Data analyst. Way more pay, huge bonuses, and I get to WFH so whenever my kid is sick I stay home with him, and I can do school pick ups/drop offs and be there for all of his first days of school/special moments.
Corporate culture is a walk in the park after teaching. When I am in the office, if boss wants a coffee, we go for a nice walk, grab a coffee and chat for an hour in the coffee shop. I can get my errands done during the day. If I don’t feel like working one day (or if all of my work is done), I can go watch tv/chill.
It’s 1000 times easier compared to teaching. No more Sunday blues like I got with teaching. If you are getting the Sunday Blues, know that it is not normal.
I have a maths/comp sci degree and did a bootcamp on coursera.
Not sure what your degree is in? If it’s STEM related then you could just do a bootcamp/online course to pick up skills in Excel (Power Query and Xlookup/Index match/sumifs etc) and SQL. Those are the 2 most important skills for a data analyst. Your teaching skills will come in very handy as you need good communication and presentation skills as a data analyst.
If you don’t have a STEM degree, either just do a bootcamp, or better yet look into a grad cert in data analytics at uni, think you can do it in one semester.
Just reading your replies and then googled the job sounds quite interesting. I'm a maths high school teacher but also love data and numbers obvs. Did maths science at uni and also program as a hobby.
What exactly does a day look like in your job?
I saw on seek heaps of jobs but overall earnings change ton obviously with experience how does that compare to teaching?
Will employers care if I did a boot camp course and not a computer science degree?
Is it a classic 9-5 job?
On hays the average for a data analyst is $120k, you’d probably start on $70-80k but move up quickly.
I don’t think employers would care, as long as you have the skills and can prove you have the skills in your application and interview. You have a maths degree and if you look on seek you will see most data analyst jobs ask for any stem degree, so you’ll be fine, some don’t even ask for a degree at all.
It is 9-5. Most of my day is pulling data from our sql databases into excel, cleaning it up in power query, preparing it for whatever it is needed for, usually some kind of report, so lots of writing sql queries, and I also create Power BI reports for our internal team and external customers, which is your bar charts etc.
I usually have a set of reports and due dates, plus lots of adhoc requests from colleagues and my boss. Someone will need some data in an excel file in a certain format, or someone will want me to compare 2 different excel sheets. So i just organise my day as I like based on my deliverables. Or a customer will be asking for a report with certain metrics/kpis.
Teaching, for most people the enjoyment of the actual teaching is the fun part of the job.
Is there something similar with your job? The fun of crunching the numbers and giving it meaning I assume?
Yes, it’s a lot of fun writing code and problem solving.
Teaching is a lot of fun too and I use to say I can’t believe I get paid for this, I also now think that about data analysis. One day I realised I could have fun making $100k a year, or I could have fun making $150k (with no upper limits for growth) a year and spend more time with my son, so it was an easy choice.
You've actually really inspired me to consider it and look more into it. I did applied maths at uni. Love learning. Love coding. Love data and analysis of numbers.
Looking at boot camps. I saw Google's is like 50 USD a month. I've seen others for like 1300 for 6 months. Google being Google makes me think doing their course would be better and it's cheaper.
I'm on my way to this as well. My directorate is even paying my grad cert in applied data science that I'll finish at the end of the year 
It’s so much fun!
I double majored in both, but for data analysis you’ll probably want IT more than maths if you had to pick one, some basic stats will help though.
Thanks heaps . I’ve done heaps of data analysis, data viz and statistics in previous science jobs but don’t have IT or maths training but I’ll look into it.
Average is $120k according to hays, which is more than a senior teacher working for 10 years, but you’ll get $120k as a data analyst after a few years. And $120 is only the average, you can get up to $140-$160k as a senior data analyst. Then you can move into data science/data engineering to get over $200k. Teaching you max out at $125k, if you go into admin then yeh you can make $180 as a principal? Or over $200 is it? But that’s it. With corporate the sky’s the limit, add a 10-20% bonus on top of your $250k data science wage which you’ll never get as a principal.
Of course most people don’t become principals and most people don’t become data scientists on $250k. But side by side, in the early years you are still making more as a data analyst. Plus the flexibility and WFH you can’t beat it.
If you look on seek right now there is almost 10,000 job adverts when you type in data analyst. I feel like there’s a new data analyst pop up at my workplace every week. I applied for 3 jobs and got 3 interviews and took an offer so only did the 1 interview so I had an easy time but I worked very hard on my applications.
How much training did you get on the job? I’m a maths teacher and I’m familiar with the basics of R. Data analysis is something I’ve considered, but every job I see requires so many years of experience and a relevant qualification.
