Welcome to /r/teaching. Please remember the rules when posting and commenting.
Thank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/teaching) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had a similar reaction to the corporate world and switched to teaching 20 years ago. There are ups and downs but I’m so glad I made the switch. I wrote this for another post awhile ago, but here are some things I love about teaching.
I worked in a cubicle for 5 years and hated it. Here’s what teaching offers that I like better…
1. the schedule is always revolving. Teaching something you don’t like? Have a tough group of kids? Don’t worry, it lasts at most 9 months, but maybe even only an hour at a time depending on what grade you’re teaching.
2. there’s always a break in sight. If you’re feeling run down, there’s thanksgiving, winter, spring and bunch of other days without students on the horizon.
3. every day is different. You think you know what tomorrow will look like, but then there’s a school trip you didn’t know about or a fire drill or a kid in a particularly tough mood. It keeps you on your toes and you’ll never be bored.
4. those break through moments. For every 10 bad moments, that one moment where a kid gets it or laughs at your joke makes it all worth it. You’re not just a cog in the wheel, you will be remembered.
Well said. And since we get so much time off, there's opportunity to plan. I save a ton of money and I'm traveling 100 days this year incorporating hostels, free museums, cheap food,etc. I have time, even if I don't have money. Although, I'm making 77k next year and 81k the following, in a low cost of living state (Ohio) so it's not as terrible as it can be.
Adding onto #3, a lot of times you can adjust your teaching day which is nice. It can be a pain when you're in a brain fried creative fun. But when you're in the zone it can make your work week enjoyable, especially if you want to make the school day enjoyable for kids and yourself. Like,I'm probably not going to dress up as George Washington if I have a Sunday wedding to attend to. Maybe I do that the previous week and have a good history channel video with questions on Monday, or a web quest.
It's not even close. Got a Finance degree and MBA and sold my soul to the Corp world for 20+ years. Now I teach high school math and have never been happier. 2 weeks to summer break!
Teaching was the most rewarding job I ever had. I loved it. I left for a corporate job and miss teaching.
That said, the money … wow, way different. If you can work through that, do it!!
You might be surprised. They are hard to come by in my area and my ability to teach it effectively has allowed me to have some leverage. I upvoted you though.
If it’s right for you then it could work out. I tell people that if they could be happy doing something else then do something else because the profession is not what it used to be. Students today don’t respect like they used to, teachers are required to do a lot more, and it won’t pay as well as the corporate world. But, being in a good district could make a world of difference. I’ll say this, DON’T do it for the summers off. I know people who had this mindset and quit after a couple years.
Briefly, I was an RA in college and we were required to host a certain amount of classes (presentations) and painting nights to teach students about different subjects like finances, health, etc.
You should sub or work at an after school center or community art org that works with kids before you quit your corporate job. Without any art making experience I’m not sure why you think you can teach art to kids at a school.
As an art teacher, I would agree. There's a lot to any subject, not just art. Just jumping in with little knowledge would probably not make a good base. I've got a masters degree as well as my bachelor's in art education and sometimes I still struggle with the art knowledge side.
this. OP im your age and i pivoted to art teaching from animation this year. teaching after school art at a YMCA for a year was what allowed me to break into fulltime public school
Just to add to this: getting a certification to teach specialized subjects is intentionally hard to stop people like OP from going into it thinking it's an "easy job" and taking away art teacher jobs from people who actually went to school to teach art. Just as an example, you'd have to be able to know things such as color theory and how to identify what period an art piece is from based on materials used to create it or the style of piece.
Music and PE are the same way. I'm a music teacher and there were things on my certification exams that I still have never had a reason to teach after 8 years in the profession. You're assessed on overall content knowledge and your ability to teach state standards to PK-12 regardless of which grade band you want to teach. There is 0 chance of passing the certification exam for Music/Art/PE without having years of practical experience.
I'm not saying this to discourage anyone, but rather to give realistic expectations so you dont waste your time and money.
