figuring things out. It was not easy, but it was not crushing.

Then she caught COVID. Bad.

She was sick for a long time. She could not sit at a computer. She could not keep up with the classes. She wrote to the school and said she was done. She could not continue.

What happened next is the part she still gets emotional about.

They told her she did not have to quit. She could restart with the next group when she was healthy.

"They was like, okay, but we have some opportunities for you. If you can't finish now, you can start over with the next batch. It was like miracle for me."

So she recovered. And she started the whole program again from the beginning.

"Mommy Goes to the Moon"

The second time through, Lilia did not hold back. She quit her retail job. She told her family that she was going to disappear for six months. Her boys were young -- her older one a teenager, her younger one still small. She sat them down and said something that still captures everything about what it takes to change your life.

"Sorry guys, mommy should do this thing and then I'll be back to my family and we will have another life. So just believe me. It's like Mommy goes to the moon and then we'll come back."

Six months. That was the deal. Mommy goes to the moon, and when she comes back, everything will be different.

She dedicated every hour to studying. The first few weeks were not so bad. But the middle and the end -- that was where it got brutal. The amount of information piled up. The pressure was constant. She was tired all the time.

But she had teachers who made her want to show up.

The Teacher You Did Not Want to Miss

Lilia's favorite instructor was Mukhtar. She lights up talking about him. He was not just good at explaining technical concepts. He understood that his students were exhausted, stressed, and scared. So he used humor.

"His sense of humor always helps because he understood that students struggling, students is tired. And with some jokes he was always making classes not only knowledge transfer, it was like fun classes. We love to go there and you didn't want to miss any class."

The school also had office hours -- extra sessions before class for anyone who was struggling with specific topics. Teachers repeated things as many times as you needed. Not once. Not twice. As many times as it took.

For someone learning a completely new skill in a second language, that patience mattered more than any curriculum.

The First Interview She Bombed

When Lilia finished the program, she was chosen for the early bird group -- the students who start their job search first. She panicked. She told them she was not ready. She needed more time. More studying. More preparation.

Her mentor told her something she did not want to hear: "You never will be ready. You just have to do it."

She went with the second group instead, and started sending resumes everywhere. The first interview calls came in. That was exciting. But then she sat down for her very first real interview, and she fell apart.

She could not get through it. She bombed it. And in that moment, she decided it was over.

"I gave up. I was like, no, I can't do it. I'm not sending resume. It's not for me. I'm back to college. I'm back to some retail or whatever."

She was done. Going back to the old life. She had tried, and it did not work.

"It's Just Around the Corner"

Her husband saw her giving up. He had watched her restart the program after COVID. He had watched her disappear into studying for six months. He had held the family together while she went to the moon. And he was not about to let her quit now.

"Lily, your work hard, you work a lot. Why you don't try a little bit more? It's just around the corner."

That sentence -- "It's just around the corner" -- was what she needed. She thought about her friends who had already found jobs. The same competitive spark that made her enroll in the first place kicked back in. If they can find a job, why can't I?

She updated her resume. She started sending it out again. She kept going.

The Scream the Neighbors Heard

Some time passed. She had almost forgotten about one particular company she had applied to. Then they called. She went through one phone screen. Then two rounds of interviews. The final round was not one-on-one. It was a panel -- multiple people firing questions at her, one after another. She felt like a soccer ball being kicked between them.

When the call ended, she was drenched in sweat and nerves.

Then the phone rang again.

They were offering her the job. Did she want to come work with them?

Lilia tried to stay calm on the phone. She said yes, very politely, very professionally, thanked them, and hung up.

Then she screamed.

"I hang my phone and I just screamed. I screamed so loud. My poor neighbors. I was very excited. I don't need a million offers. I need one, and I got it."

One offer. That was all she needed. She was the happiest person on earth at that particular moment.

Two Different Universes

Lilia works fully remote now. W2 with full benefits -- medical, dental, life insurance. She works from home. She sees her boys every day. Her manager tells her that the team loves working with her. She is growing. She is earning good money.

She tried to compare her old life to her new one and stopped herself.

"It's not possible to compare. My retail job and the work that I'm doing now, they are from two different universes."

The part-time retail shifts with zero benefits and an eleven p.m. return home? That was one universe. The remote position where she can be a mom and a professional at the same time? That is another one entirely.

When she sums it all up -- the move from Russia, the retail years, the COVID setback, the restart, the failed first interview, the months of doubt -- she uses two words.

"In one word: life changer."

Her degree was in Tatar language and literature. She worked retail for barely enough to buy a donut. She caught COVID and had to start a six-month program over from scratch. She bombed her first interview and almost went back to minimum wage.

And now she works from home, sees her family every day, and has a career she built from nothing.

What You Can Take From Lilia's Story

• Starting over is not failing. It is choosing a new direction. Lilia restarted her life when she moved countries, and she restarted the program after getting sick. Both times, starting over was the best decision she made. If something knocks you down, getting back up is not weakness. It is the whole point.

• One bad interview does not mean you are not good enough. Lilia bombed her first interview and almost quit forever. She kept going and got hired. Your first attempt at anything will probably be rough. That is normal. It does not define your ability.

• Tell your family the truth about what you need. Lilia did not pretend it would be easy. She told her boys: Mommy is going to be gone for six months. That honesty let everyone prepare and support each other instead of resenting the sacrifice.

• Surround yourself with people who push you forward. Her friends inspired her to start. Her husband stopped her from quitting. Her teacher made her want to show up. You cannot do hard things alone. Find people who believe in you when you stop believing in yourself.

• You only need one offer. Not ten. Not fifty. One. Lilia applied to many places and heard back from one company that mattered. Stop counting rejections. You are looking for one yes.