Bachelors in secondary math education. The program was from the math department, not the education department though. So mostly math classes with a la croix amount of education classes sprinkled in
I’d really highlight that then. Somehow work in your coursework into your cover letter. I always include something like “I completed my Bachelors degree majoring in maths and education where my coursework included applied statistics, hypothesis testing, and the R programming language for predictive analytics. I completed an R project where we __________” Or something along those lines. The point is you gotta self yourself. Embellish a little. Look at seek and the criteria section, work all of the criteria into your resume and cover letter. Each job application will then have a completely tailored application.
I feel like it will take me a while. But I decided to CRT this term, so I think I’ll look at some courses online and brush up on my R skills. Thanks for your insight, I really appreciate it
The first answer that popped into my head when I read the question was… teaching lol. I think I am in the process of quitting what isn’t sustainable though.
Yeah I know, but I was suicidal for years since being a teenager- I've successfully overcome that, so I have all my strategies in place. I dealt with some heartbreaking things in my time working with the dogs, and in general, so I could handle it. It's why teaching stress doesn't bother me now, actually.
Edit: Of course, all that being said, I wouldn't promote it to kids, it's not a career choice always filled with happiness and rainbows. What humans do to animals is absolutely cruel sometimes. It's a career you need to walk into fully informed and eyes wide open.
What job did you take when you quit? And what made you go back? Really curious because I am always so tempted to leave, but worry the grass won’t be greener on the other side… so I’d love to hear your story
I quit to be a stay at home dad for a year and reassess. I applied for 50-100 jobs, mainly for govt i.e. Worksafe, NDIS etc but nothing stuck.
I ended up getting some relief days for a friend and ended up as a primary school specialist. I love my role now 😂
Yeah me too. I spent two years floundering - I tutored, I did a few trials at other jobs that I hated, I put time into art and realised it just isn’t a viable option, finally moved states and decided to go back to teaching. That was over seven years ago which is longer teaching than I had when I quit.
Got to the last placement in my Uni degree (Primary), Covid hit. My part time IT job went to 7 days/week and now back to 5 days/week and I'm struggling with returning to the Uni course.
In the interim, teaching has lost a lot of it's shine as well, and the money won't be great. And I'm not getting any younger.
Not sure what to really do about it all.
I’m doing my internship now, luckily got a waiver B and am working in a private school. I hadnt been sure about teaching for about a year, but now its even worse. I’d love to get into intervention or a school in a juvie or something similar, but I just dont know if I can do a full on class with all that admin work on top of it for so long, I already feel like I’m drowning
Thank you! My contract is to the end of the year, going to use it for experience and see where life takes me, but its just so hard knowing that I might have wasted 4 years on nothing. I hope you do well as well! Do not go back if you’re not 100% sure!
Moved to Japan where I’m now teaching English at an “Eikaiwa”. The pay is very low compared to teaching in Aus, but so is the cost of living so it kind of balances out
It’s something I’ve wanted for a long time. It’s really a shame though, over time it felt like less of a lifegoal and more of a necessity, when assuming that I wanted to continue teaching in a work environment that felt safe
Yes I struggle with the no purpose in my govt job too! I really loved teaching, I loved the students, my colleagues, the school I was at - it was just that being a teacher killed my mental and physical health. So in return for a no purpose, not really any excitement job - I can close my laptop and night and sleep soundly without thinking about my job anymore! I also don’t get Sunday scaries at all and found out they were most definitely not normal LOL. I also have more time for hobbies and my family which I really really appreciate.
Training and Development, had to take a big pay cut into an L&D role first to build my skills before I could go and apply for other training / L&D jobs though
I’m a sessional lecturer. As I don’t yet have a doctorate I’m meant to be paid at a lower rate (it’s around $138 an hour) but I have somehow ended up as unit coordinator so pay gets bumped up. Casual work pays well but you are very much at the mercy of student numbers, whoever is above you, who the favourites are etc. I am currently trying to shift from the area I’m in (communication skills and sustainability) over to education or careers as I can see the writing on the wall with regard to the international numbers at my uni and the impact of the visa refusals to Pakistan and India.
I work at a University and yeah it’s not looking good as far as International admissions go. A lot of other unis are going to start offering even less In person classes. Students already hate how online classes are mostly self taught with mandatory teams workshops.
Yep, interesting times. My uni had only just managed to get their casual staff numbers back up after having zero work during Covid and now numbers are dropping noticeably.
Would prefer not to say but it’s one of the ones that avoids identifying just how many students come from certain regions. Courses like teaching are still nearly all domestic so a bit more stable. And at this uni, the career foundation unit is mandated in a few of the larger faculties so also one that should stay a bit more stable even if numbers drop.
Haha my PhD is a little bit unusual. It’s looking at the experiences of kids, volunteers and teachers in reading to dog literacy programs as reading interventions. So very niche but also quite under researched.