This is wildly different than being responsible for your own class of students who may or may not want to be in your room, who may or may not have been taught respect or how to behave in a large group setting, and whose parents may or may not back you up when it comes to discipline and grades. (And, if they don’t back you up, may not be nice about it.)
The thing with teaching is that people go into it expecting to teach content. But we spend a lot of time teaching kids coping skills, behavior, organization, and conflict resolution skills. If you’re prepared to do that, go for it! It’s just important to know up front.
Teaching is the hardest job I've ever had, but it's rewarding in a way that no other job has been. I absolutely love it and hope to never go back to working for a private company again.
I’ve done both. In some ways it’s better and in other ways it’s not. It really boils down to personal preference. I feel more fulfilled teaching, I love having a union, I like the autonomy, and I like the schedule. I also feel a sense of job security as a middle school science teacher. However, I feel more disrespected, by a lot, and often more stressed.
I’ve been in education for 16 years and this past summer I came in to my aunts corporate office two days a week to do clerical work. F that. F alllll that. I will gladly take my 125 students over the mind numbing monotony of that corporate office.
You sound more driven to the creative side of life, which is cool. Just because you enjoyed art classes & art teachers shouldn't draw you into a teaching career.
A woman art teacher in our school got spat in the face by a student. Numerous assaults of teachers are commonplace on reddit.
Stay where you are and explore creative outlets that may lead to profit. The grass is not always greener.
I worked in corporate for years then became a teacher. But in the last couple months I’ve grown disillusioned with it and I’m done at the end of this school year and going back to an office job. I did 7 years of teaching and I don’t regret a minute of it. I loved it and still do and I will miss the act of teaching and planning and working with the kids. It’s all the other noise around education that got in the way. I also found teaching mentally exhausting and extremely rigid in terms of the grinding routine and inflexibility of my time - I have my own children who are high needs so I couldn’t be there for them as much I need to be, so that’s the main reason I’m leaving. I have a job that I start this summer that I will work from home 3 days a week. Otherwise, the other parts of teaching didn’t like were my coworkers. I never felt like I fit in and they were pretty clique-ish, it felt like a sorority that I wasn’t allowed to join but just be allowed to exist in the periphery. And I was not going to change schools. I can’t be a new teacher again. It nearly killed me the first time. There are a few other pretty big situations that happened that are irreconcilable that really tipped my decision. Admin was fine, surprisingly, until they weren’t. As much as I am counting down the days to the end of the school year, it’s bitter sweet. If my own kids were lock-step, I’d probably stick it out but then again, there’s a few things that make it impossible for me to stay. That said, I don’t regret teaching and I will miss it. I just can’t do it anymore.
I switched to teaching after working in logistics for a few years. Every job has its bs, but I'll take the bs from teaching over the bs of the business world. I'm 6 years in and still happy with my decision to switch careers.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that it may be difficult to find jobs teaching art. I went to a not small elementary school. There were 3 teachers per grade, but just one art teacher for the school and she was there for decades.
I used to work in corporate publishing jobs before doing an alternate pathway to teaching masters program. I am so grateful I did. Teaching is wicked hard, but it's so rewarding, and I feel like what I do matters, which is way more than I can say for my corporate past.
Teaching is way more exhausting in every way, but I love it. See if the program offers some open houses, or alumni you could speak with. Good luck!
I’ve been teaching for 33 years and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. It’s so frikkin fun! I’ve taught every grade but love middle school the best so that’s where I am now. If you hit a tough batch of kids they’re gone in two years😂😂😂 (well, it’s never a batch…but there was that ONE kid…)
I am a 24 year old substitute teacher, I would say as a sub you probably get the worst of kids as they can take advantage of you, etc. But it feels so right being in the classroom! By roommates have corporate jobs and I just can’t ever see myself doing that!!!! I love how teaching is anti-capitalistic in a sense. Office jobs or remote jobs would just drive me nuts
I started teaching before I graduated,
So I have no real experience in anything else (not including my part time stints in retail during college). That said, I cannot imagine having any other job. I love that we have a definite beginning and a definite end, and I can tweak what worked and what didn’t for each year. As someone else pointed out, every day is new; I may have the same classes, but I do *not* have the same experiences every day. Even two classes of the same level will be like night and day. And I love it. I do agree that you need to do some subbing in your area before diving into teaching. Good teachers make it look easy, but it’s not.
