And it's now me! (See my previous post about the prevalent attitude that "there's no such thing as a part-time engineer".)

I've been away from the SavingAdvice site for awhile, and don't expect to have much time to post in the near future, but wanted to share my good news all the same.

A couple of months after I started contemplating looking for part-time work, one of my former employers (I left the company in 2001) shut down the R&D group and laid off a bunch of people. There were a bunch of emails about getting together for lunch on a regular basis, and in one of these a former coworker with preschool-aged children mentioned that she had found a part-time position with a consulting firm. She'd been working part-time at the old company for about a year, so I asked her if she'd be willing to get together for lunch or a playdate and talk about what working part-time was really like.

It turned out the consulting firm was looking for more people, and she offered to forward my resume. I landed an interview and a job! It's a small firm, with 3 full-time people and 3 part-time. Having the part-time people helps them balance out the workload. No benefits -- I'm technically a subcontractor.

I've been working 10-15 hr/wk, from home on my laptop while my son naps, and go in to the office one evening a week for a group meeting. I've just been given the go-ahead to increase to 20-25 hr/wk, and am interviewing for someone to babysit 2 hr/day while I work upstairs.

In 2 months I've made $5k. I set aside 40% for taxes and FICA, and the rest will give a nice boost to our travel fund. More importantly, I'm keeping my resume and skills fresh, which will help preserve my future earning potential. I can see this job evolving over the years so that I can be home when my son gets home from school in the afternoons.