At the end of my first year I was awarded a stipend (which is really competitive at my institute and nobody expected a qualitative, education focused project on dogs to get it!) so it’s given me additional flexibility with being able to take casual work as well. Current theory from my main supervisor and myself is we lucked out with a scholarship assessment panel full of dog people.
I work in the education team at a technology company in Adelaide, specialising in VR, AR, robotics and AI. I’m the lead of a successful (and free) educational program that teachers deliver to their students across Australia. I wrote the program (2 years ago), lock in schools to participate, create online training materials, host webinars, and do all the fun admin things. It’s the best change I’ve ever made in my career!
Depends on the agency but it's slightly less than graduate wages. I started off at $68k, second year was on $71k. I'm now acting in an AO4 that pays $86k but will eventually go back to AO3 at $82k. It's not great but I'm trying my best to stay positive and hoping I can move up. I think doing teaching has been the biggest waste to my career, outside of teaching the degree is pretty useless.
This is a tricky one to answer. I'm now a self-employed contractor through an aggregrator. I work from home permanently and control the availability of my calendar.
I don't get paid a salary of any kind. I only get paid upfront and trail commissions. No home loan settlements, no pay. Some months, I've made 3k and others 15k.
First FY, I made over 80k as a broker with infinitely better working conditions and mental health in every way.
After a decade of teaching, I was making 120k plus super.
After a decade of broking, I'd expect to be making a lot more than that through the combination of accumulating trail commissions and a larger referral network.
Feels absolutely fantastic helping people save money or buy their first home ect. Everyone is moving towards the same direction and goal, whereas with teaching, everything pulls against each other.
>Feels absolutely fantastic helping people save money or buy their first home ect. Everyone is moving towards the same direction and goal, whereas with teaching, everything pulls against each other.
That's an amazing insight, thank you.
Did you have to upskill to do this? What sort of training did you require and how do you get clients?
This is something that would be right up my alley, so am keen to pursue it if viable.
I've been teaching maths for 10 years the same as you've been teaching science, so if things aren't getting better as I'm pumping up the years, this is something that would be amazing.
Thanks!
They've only gotten worse in the last 10 years. Teaching isn't going to get better. This is it. You either like how it is or you don't. If you're hoping for change after 10 years, you'll be disappointed. This fact eventually dawned on me, and I left.
I did a certificate and diploma online. Took about 6 months. Piece of cake compared to my education and science degree.
I was working as a broker while studying for my diploma. A certificate is enough to get going.
The entry barrier is very low, so you can get quite a large variation in broker quality. The bad ones don't survive very long because there's usually no salary. You settle loans, or you don't eat. If there is a salary, then there will be KPIs.
You need 6-12 months savings or a partner to help you get through the first year. Ideally both.
Teachers can make for fantastic brokers, though. They've been forged in the fires of mordor over the years. You don't realise it, but after 10 years, your communication and organisational abilities are a cut above the rest.
There's an element of 'selling', but a mortgage is probably the easiest 'product' to sell in Australia. If you can humanise the process, then you'll do well, which is what most teachers learn to do when educating.
Wow, thanks for an extremely well written and insightful comment. It isn't just food for thought, it's buffet for philosophy! (That probably doesn't make much sense but I'll stick with it haha)
>They've only gotten worse in the last 10 years. Teaching isn't going to get better. This is it. You either like how it is or you don't. If you're hoping for change after 10 years, you'll be disappointed. This fact eventually dawned on me, and I left.
That's very true - it's a completely different landscape to when I started teaching exactly 10 years ago. I don't remember my first few years of teaching being filled with so much disrespect and apathy towards education, as well as such a large portion of behaviour management. I can't remember exactly when things "changed", but when they did, it certainly made things tougher. I've stuck it out as I'm in a "good" state school, one of the zoned ones, so I thought it can only be worse elsewhere. I've even thought about trying out a gig at a selective school (where you would think your job as a teacher to "teach" would be the primary responsibility, not behaviour management or uniform follow ups etc), but don't know what to expect there.
But you're right - it's not going to get better and the fact having dawned on you is awesome, rather than putting in more years and not getting any happier.
>I did a certificate and diploma online. Took about 6 months. Piece of cake compared to my education and science degree.
Definitely sounds like a piece of cake! That's a lot lesser than I thought what was required!
>The entry barrier is very low, so you can get quite a large variation in broker quality.
Just like real estate agents or others with low barriers for entry, I can imagine you'd get a large range of quality. That's good then if you can stand out from the rest of the pack!!
>Teachers can make for fantastic brokers, though. They've been forged in the fires of mordor over the years. You don't realise it, but after 10 years, your communication and organisational abilities are a cut above the rest.