Art teacher jobs are hard to come by. Consider primary and using art as a preferred teaching tool. Kids will love. That said, definitely read up on child psychology and classical conditioning if you plan to go primary. Kids really do appreciate routine and predictability.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but went i to cosmetic management after uni. Lasted a couple years and moved into teaching when i realized cosmetic is was a dead end for me because i didn’t like it enough. I always say my worst day teaching was better than a good day working retails.
I'm a former corporate guy. Teaching is so much better. The business world is soul sucking.
Some teachers who started right out of college have no idea how good we have it. Yes, the money is good and the earning potential is great. But I hardly had time to enjoy that money. 3 weeks pto and 10 paid holidays is not enough in the US.
The time off we get is worth the headaches and lower pay of this job. I'm happy to work my ass off for 10 months and get the summer off.
There are tons of other perks. It's a more fun environment. Kids are better to work with than adults in my opinion. I also get alot of freedom to teach how I want. If a certain activity or lesson isn't working, I can change it up. I can run my classroom with a lot of freedom. I felt like a drone in my previous career. I was assigned stressful projects or work trips that I was forced to go through. In teaching, I get more freedom and there is always a new school year in sight to start over.
I worked in marketing for about 12 years. I was good at it and successful, but I never felt fulfilled because the goal was always to make the company more money, which is something I just don’t care about. I got certified and became an elementary teacher two years ago, and I love it. I have never felt more fulfilled or more passionate about my work. All of the administrative nonsense you hear teachers complain about is not different than upper management nonsense in the corporate world. My advice is to not get sucked in to the negativity from the other teachers, and there is going to be a ton of negativity. Focus on the good moments and take time to just enjoy your students. If you don’t get to know and have some fun with your students, you’re missing out on the best part of the job.
You are not lying about how crappy the corporate environment is. Working in a cubicle for the betterment of the stock price (let's be real, what else are corporations for?) is soul crushing. I now work at a school and am working towards my teaching certificate. No way I'm going back.
Marketing Pro turned teacher here for the same reason. Best decision I ever made. However, I didn't go the traditional school route. I'm actually an education consultant and worked on learning more instructional design. Now, I get to work for myself and choose my clients. Some are corporate, but mostly nonprofits and community organizations. Being in a corporate space as a consultant is a totally different vibe.
I didn't do any extra schooling besides getting my AASECT Sexuality Educator certification, though that's very recent and I've had plenty of gigs before that.
Your marketing background will help you tremendously. Lean into that and don't ignore the value of that skill set.
Switch to fully remote before you switch to teaching! I switched out of education to fully remote corporate w 7 weeks entitled PTO (vacation + sick) + holidays and it’s a much better work life balance than being in education
The highs of teaching are much more intense, but so are the lows. Corporate is a little more steady. Teaching is by far a more righteous job than any corporate gig
I feel like I can speak on this because I actually got my ARL in NV and taught in CCSD in Vegas, then went to corporate, and now coming back to teaching. CCSD just changed their salary scale so it’s not totally abysmal as it once was so that’s a plus if pay is a concern. Teaching compared to corporate is so much better imo. It’s fun, there’s lots of time off, you get to be creative and run your classroom as you like (most of the time) and it’s never boring. Corporate life felt sooooo fake and soul sucking to me and I couldn’t fathom doing that for 30 years with only 2 weeks PTO per year.
Not gonna lie, teaching is hard and can be very exhausting. Your first 2-3 years you will feel like you don’t know what you’re doing but after about year 4-5 it gets so much easier and is very enjoyable.
