“There’s no easy job” … but help me find one

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have a fundamental problem that is true of many people who get degrees, especially advanced ones. People who get such degrees are generally not risk takers or ambitious. Instead, they want their degree to get a job for them. And, as you say, they want to be paid professional wages for not doing much. When you really break it down, the argument is, "I'm smart. I have degrees. I should be paid well just because I'm a smart, interesting, and a great resource." The problem is, private business doesn't think this way. Your best best is a non-profit or government job, because they somewhat buy-in to your argument that well-educated people should be paid well. My advice is to get a generic, staff-level federal government job.

I totally admit to being risk averse and unambitious. However, I don’t expect to have a well paying job at all. I’m looking more for a little more job satisfaction and a little more pay. Not a high paying job, just highER paying. 50k sounds great to me. But again, it’s not the money that is the main motivation here. I’m looking for a better fit career wise. I do have a desire to help people, I think, which is why I mentioned the fields I did. I get that they are not without stress and not high paying professions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s tons of easy jobs but most of them don’t pay well. I do literally almost nothing on my shifts but I only make $50k a year.

You make more than I do, unless I work summer camp.

-OP

Why do you make so little as a teacher? Where do you teach? If you got certified you could probably get a better paying teaching job. It wouldn't be an easy job though.

I don’t want to get certified because I don’t think I want to continue teaching. To get certified, I’d have to go back and get a degree. My thinking was why don’t I get a degree in something else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, you have a fundamental problem that is true of many people who get degrees, especially advanced ones. People who get such degrees are generally not risk takers or ambitious. Instead, they want their degree to get a job for them. And, as you say, they want to be paid professional wages for not doing much. When you really break it down, the argument is, "I'm smart. I have degrees. I should be paid well just because I'm a smart, interesting, and a great resource." The problem is, private business doesn't think this way. Your best best is a non-profit or government job, because they somewhat buy-in to your argument that well-educated people should be paid well. My advice is to get a generic, staff-level federal government job.

I totally admit to being risk averse and unambitious. However, I don’t expect to have a well paying job at all. I’m looking more for a little more job satisfaction and a little more pay. Not a high paying job, just highER paying. 50k sounds great to me. But again, it’s not the money that is the main motivation here. I’m looking for a better fit career wise. I do have a desire to help people, I think, which is why I mentioned the fields I did. I get that they are not without stress and not high paying professions.

If the goal is to make $50K and help people, you might consider taking some sort of customer service job. Others have mentioned admin jobs, which don't seem your thing, but they make that kind of money without a lot of stress. Of course, you can find such jobs that are more stressful and pay more money.

Maybe your best option is to get a master's degree in counseling and get licensed. That will take some time to get the degree, complete clinical hours, and build-up your client base, but you can definitely make $50K and help people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you like to be around people? Working on teams? Do you need your work to be interesting?

If not, I recommend “back office” work for a federal contractor. It’s in house and mostly remote. Subcontracts, compliance, purchasing, contract closeout, accounts payable, records retention. There are a ton of jobs, I supervise several, that are fully remote, 40hrs a week if you work slow, that pay $65-90k. The catch is you work from home and talk to people 1-3x a week. It’s self paced, but detail oriented work. For some people, they would lose their minds with boredom and loneliness. For the right person, it’s a perfect job with minimal stress.

Sounds ideal for me (NP). How does someone break into these jobs? Do you need a particular degree?

Some people we hire have actual 4 yr degrees in business, federal contracting, or accounting. Some of them have degrees in exercise science, history, or any number of random topics. There is a requirement for a 4yr degree - but it’s a niche field based on learning a lot of regulations - so a lot of learning is done on the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain what you don’t like about your current job? Not sure what you are hoping to change.

I guess the things I don't like add up to feeling almost inhuman:

-not being able to go to the bathroom for hours (because you can't leave kids alone and there isn't a second adult)

-being massively underpaid-- I calculated by hours worked and if I break it down by hour, Starbucks and other wage workers make more than I do.

-being disrespected by students, parents, admin. Of course some are lovely, but the bad apples are... bad.

-having to skip meals or choke down a granola bar in the bathroom because of being pulled into subbing and having no lunch time. The reason for eating in the bathroom is because I don't think we are supposed to eat in front of students / in the classroom.

I guess I'd like to be able to drink water and go to the bathroom. And maybe make a little more than what amounts to about $17/hour. Summers off are nice, but I often end up working or doing classes so I don't actually take summer break.

Are you making less than $40k? If you work 55 hours a week (I’m usually in the 50-55 hour range) for the entire school year and average it out to $17/hour, it would be about $36,500 a year.

ES Teacher

Kids are in school 6.5 hours a day, 32.5 hrs/ week. Elementary students don’t have much (or any in most DMV districts) homework.