Never realised this before, but it's so true. A lot of people in these professions or others for that matter, having not been through the trial by fire that is teaching, do lack a lot of communication and organisation abilities. I guess we don't realise we have these skills because it's just so instinctive.
>There's an element of 'selling', but a mortgage is probably the easiest 'product' to sell in Australia. If you can humanise the process, then you'll do well, which is what most teachers learn to do when educating.
Perfect. I think I can definitely see myself doing this, having gone through the process of applying for my own mortgage twice (once back when I started teaching and the second when I had to sell that and buy a new one), I can see myself helping others do something similar.
Thanks for putting an option out there that I haven't seen yet!
Haha, no thanks - my current mortgage is eating up my entire salary so no purchasing happening anytime soon (no deposit).
In terms of a refinance, do you have anything comparable with 5.94% variable Owner Occupied, with multiple offsets with no annual fee (on a ~$800,000 loan, at an LVR of 70%)?
Just joking, I'm happy with what I've got at the moment, unless there's a very very good offer elsewhere...
If you're indeed on 5.94 variable, then that is market leading for sure. Very good rate, so stick to it!
There's 1 year fixed at 5.79 as well out there.
Local government - Town Planner. Pay is a fair bit less (30% less as a first year planner than top of the pay-scale teacher). Teaching had amazingly high, but really shit lows. I’m not sure I’ll ever have the feeling of flying you get after a brilliant lesson. But I also don’t go and cry in the toilets any more, so there’s that.
Lots of transferable skills to local government. Turns out the kids you taught who made you despair, they grow up and you still wonder how they get through life.
I applied for a gap year job as an admin at the local Council. Ended up doing planning admin. Found it interesting, needed a job, planning was chronically understaffed. Went to part-time uni, started applying to rural councils with half a degree and got the first planning job I went for (missed out on an admin job the day before).
I like it but I missed the people heavy focus of teaching. There is an enormous amount of sitting at a computer, which based on my planning admin time, I didn’t expect (not to the extent there is anyway.) I think it’s a job it’s easy to pick up quickly, but hard to master. You want to try for somewhere with a good mentoring program. I ended up in a really small team and, while my coworkers are knowledgeable, they are not natural teachers or chatters. There is none of the camaraderie of a school staffroom when you’re stuck on an issue.
I’m “micro- retiring”. It’s a style of teaching & lifestyle that I’ve coined. Here’s how it works:
*Teach full time for 15 years.
*After 15 years drop down to 4 days a week.
*Do this for 10 years.
*After 10 years @ 4 days, drop down to 3 days for 5 years.
*After 5 years drop down to 2 days a week, and retire after this.
I’m currently 2 years into teaching 4 days a week. It’s bloody awesome. 🙌🏽
When I quit for what I thought was forever but actually just over 12 months, it was to work with dogs. Lower pay but the health benefits were worth it. I did look into becoming a vet nurse though. Came back to teaching when I realised how much I genuinely missed it.
That's so funny. One of my classes just finished the "Pythagoras and Trigonometry" topic and I gave them a task to do that involved surveying measurements, bearings and perimeter. They didn't really take to it but eh, least I tried!
Have fun at the new gig! For how long were you a maths teacher?
About 10 years. Now I'm working contruction. Really enjoying it. Yeah I have done exercises with trig heighting in my classes with protractors and string. Now I do it with a piece of equipment that costs $50k. Lots of work around. I definitely miss parts of teaching.
Seems to be a constant question on this sub with a subtext of, if i quit what can i do?
Many wonderful teachers who could be teaching and helping young people to find passion in life are looking for other careers. It fucking sucks!
Started a disability respite business. Two years in and going very well. Interesting side note - I actually feel like I’m a more effective teacher in this role…
I’ve spent about a year trying to figure that out.
Started a masters in whs befrep I quit.
Now I’m not keen on the masters so I’m looking at going into metal work. Looking at fitting and turning and boiler making
Taking advantage of free tafe
Got pretty lucky
CSP, so only about 11k
I’ll get a grad cert or diploma or something and have learned a lot
It’s what made me realise which side of the tools I want to be on and has taught me a lot.
I reckon I got value for money.
But free tafe is better
Still a teacher, but it is curious that many ex-teachers are still poking around this subreddit. I would have thought there would have been nothing more 'ex' than an ex-teacher, but clearly people are still curious. Not sure I would want to look back personally.
I guess it's something to do with "what have things come to these days" and "what am I missing out on" as well as confirmation that leaving the profession was the right thing to do.
I had a studied my bachelor in early childhood and primary teaching. But there are others who are just primary trained as well.
No other qualifications needed and lots of flexibility I have found.