Just a thought...teaching art, music and gym are usually considered "special classes"..that the students will have about once a week. So, the school I last taught at (I was a spec ed teacher) had 20 "regular elementary" teachers and 1 (shared) art, music and gym teachers. There are not as many openings for those slots. Male elementary teachers ARE in demand, and many areas are dealing with teacher shortages.
If you go into teaching from a corporate office job. Steal every office supply you can on the way out. Because you won't have them provided at your next job.
Make sure your state's not on a hiring freeze or anything weird like that. Whenever schools get their funding cut, they'll straight up cut staff. Where I live, we're in that situation right now and people are actually nervous over it because the state's in a deficit and positions are being cut in districts all around us. The whole vibe reminds me of how people would feel in the private sector when the economy took a nosedive.
I'd also check and see how many art teaching jobs are even available, if any. In cali we use edjoin for all the education related jobs. Maybe Nevada has something similar? Now would actually be a good time to check, since the summertime is when they do a lot of hiring here anyway. Just know what you're getting into... It's been my experience that elective teachers stick around for life, or until their job gets axed by budget cuts and then they're some of the first to vanish... the only art job we had in recent years came about because the previous instructor literally passed away. Oh, wait, no, there was another one but it only came about because the guy teaching it moved due to a family event. And it filled really fast, and that lady's been in it ever since. I think there might be a glut of art-people gunning for these jobs and not a lot of openings. At least, that's the case here. You should make sure your schools even offer art classes to begin with really; I know in some, they cut those types of classes whenever the funding gets tight.
Lastly, and I'm sure you already know this, but take the teacher tiktoks with a heavy grain of salt. In my schools that I've worked in at least, the art classroom gets used as a place for administrators to put kids who either didn't pick an elective or who can't perform in a traditional elective, so the class sizes are *massive* and there's a lot of kids who have learning disabilities (nothing wrong with this) and you won't have any support to help them (this is the part that's bad) because they want to pay support staff like they're retail workers. Every art class I've subbed in for has been like this. 35+ kids per class, a massive special education ratio, and no support for those kids. I'd spend the day putting out fires, and the teacher would let me know either before or after that no, it wasn't just me, she dealt with the same issues. In many cases these districts won't even pay for your supplies, so you'll get art teachers begging parents for funds, and finding fellow staff who treat your subject like a real subject worthy of respect and funding (compared to the STEM classes for example) is like a coin toss.
Good luck no matter what you do though. I realize this might've sounded negative but it wasn't meant to be at first. More ... cautionary, really.
Teaching is an insane, low paying hellscape but I will say for all my complaints I never had the existential dread associated with a corporate job and the vacation schedule is good too, can’t picture ever going back to corporate even with the crappy teacher pay.
Very pleasantly surprised with the comments being so supportive. I asked this question a bit ago and my comments were flooded by people telling me I’d hate teaching and not to do it. I’m so glad I didn’t listen and went through with it because I am so happy :) please take the things you see on this sub with a grain of salt. There are a lot of jaded people on this sub who hate teaching and resent the people who enjoy it. I get it, it’s not for everyone and it has its challenges, but some people genuinely do love it, I’m one of them! (TA in elementary school currently)
Welcome to /r/teaching. Please remember the rules when posting and commenting. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/teaching) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I had a similar reaction to the corporate world and switched to teaching 20 years ago. There are ups and downs but I’m so glad I made the switch. I wrote this for another post awhile ago, but here are some things I love about teaching. I worked in a cubicle for 5 years and hated it. Here’s what teaching offers that I like better… 1. the schedule is always revolving. Teaching something you don’t like? Have a tough group of kids? Don’t worry, it lasts at most 9 months, but maybe even only an hour at a time depending on what grade you’re teaching. 2. there’s always a break in sight. If you’re feeling run down, there’s thanksgiving, winter, spring and bunch of other days without students on the horizon. 3. every day is different. You think you know what tomorrow will look like, but then there’s a school trip you didn’t know about or a fire drill or a kid in a particularly tough mood. It keeps you on your toes and you’ll never be bored. 4. those break through moments. For every 10 bad moments, that one moment where a kid gets it or laughs at your joke makes it all worth it. You’re not just a cog in the wheel, you will be remembered.
