<prompt> Human: Hi,My wife and I need advice on the best way to time her job search and having a baby. We are both in our early 30s and both work pretty demanding engineeringtech jobs. My wifes been at her job for the past 5 years, her income is good and she has decent job security at least for the immediate future However, she is becoming increasingly unhappy at her position. She is constantly stressed and thinks that her career is stagnating so she really wants a change. Our field is competitive and we know many talented people who have spent over a year trying to find a good job, so we expect it will take time and lots of effort for her to find something new. The added complication is that we are also planning to try for our first kid in the next 6 months. So the question is: is it better to wait until after the birth of a child and parental leave to quit her stable job and look for a new one? I think that if she gets a new job and immediately gets pregnant, itll be bad for her career. The truth is that fast-paced engineering jobs like hers dont mesh well with maternity leave. Its technically illegal to discriminate, but it happens. So, my thought is that she should wait - stick it out at her current job, take advantage of their maternity leave and then look for a new one after that. She thinks the opposite - that people will be unwilling to hire a new mother and that job hunting with a newborn will be too tough. She wants to find a new job now, and then hope it doesnt look bad when she gets pregnant within the first 6 months there...Any advice would be appreciated.For additional info: we live in California, and I make enough to support us on just my salary. However, she really doesnt want to take a break from her career.  <response>: Since she isnt even pregnant yet, I dont see an issue with her looking for new employment now. I agree with her that it will be more difficult searching for a new job while also dealing with all of the changes that accompany new parenthood. Might as well get a head start while things are still relatively calm and normal. 