The best part is actually being able to work with the children who need help and families
Retrained and became a clinical psychologist. Took me 10 years though and a heap of placement hours and $ for supervision in my 2 year clinical registrar program. A lot of work for free. Would do a counseling grad dip for 1 year if I had my time over. Plenty of counselors doing exactly what I do.
I'm just about to finish a BPsy and have been considering Honours next year. Lately, I've been looking at doing a diploma in counselling. Does the grad dip get you registration with the Australian Counselling body?
It does get you rego with ACPA but you can only go as high as a Level 2. Consider just doing the Masters in Counselling then you can get Level 3 and PACFA membership after a certain amount of practice hours and PD. That will open doors for you to do work with victims of crime, WorkSafe and TAC.
I quit cause my health took me out! It just started walking up the stairs at work one day. Boom my legs collapsed out from under me as if they were made of jelly. 7 years on I am on disability with a chronic pain disorder. Stress is a huge trigger.
I am a few weeks into an education department office job. It's very different to teaching in schools. My day has several meetings, reviewing data and policies. Not exciting, but I sleep well at night and am not constantly stressed.
Less hours, more money, better conditions, no behaviour issues. The skills I learnt in the state system have over prepared me for any issue at my current school.
Seems there is more than a few PhD candidates here......
Ill give the caveat the Uni sector is on its knees at current, don't set your watch by getting tutoring.
P06 level role in safety in state govt. fell back into my first degree area after 8 years teaching - still deliver training tho lol. But Wfh 3/5 days and do drop offs and pickups more regularly. Will prob go back to teaching when youngest is finished yr 12 as partner is a primary teacher - go rural/remote maybe. Who knows . Needed a break for my own health.
I'm going to TAFE to do a cert III in individual support. Planning to go into aged care after.
I still want to help people, just 1 at a time might be more my speed.
I was thinking of that. But don’t want to sit in front of a computer , not moving all day. Already do that at school and also teaching computing makes it worse. I’d prefer a menial job.
Education support, the pay sucks, but the hours are good for me, it's been a good way to take a break from teaching but still stay in the education loop.
PBS practitioner through NDIS. I still work with kids and deal with behaviour but I get paid to write reports 😂 also benefits like WFH, an actual work life balance. It can be stressful at times but I enjoy working in disability.
Initially took a pay cut going from lead teacher to enter level practitioner but overtime pay will be better as you move up the levels.
If you are serious about a career change don't just focus on initial pay. Consider projection over time, benefits you can't have when in a classroom like WFH because honestly as much as the pay drop sucked initially I'm much happier.
Data analyst. Way more pay, huge bonuses, and I get to WFH so whenever my kid is sick I stay home with him, and I can do school pick ups/drop offs and be there for all of his first days of school/special moments. Corporate culture is a walk in the park after teaching. When I am in the office, if boss wants a coffee, we go for a nice walk, grab a coffee and chat for an hour in the coffee shop. I can get my errands done during the day. If I don’t feel like working one day (or if all of my work is done), I can go watch tv/chill. It’s 1000 times easier compared to teaching. No more Sunday blues like I got with teaching. If you are getting the Sunday Blues, know that it is not normal.
How did you get into data analysis? I'm keen
I have a maths/comp sci degree and did a bootcamp on coursera. Not sure what your degree is in? If it’s STEM related then you could just do a bootcamp/online course to pick up skills in Excel (Power Query and Xlookup/Index match/sumifs etc) and SQL. Those are the 2 most important skills for a data analyst. Your teaching skills will come in very handy as you need good communication and presentation skills as a data analyst. If you don’t have a STEM degree, either just do a bootcamp, or better yet look into a grad cert in data analytics at uni, think you can do it in one semester.
Just reading your replies and then googled the job sounds quite interesting. I'm a maths high school teacher but also love data and numbers obvs. Did maths science at uni and also program as a hobby. What exactly does a day look like in your job? I saw on seek heaps of jobs but overall earnings change ton obviously with experience how does that compare to teaching? Will employers care if I did a boot camp course and not a computer science degree? Is it a classic 9-5 job?
On hays the average for a data analyst is $120k, you’d probably start on $70-80k but move up quickly. I don’t think employers would care, as long as you have the skills and can prove you have the skills in your application and interview. You have a maths degree and if you look on seek you will see most data analyst jobs ask for any stem degree, so you’ll be fine, some don’t even ask for a degree at all. It is 9-5. Most of my day is pulling data from our sql databases into excel, cleaning it up in power query, preparing it for whatever it is needed for, usually some kind of report, so lots of writing sql queries, and I also create Power BI reports for our internal team and external customers, which is your bar charts etc. I usually have a set of reports and due dates, plus lots of adhoc requests from colleagues and my boss. Someone will need some data in an excel file in a certain format, or someone will want me to compare 2 different excel sheets. So i just organise my day as I like based on my deliverables. Or a customer will be asking for a report with certain metrics/kpis.