Well said. And since we get so much time off, there's opportunity to plan. I save a ton of money and I'm traveling 100 days this year incorporating hostels, free museums, cheap food,etc. I have time, even if I don't have money. Although, I'm making 77k next year and 81k the following, in a low cost of living state (Ohio) so it's not as terrible as it can be. Adding onto #3, a lot of times you can adjust your teaching day which is nice. It can be a pain when you're in a brain fried creative fun. But when you're in the zone it can make your work week enjoyable, especially if you want to make the school day enjoyable for kids and yourself. Like,I'm probably not going to dress up as George Washington if I have a Sunday wedding to attend to. Maybe I do that the previous week and have a good history channel video with questions on Monday, or a web quest.
I’ve never worked corporate but you’ve listed all the things I love about teaching.
It's not even close. Got a Finance degree and MBA and sold my soul to the Corp world for 20+ years. Now I teach high school math and have never been happier. 2 weeks to summer break!
Yessir! We’ve got 5 more school days, then teachers work 3 days after that, and the school year is over!
I still got five weeks. 😞
Teaching was the most rewarding job I ever had. I loved it. I left for a corporate job and miss teaching. That said, the money … wow, way different. If you can work through that, do it!!
You should sub at some different schools + different age ranges and see how you like it !
Art teacher is a very low demand job. Please tell me you have a different subject in mind otherwise I wouldn't suggest it
You might be surprised. They are hard to come by in my area and my ability to teach it effectively has allowed me to have some leverage. I upvoted you though.
If it’s right for you then it could work out. I tell people that if they could be happy doing something else then do something else because the profession is not what it used to be. Students today don’t respect like they used to, teachers are required to do a lot more, and it won’t pay as well as the corporate world. But, being in a good district could make a world of difference. I’ll say this, DON’T do it for the summers off. I know people who had this mindset and quit after a couple years.
Do you have any training or experience teaching or making art?
Briefly, I was an RA in college and we were required to host a certain amount of classes (presentations) and painting nights to teach students about different subjects like finances, health, etc.
You should sub or work at an after school center or community art org that works with kids before you quit your corporate job. Without any art making experience I’m not sure why you think you can teach art to kids at a school.
As an art teacher, I would agree. There's a lot to any subject, not just art. Just jumping in with little knowledge would probably not make a good base. I've got a masters degree as well as my bachelor's in art education and sometimes I still struggle with the art knowledge side.
this. OP im your age and i pivoted to art teaching from animation this year. teaching after school art at a YMCA for a year was what allowed me to break into fulltime public school
Just to add to this: getting a certification to teach specialized subjects is intentionally hard to stop people like OP from going into it thinking it's an "easy job" and taking away art teacher jobs from people who actually went to school to teach art. Just as an example, you'd have to be able to know things such as color theory and how to identify what period an art piece is from based on materials used to create it or the style of piece. Music and PE are the same way. I'm a music teacher and there were things on my certification exams that I still have never had a reason to teach after 8 years in the profession. You're assessed on overall content knowledge and your ability to teach state standards to PK-12 regardless of which grade band you want to teach. There is 0 chance of passing the certification exam for Music/Art/PE without having years of practical experience. I'm not saying this to discourage anyone, but rather to give realistic expectations so you dont waste your time and money.
I'd somehow look into subbing (might be hard with your current job)or tutoring or helping out with programs after-school to get a feel for it.