What in the world are you doing the other 20 hrs of the week? Sure, your first year teaching planning maybe daunting, but once you have a curriculum you just tweak from year to year (parents were teachers)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain what you don’t like about your current job? Not sure what you are hoping to change.

I guess the things I don't like add up to feeling almost inhuman:

-not being able to go to the bathroom for hours (because you can't leave kids alone and there isn't a second adult)

-being massively underpaid-- I calculated by hours worked and if I break it down by hour, Starbucks and other wage workers make more than I do.

-being disrespected by students, parents, admin. Of course some are lovely, but the bad apples are... bad.

-having to skip meals or choke down a granola bar in the bathroom because of being pulled into subbing and having no lunch time. The reason for eating in the bathroom is because I don't think we are supposed to eat in front of students / in the classroom.

I guess I'd like to be able to drink water and go to the bathroom. And maybe make a little more than what amounts to about $17/hour. Summers off are nice, but I often end up working or doing classes so I don't actually take summer break.

Are you making less than $40k? If you work 55 hours a week (I’m usually in the 50-55 hour range) for the entire school year and average it out to $17/hour, it would be about $36,500 a year.

ES Teacher

Kids are in school 6.5 hours a day, 32.5 hrs/ week. Elementary students don’t have much (or any in most DMV districts) homework.

What in the world are you doing the other 20 hrs of the week? Sure, your first year teaching planning maybe daunting, but once you have a curriculum you just tweak from year to year (parents were teachers)

I'm not that poster, but we have faculty meetings, small group meetings, IEP meetings, and of course teachers are there before the school day starts and stay after the day ends. There's also professional development, preparing curriculum, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain what you don’t like about your current job? Not sure what you are hoping to change.

I guess the things I don't like add up to feeling almost inhuman:

-not being able to go to the bathroom for hours (because you can't leave kids alone and there isn't a second adult)

-being massively underpaid-- I calculated by hours worked and if I break it down by hour, Starbucks and other wage workers make more than I do.

-being disrespected by students, parents, admin. Of course some are lovely, but the bad apples are... bad.

-having to skip meals or choke down a granola bar in the bathroom because of being pulled into subbing and having no lunch time. The reason for eating in the bathroom is because I don't think we are supposed to eat in front of students / in the classroom.

I guess I'd like to be able to drink water and go to the bathroom. And maybe make a little more than what amounts to about $17/hour. Summers off are nice, but I often end up working or doing classes so I don't actually take summer break.

Are you making less than $40k? If you work 55 hours a week (I’m usually in the 50-55 hour range) for the entire school year and average it out to $17/hour, it would be about $36,500 a year.

ES Teacher

Kids are in school 6.5 hours a day, 32.5 hrs/ week. Elementary students don’t have much (or any in most DMV districts) homework.

What in the world are you doing the other 20 hrs of the week? Sure, your first year teaching planning maybe daunting, but once you have a curriculum you just tweak from year to year (parents were teachers)

I'm not that poster, but we have faculty meetings, small group meetings, IEP meetings, and of course teachers are there before the school day starts and stay after the day ends. There's also professional development, preparing curriculum, etc.

Still doesn’t add up. If you are having 10 hrs of meetings that 2 hrs EVERY DAY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain what you don’t like about your current job? Not sure what you are hoping to change.

I guess the things I don't like add up to feeling almost inhuman:

-not being able to go to the bathroom for hours (because you can't leave kids alone and there isn't a second adult)

-being massively underpaid-- I calculated by hours worked and if I break it down by hour, Starbucks and other wage workers make more than I do.

-being disrespected by students, parents, admin. Of course some are lovely, but the bad apples are... bad.

-having to skip meals or choke down a granola bar in the bathroom because of being pulled into subbing and having no lunch time. The reason for eating in the bathroom is because I don't think we are supposed to eat in front of students / in the classroom.

I guess I'd like to be able to drink water and go to the bathroom. And maybe make a little more than what amounts to about $17/hour. Summers off are nice, but I often end up working or doing classes so I don't actually take summer break.

Are you making less than $40k? If you work 55 hours a week (I’m usually in the 50-55 hour range) for the entire school year and average it out to $17/hour, it would be about $36,500 a year.

ES Teacher

Kids are in school 6.5 hours a day, 32.5 hrs/ week. Elementary students don’t have much (or any in most DMV districts) homework.

What in the world are you doing the other 20 hrs of the week? Sure, your first year teaching planning maybe daunting, but once you have a curriculum you just tweak from year to year (parents were teachers)

I'm not that poster, but we have faculty meetings, small group meetings, IEP meetings, and of course teachers are there before the school day starts and stay after the day ends. There's also professional development, preparing curriculum, etc.