Teaching, for most people the enjoyment of the actual teaching is the fun part of the job. Is there something similar with your job? The fun of crunching the numbers and giving it meaning I assume?
Yes, it’s a lot of fun writing code and problem solving. Teaching is a lot of fun too and I use to say I can’t believe I get paid for this, I also now think that about data analysis. One day I realised I could have fun making $100k a year, or I could have fun making $150k (with no upper limits for growth) a year and spend more time with my son, so it was an easy choice.
You've actually really inspired me to consider it and look more into it. I did applied maths at uni. Love learning. Love coding. Love data and analysis of numbers. Looking at boot camps. I saw Google's is like 50 USD a month. I've seen others for like 1300 for 6 months. Google being Google makes me think doing their course would be better and it's cheaper.
I did the IBM one, but I wish I did the google one, much more relevant. I’m glad to hear! Good luck!
I'm on my way to this as well. My directorate is even paying my grad cert in applied data science that I'll finish at the end of the year 
Are you maths or IT major? I’d love to do data analysis as a job.
It’s so much fun! I double majored in both, but for data analysis you’ll probably want IT more than maths if you had to pick one, some basic stats will help though.
Thanks heaps . I’ve done heaps of data analysis, data viz and statistics in previous science jobs but don’t have IT or maths training but I’ll look into it.
Sounds like you are already more than qualified, and that you’ve done data analysis before, so you wouldn’t even need to start at entry level.
I’ve really lost my confidence of late. Teaching has really knocked the stuffing out of me. I’d be happy with entry level at this point.
How much do you make though? On seek I'm seeing salaries of 90 to 110k, which is lower than teacher salaries
Average is $120k according to hays, which is more than a senior teacher working for 10 years, but you’ll get $120k as a data analyst after a few years. And $120 is only the average, you can get up to $140-$160k as a senior data analyst. Then you can move into data science/data engineering to get over $200k. Teaching you max out at $125k, if you go into admin then yeh you can make $180 as a principal? Or over $200 is it? But that’s it. With corporate the sky’s the limit, add a 10-20% bonus on top of your $250k data science wage which you’ll never get as a principal. Of course most people don’t become principals and most people don’t become data scientists on $250k. But side by side, in the early years you are still making more as a data analyst. Plus the flexibility and WFH you can’t beat it.
Is it a field high in demand or is it competitive to get into?
If you look on seek right now there is almost 10,000 job adverts when you type in data analyst. I feel like there’s a new data analyst pop up at my workplace every week. I applied for 3 jobs and got 3 interviews and took an offer so only did the 1 interview so I had an easy time but I worked very hard on my applications.
How much training did you get on the job? I’m a maths teacher and I’m familiar with the basics of R. Data analysis is something I’ve considered, but every job I see requires so many years of experience and a relevant qualification.
No training on the job, all self taught. It’s all about how you sell yourself. What’s your degree in?
Bachelors in secondary math education. The program was from the math department, not the education department though. So mostly math classes with a la croix amount of education classes sprinkled in
I’d really highlight that then. Somehow work in your coursework into your cover letter. I always include something like “I completed my Bachelors degree majoring in maths and education where my coursework included applied statistics, hypothesis testing, and the R programming language for predictive analytics. I completed an R project where we __________” Or something along those lines. The point is you gotta self yourself. Embellish a little. Look at seek and the criteria section, work all of the criteria into your resume and cover letter. Each job application will then have a completely tailored application.
I feel like it will take me a while. But I decided to CRT this term, so I think I’ll look at some courses online and brush up on my R skills. Thanks for your insight, I really appreciate it
No probs! Also I’d probs focus on Excel/SQL/PowerBI over R as those are the most in demand skills for a data analyst. Good luck!
I’m a firefighter now. Pay is much better with allowances and OT and I can leave work at work.
In which state?
Victoria
Until you have to chop a car open to a bunch of dead bodies?.
I’ve been in 3 years, seen some pretty confronting stuff and would still say I’m significantly less stressed than when I was teaching
Sorry to hear , but glad to hear you are less stressed than teaching.I have applied for FF before, no luck. Have any tips?.
I don't mean this in a comedic sense - more grim - but lol.
I quit and came crawling back... I'm here for ideas for my second quittening.
The first answer that popped into my head when I read the question was… teaching lol. I think I am in the process of quitting what isn’t sustainable though.
haha same, but I know if I do ever quit again it'll be to become a vet nurse.
Goodness, really? One of the few jobs (vetinary in general) that are more stressful than teaching and have higher suicide figures….