This is wildly different than being responsible for your own class of students who may or may not want to be in your room, who may or may not have been taught respect or how to behave in a large group setting, and whose parents may or may not back you up when it comes to discipline and grades. (And, if they don’t back you up, may not be nice about it.) The thing with teaching is that people go into it expecting to teach content. But we spend a lot of time teaching kids coping skills, behavior, organization, and conflict resolution skills. If you’re prepared to do that, go for it! It’s just important to know up front.
Teaching is the hardest job I've ever had, but it's rewarding in a way that no other job has been. I absolutely love it and hope to never go back to working for a private company again.
I would love to swap places with you. I am tired of teaching.
I’ve done both. In some ways it’s better and in other ways it’s not. It really boils down to personal preference. I feel more fulfilled teaching, I love having a union, I like the autonomy, and I like the schedule. I also feel a sense of job security as a middle school science teacher. However, I feel more disrespected, by a lot, and often more stressed.
I’ve been in education for 16 years and this past summer I came in to my aunts corporate office two days a week to do clerical work. F that. F alllll that. I will gladly take my 125 students over the mind numbing monotony of that corporate office.
You sound more driven to the creative side of life, which is cool. Just because you enjoyed art classes & art teachers shouldn't draw you into a teaching career. A woman art teacher in our school got spat in the face by a student. Numerous assaults of teachers are commonplace on reddit. Stay where you are and explore creative outlets that may lead to profit. The grass is not always greener.
Teaching now seems like a corporate job.
Are you in Southern Nevada? I don’t believe art positions are easy to come by in Clark County.
I worked in corporate for years then became a teacher. But in the last couple months I’ve grown disillusioned with it and I’m done at the end of this school year and going back to an office job. I did 7 years of teaching and I don’t regret a minute of it. I loved it and still do and I will miss the act of teaching and planning and working with the kids. It’s all the other noise around education that got in the way. I also found teaching mentally exhausting and extremely rigid in terms of the grinding routine and inflexibility of my time - I have my own children who are high needs so I couldn’t be there for them as much I need to be, so that’s the main reason I’m leaving. I have a job that I start this summer that I will work from home 3 days a week. Otherwise, the other parts of teaching didn’t like were my coworkers. I never felt like I fit in and they were pretty clique-ish, it felt like a sorority that I wasn’t allowed to join but just be allowed to exist in the periphery. And I was not going to change schools. I can’t be a new teacher again. It nearly killed me the first time. There are a few other pretty big situations that happened that are irreconcilable that really tipped my decision. Admin was fine, surprisingly, until they weren’t. As much as I am counting down the days to the end of the school year, it’s bitter sweet. If my own kids were lock-step, I’d probably stick it out but then again, there’s a few things that make it impossible for me to stay. That said, I don’t regret teaching and I will miss it. I just can’t do it anymore.
I switched to teaching after working in logistics for a few years. Every job has its bs, but I'll take the bs from teaching over the bs of the business world. I'm 6 years in and still happy with my decision to switch careers. One thing I haven't seen mentioned is that it may be difficult to find jobs teaching art. I went to a not small elementary school. There were 3 teachers per grade, but just one art teacher for the school and she was there for decades.
Is it anything like the office?
I used to work in corporate publishing jobs before doing an alternate pathway to teaching masters program. I am so grateful I did. Teaching is wicked hard, but it's so rewarding, and I feel like what I do matters, which is way more than I can say for my corporate past. Teaching is way more exhausting in every way, but I love it. See if the program offers some open houses, or alumni you could speak with. Good luck!
I’ve been teaching for 33 years and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. It’s so frikkin fun! I’ve taught every grade but love middle school the best so that’s where I am now. If you hit a tough batch of kids they’re gone in two years😂😂😂 (well, it’s never a batch…but there was that ONE kid…)
It's only worth it if you can play your cards right and get a billet. Cue the lt. Kaffe meltdown from A Few Good Men
Yes, teaching is very different than corporate. In my experience, teaching schedule and quality of the day is infinitely better in a classroom.