Still doesn’t add up. If you are having 10 hrs of meetings that 2 hrs EVERY DAY

I'm not a teacher but this is the exact thing I hear every teacher say. I think things are very different now from when your parents were teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain what you don’t like about your current job? Not sure what you are hoping to change.

I guess the things I don't like add up to feeling almost inhuman:

-not being able to go to the bathroom for hours (because you can't leave kids alone and there isn't a second adult)

-being massively underpaid-- I calculated by hours worked and if I break it down by hour, Starbucks and other wage workers make more than I do.

-being disrespected by students, parents, admin. Of course some are lovely, but the bad apples are... bad.

-having to skip meals or choke down a granola bar in the bathroom because of being pulled into subbing and having no lunch time. The reason for eating in the bathroom is because I don't think we are supposed to eat in front of students / in the classroom.

I guess I'd like to be able to drink water and go to the bathroom. And maybe make a little more than what amounts to about $17/hour. Summers off are nice, but I often end up working or doing classes so I don't actually take summer break.

Are you making less than $40k? If you work 55 hours a week (I’m usually in the 50-55 hour range) for the entire school year and average it out to $17/hour, it would be about $36,500 a year.

ES Teacher

Kids are in school 6.5 hours a day, 32.5 hrs/ week. Elementary students don’t have much (or any in most DMV districts) homework.

What in the world are you doing the other 20 hrs of the week? Sure, your first year teaching planning maybe daunting, but once you have a curriculum you just tweak from year to year (parents were teachers)

I'm not that poster, but we have faculty meetings, small group meetings, IEP meetings, and of course teachers are there before the school day starts and stay after the day ends. There's also professional development, preparing curriculum, etc.

Still doesn’t add up. If you are having 10 hrs of meetings that 2 hrs EVERY DAY

I'm not a teacher but this is the exact thing I hear every teacher say. I think things are very different now from when your parents were teachers.

So you have 2 hrs of meetings EVERY DAY? I swear I see many teachers leaving campus after school when i am there for extended day at 430pm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some ideas I had:

MSW to go into counseling or other social work

MLIS for library work or doing information systems work for organizations

Associates degree or Masters to go into nursing

But… apart from maybe library work (which seems to be a dying field) these options seem like they may be even harder than teaching.

Lol. If easy is doing technically sophisticated work while being underpaid and treated like 2nd class colleagues is easy, go for it.

MSW and nursing work is also challenging and draining.

These are all disrespected pink collar jobs, not easy jobs.

I am ok with low pay and with being disrespected. But it would be great to feel more human. I don’t think people realize what I mean when I say I make less than Starbucks workers. I make way less than 50k. I’m happy to get a degree and be “underpaid” in a difficult job at 50k. I would like to be able to pee when I want to though. And I’d like to feel my work is somewhat meaningful. I don’t need it to give my life meaning, but I’d like to feel like more than a body.

Do you think LPNs can pee whenever they want to? And find meaning in all that they do?!

For that matter, do you think Starbucks workers can pee whenever they want to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain what you don’t like about your current job? Not sure what you are hoping to change.

I guess the things I don't like add up to feeling almost inhuman:

-not being able to go to the bathroom for hours (because you can't leave kids alone and there isn't a second adult)

-being massively underpaid-- I calculated by hours worked and if I break it down by hour, Starbucks and other wage workers make more than I do.

-being disrespected by students, parents, admin. Of course some are lovely, but the bad apples are... bad.

-having to skip meals or choke down a granola bar in the bathroom because of being pulled into subbing and having no lunch time. The reason for eating in the bathroom is because I don't think we are supposed to eat in front of students / in the classroom.

I guess I'd like to be able to drink water and go to the bathroom. And maybe make a little more than what amounts to about $17/hour. Summers off are nice, but I often end up working or doing classes so I don't actually take summer break.

Are you making less than $40k? If you work 55 hours a week (I’m usually in the 50-55 hour range) for the entire school year and average it out to $17/hour, it would be about $36,500 a year.

ES Teacher

Kids are in school 6.5 hours a day, 32.5 hrs/ week. Elementary students don’t have much (or any in most DMV districts) homework.

What in the world are you doing the other 20 hrs of the week? Sure, your first year teaching planning maybe daunting, but once you have a curriculum you just tweak from year to year (parents were teachers)

I'm not that poster, but we have faculty meetings, small group meetings, IEP meetings, and of course teachers are there before the school day starts and stay after the day ends. There's also professional development, preparing curriculum, etc.

Still doesn’t add up. If you are having 10 hrs of meetings that 2 hrs EVERY DAY

I'm not a teacher but this is the exact thing I hear every teacher say. I think things are very different now from when your parents were teachers.