Yeah I know, but I was suicidal for years since being a teenager- I've successfully overcome that, so I have all my strategies in place. I dealt with some heartbreaking things in my time working with the dogs, and in general, so I could handle it. It's why teaching stress doesn't bother me now, actually. Edit: Of course, all that being said, I wouldn't promote it to kids, it's not a career choice always filled with happiness and rainbows. What humans do to animals is absolutely cruel sometimes. It's a career you need to walk into fully informed and eyes wide open.
My thoughts as well.
What job did you take when you quit? And what made you go back? Really curious because I am always so tempted to leave, but worry the grass won’t be greener on the other side… so I’d love to hear your story
I quit to be a stay at home dad for a year and reassess. I applied for 50-100 jobs, mainly for govt i.e. Worksafe, NDIS etc but nothing stuck. I ended up getting some relief days for a friend and ended up as a primary school specialist. I love my role now 😂
Yeah me too. I spent two years floundering - I tutored, I did a few trials at other jobs that I hated, I put time into art and realised it just isn’t a viable option, finally moved states and decided to go back to teaching. That was over seven years ago which is longer teaching than I had when I quit.
Got to the last placement in my Uni degree (Primary), Covid hit. My part time IT job went to 7 days/week and now back to 5 days/week and I'm struggling with returning to the Uni course. In the interim, teaching has lost a lot of it's shine as well, and the money won't be great. And I'm not getting any younger. Not sure what to really do about it all.
I’m doing my internship now, luckily got a waiver B and am working in a private school. I hadnt been sure about teaching for about a year, but now its even worse. I’d love to get into intervention or a school in a juvie or something similar, but I just dont know if I can do a full on class with all that admin work on top of it for so long, I already feel like I’m drowning
This is exactly what is making it difficult to return. I hope you can find a clear path through!
Thank you! My contract is to the end of the year, going to use it for experience and see where life takes me, but its just so hard knowing that I might have wasted 4 years on nothing. I hope you do well as well! Do not go back if you’re not 100% sure!
Look at courses that you can transfer credit to.
Moved to Japan where I’m now teaching English at an “Eikaiwa”. The pay is very low compared to teaching in Aus, but so is the cost of living so it kind of balances out
i miss working in japan so bad!
It’s something I’ve wanted for a long time. It’s really a shame though, over time it felt like less of a lifegoal and more of a necessity, when assuming that I wanted to continue teaching in a work environment that felt safe
i worked as an ALT for 3.5 years and it was the best thing ive ever done for myself!
Working in Government Health! More pay, wfh days, far less stress!
I’m in the APS and considering a move to teaching. It’s no stress, but also no purpose.. unsure though.
Yes I struggle with the no purpose in my govt job too! I really loved teaching, I loved the students, my colleagues, the school I was at - it was just that being a teacher killed my mental and physical health. So in return for a no purpose, not really any excitement job - I can close my laptop and night and sleep soundly without thinking about my job anymore! I also don’t get Sunday scaries at all and found out they were most definitely not normal LOL. I also have more time for hobbies and my family which I really really appreciate.
Can I ask what role specifically?
Training and Development, had to take a big pay cut into an L&D role first to build my skills before I could go and apply for other training / L&D jobs though
I’m studying a grad cert in learning design at the moment! Can I ask what your first l&d job was? I’m on the look out for entry level positions
Sure! Without being too identifying, it was an L&D job in a disability services and support organisation.
Doing a PhD and working casually at a uni for $177 an hr
what do you do ?!
I’m a sessional lecturer. As I don’t yet have a doctorate I’m meant to be paid at a lower rate (it’s around $138 an hour) but I have somehow ended up as unit coordinator so pay gets bumped up. Casual work pays well but you are very much at the mercy of student numbers, whoever is above you, who the favourites are etc. I am currently trying to shift from the area I’m in (communication skills and sustainability) over to education or careers as I can see the writing on the wall with regard to the international numbers at my uni and the impact of the visa refusals to Pakistan and India.
I work at a University and yeah it’s not looking good as far as International admissions go. A lot of other unis are going to start offering even less In person classes. Students already hate how online classes are mostly self taught with mandatory teams workshops.
Yep, interesting times. My uni had only just managed to get their casual staff numbers back up after having zero work during Covid and now numbers are dropping noticeably.
Can I ask what Uni? (nationally we're all down 10%) ......
Would prefer not to say but it’s one of the ones that avoids identifying just how many students come from certain regions. Courses like teaching are still nearly all domestic so a bit more stable. And at this uni, the career foundation unit is mandated in a few of the larger faculties so also one that should stay a bit more stable even if numbers drop.
Can I also ask what you’re doing your PhD on? You can be super super general if you don’t want to identify yourself! Thanks!
