Award Winning Teacher Looking for Transition Advice

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised nobody's addressed IT. People on DCUM are mocking anyone who makes less than 90k because "a brand new college grad does better," and telling mid-career people to apply for GS-14 positions to make more, what fields are THEY in where it's so easy to make OP's equivalent salary? Maybe not immediately but within a few years?

That said, I wouldn't leave with OP's deal either. The pension is too good. OP, could you take a year off partway through if it helped you reduce burnout?

[Anonymous]

Some former teachers I know have gone into creating curriculum or working for educational software companies. If you are good at sales, sales for a software, textbook, or other education-related company could be a good transition. Another area could be training in an industry role. If you helped with job searches maybe you could do recruiting/head-hunting for heads of school and other high level positions.

The best thing to do is reach to people whose jobs sound interesting and do informational interviews with them. Let them know you're looking and they can keep an eye out for you.

[Anonymous]

The job market for career changing teachers is ROUGH. Even though it seems obvious that skills would translate, it is hard to get someone to take a chance on you. Being a great teacher is basically being a PM, but without project management experience in a corporate environment, it is very hard to get hired as a PM (especially a senior PM making 175,000).

Educators are leaving the field in record numbers - which means ed consulting, ed tech, training, leadership and development and all the other jobs that would be a good fit for teachers - are saturated with applications. And FAANG have all done massive reductions in force, so places that might have been looking for great facilitators and have capacity to hire are frozen.

There is no new industry that you are going to jump into and not have a learning curve and need to put in the time. You are in a place now where you have banks of lesson plans and know the standards so well that you can just look at a kid's paper and know the mistake they are making and how to support them. But, think back to the first five years of your career. That is the level of engagement you will need to put in to make strides in a new environment and new industry.

Find a hobby. Find something else that fills your cup and stay put, at least for a little while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to add.....

Currently, I work (teach) about 25 hours a week, spend approximately 10 hours in meetings, duty time, or planning, and enjoy summer breaks and holidays off. I don't typically bring work home, but despite these advantages, the job remains physically and mentally demanding, leaving me exhausted most days and weeks.

Lastly, another area I would need to consider is how a transition may impact my pension/retirement planning.

My impression is that you would be overwhelmed & crushed by any private sector job that pays in the $125,000 to $150,000 range if you think that your current cushy vacationesque-type position is physically and mentally demanding.

+1. Former teacher here, current corporate lawyer, and teaching was by far THE easiest job I've ever had - if you have any sense of time management, you can get most of your shit done during class (just like I did in high school!) and the students will love that you give them 15 min at the end of class to chill since the material's been taught. Just so you know I have perspective, the hardest job was waitressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just to add.....

Currently, I work (teach) about 25 hours a week, spend approximately 10 hours in meetings, duty time, or planning, and enjoy summer breaks and holidays off. I don't typically bring work home, but despite these advantages, the job remains physically and mentally demanding, leaving me exhausted most days and weeks.

Lastly, another area I would need to consider is how a transition may impact my pension/retirement planning.

My impression is that you would be overwhelmed & crushed by any private sector job that pays in the $125,000 to $150,000 range if you think that your current cushy vacationesque-type position is physically and mentally demanding.

+1. Former teacher here, current corporate lawyer, and teaching was by far THE easiest job I've ever had - if you have any sense of time management, you can get most of your shit done during class (just like I did in high school!) and the students will love that you give them 15 min at the end of class to chill since the material's been taught. Just so you know I have perspective, the hardest job was waitressing.

Wow! Current teacher here. Clearly you weren’t very good at the job if you thought it was the easiest thing you’ve ever done. I’m a career changer who came from a corporate environment and I work 3-4 times harder now than I did in my former position. I used to work 2-3 hours a day. Now it’s 12. For you to say it’s easy? Wow. That’s insulting to the many people who sacrifice their own lives to make a classroom work.

And PP, I notice you USED to teach. It seems the job wasn’t good enough for you to stick around, huh? You see, that’s the problem we’re having. This job is demanding and it takes a lot out of someone to do it well. That’s why so many teachers are quitting. Too much work and too little respect.

OP, the only thing I agree with in relation to this lawyer’s nonsense is that you have a good thing going. If you are making $130K with 40 hours of work, then you should stay. You’re one of the few teachers out there with this deal.

[Anonymous]

Not sure how much it pays but maybe something like this: https://teachingstrategies.applicantpool.com/jobs/1002796.html

[Anonymous]

Agree with the pp that said that Ed Tech and corporate training are not in good shape right now. A lot of those people have been laid off due to the economy, so there is an excess of qualified people. And those Jobs always had low job security. Training is always one of the first functions to get cut and Ed tech companies tend to go through a lot of layoffs (a lot also end up getting bought out by bigger companies or PE, which also results in layoffs).

A lot of teachers used to pick up extra income teaching or working for English instruction and test prep/cram school type companies that prepped affluent kids in China but that’s all gone because the Chinese govt banned the companies.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP, I'm just bumping this thread up. Are you still around? Curious to hear an update. What are you thinking now? How's it going?

[Anonymous]

I am right behind you OP at $120k and 15 years of teaching. I took all the initiatives, certifications, master's equivalency and now am in Administrative Leadership for a complete Master's program. My plan to take it to $140-150k is get my Admin 1 license and apply for coordinator and other behind the scene positions outside of the classroom. I also have a Bachelor's in Business so I can go private sector if I choose to. Ambivalence is the key and remaining flexible. Good luck as I feel exactly the way you do.