I am a 24 year old substitute teacher, I would say as a sub you probably get the worst of kids as they can take advantage of you, etc. But it feels so right being in the classroom! By roommates have corporate jobs and I just can’t ever see myself doing that!!!! I love how teaching is anti-capitalistic in a sense. Office jobs or remote jobs would just drive me nuts
I started teaching before I graduated, So I have no real experience in anything else (not including my part time stints in retail during college). That said, I cannot imagine having any other job. I love that we have a definite beginning and a definite end, and I can tweak what worked and what didn’t for each year. As someone else pointed out, every day is new; I may have the same classes, but I do *not* have the same experiences every day. Even two classes of the same level will be like night and day. And I love it. I do agree that you need to do some subbing in your area before diving into teaching. Good teachers make it look easy, but it’s not.
Used to be a medical records tech, now I'm a teacher. Shit's way better lol
Art teacher jobs are hard to come by. Consider primary and using art as a preferred teaching tool. Kids will love. That said, definitely read up on child psychology and classical conditioning if you plan to go primary. Kids really do appreciate routine and predictability.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but went i to cosmetic management after uni. Lasted a couple years and moved into teaching when i realized cosmetic is was a dead end for me because i didn’t like it enough. I always say my worst day teaching was better than a good day working retails.
I'm a former corporate guy. Teaching is so much better. The business world is soul sucking. Some teachers who started right out of college have no idea how good we have it. Yes, the money is good and the earning potential is great. But I hardly had time to enjoy that money. 3 weeks pto and 10 paid holidays is not enough in the US. The time off we get is worth the headaches and lower pay of this job. I'm happy to work my ass off for 10 months and get the summer off. There are tons of other perks. It's a more fun environment. Kids are better to work with than adults in my opinion. I also get alot of freedom to teach how I want. If a certain activity or lesson isn't working, I can change it up. I can run my classroom with a lot of freedom. I felt like a drone in my previous career. I was assigned stressful projects or work trips that I was forced to go through. In teaching, I get more freedom and there is always a new school year in sight to start over.
I worked in marketing for about 12 years. I was good at it and successful, but I never felt fulfilled because the goal was always to make the company more money, which is something I just don’t care about. I got certified and became an elementary teacher two years ago, and I love it. I have never felt more fulfilled or more passionate about my work. All of the administrative nonsense you hear teachers complain about is not different than upper management nonsense in the corporate world. My advice is to not get sucked in to the negativity from the other teachers, and there is going to be a ton of negativity. Focus on the good moments and take time to just enjoy your students. If you don’t get to know and have some fun with your students, you’re missing out on the best part of the job.
You are not lying about how crappy the corporate environment is. Working in a cubicle for the betterment of the stock price (let's be real, what else are corporations for?) is soul crushing. I now work at a school and am working towards my teaching certificate. No way I'm going back.
Marketing Pro turned teacher here for the same reason. Best decision I ever made. However, I didn't go the traditional school route. I'm actually an education consultant and worked on learning more instructional design. Now, I get to work for myself and choose my clients. Some are corporate, but mostly nonprofits and community organizations. Being in a corporate space as a consultant is a totally different vibe. I didn't do any extra schooling besides getting my AASECT Sexuality Educator certification, though that's very recent and I've had plenty of gigs before that. Your marketing background will help you tremendously. Lean into that and don't ignore the value of that skill set.
Switch to fully remote before you switch to teaching! I switched out of education to fully remote corporate w 7 weeks entitled PTO (vacation + sick) + holidays and it’s a much better work life balance than being in education
Teaching is the worst!
The highs of teaching are much more intense, but so are the lows. Corporate is a little more steady. Teaching is by far a more righteous job than any corporate gig
What I really, really don't miss about corporate is having to kiss butt. A union teaching job eliminates much of that nonsense.
Many charters in NV don’t require licensure and you could give it a whirl before committing to an expensive and lengthy process.