So you have 2 hrs of meetings EVERY DAY? I swear I see many teachers leaving campus after school when i am there for extended day at 430pm

I said I'm not a teacher! But I suppose I have done substitute teaching and I've seen a lot of meetings going on. Also it isn't 6.5 hours, school where I am lasts 7 hours and teachers have to be there early and stay late. Plus they are changing the curricula and so they constantly need to do new lesson plans and have trainings on the new curricula. Oh and then teachers get shuffled around a lot, teaching fourth one year then second the next then fifth the year after, so they can't just re-use their lesson plans.

anyways, I would just believe the teachers instead of saying they are wrong based on what you saw your parents do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe something like working for a research company. I make around mid-60s and have good benefits. The company I work for, as well as many others, do research into different education topics. With your background, this would be a good fit. I work 40 hours a week and the work isn’t very difficult but it’s interesting.

What kind of research is it? Market research?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain what you don’t like about your current job? Not sure what you are hoping to change.

I guess the things I don't like add up to feeling almost inhuman:

-not being able to go to the bathroom for hours (because you can't leave kids alone and there isn't a second adult)

-being massively underpaid-- I calculated by hours worked and if I break it down by hour, Starbucks and other wage workers make more than I do.

-being disrespected by students, parents, admin. Of course some are lovely, but the bad apples are... bad.

-having to skip meals or choke down a granola bar in the bathroom because of being pulled into subbing and having no lunch time. The reason for eating in the bathroom is because I don't think we are supposed to eat in front of students / in the classroom.

I guess I'd like to be able to drink water and go to the bathroom. And maybe make a little more than what amounts to about $17/hour. Summers off are nice, but I often end up working or doing classes so I don't actually take summer break.

Are you making less than $40k? If you work 55 hours a week (I’m usually in the 50-55 hour range) for the entire school year and average it out to $17/hour, it would be about $36,500 a year.

ES Teacher

Kids are in school 6.5 hours a day, 32.5 hrs/ week. Elementary students don’t have much (or any in most DMV districts) homework.

What in the world are you doing the other 20 hrs of the week? Sure, your first year teaching planning maybe daunting, but once you have a curriculum you just tweak from year to year (parents were teachers)

I figure 8-4:00 in the building (half hour before and after students) so that’s 40 hours. I then figure ~2 hours each night Sunday through Thursday making sure I have my ducks in a row for the next day. (What are we doing for our Morning Meeting greeting, share, activity and message, what sense making activity for math, which lesson with the phonics group, which lesson with the phonological awareness group, which math stations, who to meet with during the intervention block, etc?). That’s another 10 right there. Combine or add some more time for checking student work, putting together weekly email updates, etc.

This is my 30th year. I didn’t used to put in as many hours, but I didn’t have as much to plan for and I had fewer meetings during the school day. I used to be able to leave school planned and ready for the next day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you explain what you don’t like about your current job? Not sure what you are hoping to change.

I guess the things I don't like add up to feeling almost inhuman:

-not being able to go to the bathroom for hours (because you can't leave kids alone and there isn't a second adult)

-being massively underpaid-- I calculated by hours worked and if I break it down by hour, Starbucks and other wage workers make more than I do.

-being disrespected by students, parents, admin. Of course some are lovely, but the bad apples are... bad.

-having to skip meals or choke down a granola bar in the bathroom because of being pulled into subbing and having no lunch time. The reason for eating in the bathroom is because I don't think we are supposed to eat in front of students / in the classroom.

I guess I'd like to be able to drink water and go to the bathroom. And maybe make a little more than what amounts to about $17/hour. Summers off are nice, but I often end up working or doing classes so I don't actually take summer break.

Are you making less than $40k? If you work 55 hours a week (I’m usually in the 50-55 hour range) for the entire school year and average it out to $17/hour, it would be about $36,500 a year.

ES Teacher

Kids are in school 6.5 hours a day, 32.5 hrs/ week. Elementary students don’t have much (or any in most DMV districts) homework.

What in the world are you doing the other 20 hrs of the week? Sure, your first year teaching planning maybe daunting, but once you have a curriculum you just tweak from year to year (parents were teachers)

I figure 8-4:00 in the building (half hour before and after students) so that’s 40 hours. I then figure ~2 hours each night Sunday through Thursday making sure I have my ducks in a row for the next day. (What are we doing for our Morning Meeting greeting, share, activity and message, what sense making activity for math, which lesson with the phonics group, which lesson with the phonological awareness group, which math stations, who to meet with during the intervention block, etc?). That’s another 10 right there. Combine or add some more time for checking student work, putting together weekly email updates, etc.

This is my 30th year. I didn’t used to put in as many hours, but I didn’t have as much to plan for and I had fewer meetings during the school day. I used to be able to leave school planned and ready for the next day

I will also say - in public school, there is often so much paperwork and administrative stuff, even for teachers who aren't in administration.

[Anonymous]

Communications. A ton of people in it cant write, but it can be easy if it comes naturally to you.