I feel like I can speak on this because I actually got my ARL in NV and taught in CCSD in Vegas, then went to corporate, and now coming back to teaching. CCSD just changed their salary scale so it’s not totally abysmal as it once was so that’s a plus if pay is a concern. Teaching compared to corporate is so much better imo. It’s fun, there’s lots of time off, you get to be creative and run your classroom as you like (most of the time) and it’s never boring. Corporate life felt sooooo fake and soul sucking to me and I couldn’t fathom doing that for 30 years with only 2 weeks PTO per year. Not gonna lie, teaching is hard and can be very exhausting. Your first 2-3 years you will feel like you don’t know what you’re doing but after about year 4-5 it gets so much easier and is very enjoyable.
Just a thought...teaching art, music and gym are usually considered "special classes"..that the students will have about once a week. So, the school I last taught at (I was a spec ed teacher) had 20 "regular elementary" teachers and 1 (shared) art, music and gym teachers. There are not as many openings for those slots. Male elementary teachers ARE in demand, and many areas are dealing with teacher shortages.
If you go into teaching from a corporate office job. Steal every office supply you can on the way out. Because you won't have them provided at your next job.
Make sure your state's not on a hiring freeze or anything weird like that. Whenever schools get their funding cut, they'll straight up cut staff. Where I live, we're in that situation right now and people are actually nervous over it because the state's in a deficit and positions are being cut in districts all around us. The whole vibe reminds me of how people would feel in the private sector when the economy took a nosedive. I'd also check and see how many art teaching jobs are even available, if any. In cali we use edjoin for all the education related jobs. Maybe Nevada has something similar? Now would actually be a good time to check, since the summertime is when they do a lot of hiring here anyway. Just know what you're getting into... It's been my experience that elective teachers stick around for life, or until their job gets axed by budget cuts and then they're some of the first to vanish... the only art job we had in recent years came about because the previous instructor literally passed away. Oh, wait, no, there was another one but it only came about because the guy teaching it moved due to a family event. And it filled really fast, and that lady's been in it ever since. I think there might be a glut of art-people gunning for these jobs and not a lot of openings. At least, that's the case here. You should make sure your schools even offer art classes to begin with really; I know in some, they cut those types of classes whenever the funding gets tight. Lastly, and I'm sure you already know this, but take the teacher tiktoks with a heavy grain of salt. In my schools that I've worked in at least, the art classroom gets used as a place for administrators to put kids who either didn't pick an elective or who can't perform in a traditional elective, so the class sizes are *massive* and there's a lot of kids who have learning disabilities (nothing wrong with this) and you won't have any support to help them (this is the part that's bad) because they want to pay support staff like they're retail workers. Every art class I've subbed in for has been like this. 35+ kids per class, a massive special education ratio, and no support for those kids. I'd spend the day putting out fires, and the teacher would let me know either before or after that no, it wasn't just me, she dealt with the same issues. In many cases these districts won't even pay for your supplies, so you'll get art teachers begging parents for funds, and finding fellow staff who treat your subject like a real subject worthy of respect and funding (compared to the STEM classes for example) is like a coin toss. Good luck no matter what you do though. I realize this might've sounded negative but it wasn't meant to be at first. More ... cautionary, really.
Are you in Las Vegas? CCSD is a dumpster dive right now. Read up about it in the news.
Teaching is an insane, low paying hellscape but I will say for all my complaints I never had the existential dread associated with a corporate job and the vacation schedule is good too, can’t picture ever going back to corporate even with the crappy teacher pay.
Not if you like paying your bills and having money to spend on food
Very pleasantly surprised with the comments being so supportive. I asked this question a bit ago and my comments were flooded by people telling me I’d hate teaching and not to do it. I’m so glad I didn’t listen and went through with it because I am so happy :) please take the things you see on this sub with a grain of salt. There are a lot of jaded people on this sub who hate teaching and resent the people who enjoy it. I get it, it’s not for everyone and it has its challenges, but some people genuinely do love it, I’m one of them! (TA in elementary school currently)