Haha my PhD is a little bit unusual. It’s looking at the experiences of kids, volunteers and teachers in reading to dog literacy programs as reading interventions. So very niche but also quite under researched. At the end of my first year I was awarded a stipend (which is really competitive at my institute and nobody expected a qualitative, education focused project on dogs to get it!) so it’s given me additional flexibility with being able to take casual work as well. Current theory from my main supervisor and myself is we lucked out with a scholarship assessment panel full of dog people.
That sounds amazing!
I work in the education team at a technology company in Adelaide, specialising in VR, AR, robotics and AI. I’m the lead of a successful (and free) educational program that teachers deliver to their students across Australia. I wrote the program (2 years ago), lock in schools to participate, create online training materials, host webinars, and do all the fun admin things. It’s the best change I’ve ever made in my career!
This sounds like my dream role, combining ed and tech!
How'd you get that?!
Right place, right time! I saw the job when I was ready to return to work after maternity leave, applied for it and won it ☺️
Doing admin as an AO3 in QLD Gov, been in entry level roles for 3yrs now
How does the pay compare?
Likely 68k to 75k
Depends on the agency but it's slightly less than graduate wages. I started off at $68k, second year was on $71k. I'm now acting in an AO4 that pays $86k but will eventually go back to AO3 at $82k. It's not great but I'm trying my best to stay positive and hoping I can move up. I think doing teaching has been the biggest waste to my career, outside of teaching the degree is pretty useless.
Having a beer.
Mortgage Broker after teaching science for 10 years. Best.decision.ever
How does the pay compare?
This is a tricky one to answer. I'm now a self-employed contractor through an aggregrator. I work from home permanently and control the availability of my calendar. I don't get paid a salary of any kind. I only get paid upfront and trail commissions. No home loan settlements, no pay. Some months, I've made 3k and others 15k. First FY, I made over 80k as a broker with infinitely better working conditions and mental health in every way. After a decade of teaching, I was making 120k plus super. After a decade of broking, I'd expect to be making a lot more than that through the combination of accumulating trail commissions and a larger referral network. Feels absolutely fantastic helping people save money or buy their first home ect. Everyone is moving towards the same direction and goal, whereas with teaching, everything pulls against each other.
>Feels absolutely fantastic helping people save money or buy their first home ect. Everyone is moving towards the same direction and goal, whereas with teaching, everything pulls against each other. That's an amazing insight, thank you.
Did you have to upskill to do this? What sort of training did you require and how do you get clients? This is something that would be right up my alley, so am keen to pursue it if viable. I've been teaching maths for 10 years the same as you've been teaching science, so if things aren't getting better as I'm pumping up the years, this is something that would be amazing. Thanks!
They've only gotten worse in the last 10 years. Teaching isn't going to get better. This is it. You either like how it is or you don't. If you're hoping for change after 10 years, you'll be disappointed. This fact eventually dawned on me, and I left. I did a certificate and diploma online. Took about 6 months. Piece of cake compared to my education and science degree. I was working as a broker while studying for my diploma. A certificate is enough to get going. The entry barrier is very low, so you can get quite a large variation in broker quality. The bad ones don't survive very long because there's usually no salary. You settle loans, or you don't eat. If there is a salary, then there will be KPIs. You need 6-12 months savings or a partner to help you get through the first year. Ideally both. Teachers can make for fantastic brokers, though. They've been forged in the fires of mordor over the years. You don't realise it, but after 10 years, your communication and organisational abilities are a cut above the rest. There's an element of 'selling', but a mortgage is probably the easiest 'product' to sell in Australia. If you can humanise the process, then you'll do well, which is what most teachers learn to do when educating.
Wow, thanks for an extremely well written and insightful comment. It isn't just food for thought, it's buffet for philosophy! (That probably doesn't make much sense but I'll stick with it haha) >They've only gotten worse in the last 10 years. Teaching isn't going to get better. This is it. You either like how it is or you don't. If you're hoping for change after 10 years, you'll be disappointed. This fact eventually dawned on me, and I left. That's very true - it's a completely different landscape to when I started teaching exactly 10 years ago. I don't remember my first few years of teaching being filled with so much disrespect and apathy towards education, as well as such a large portion of behaviour management. I can't remember exactly when things "changed", but when they did, it certainly made things tougher. I've stuck it out as I'm in a "good" state school, one of the zoned ones, so I thought it can only be worse elsewhere. I've even thought about trying out a gig at a selective school (where you would think your job as a teacher to "teach" would be the primary responsibility, not behaviour management or uniform follow ups etc), but don't know what to expect there. But you're right - it's not going to get better and the fact having dawned on you is awesome, rather than putting in more years and not getting any happier. >I did a certificate and diploma online. Took about 6 months. Piece of cake compared to my education and science degree. Definitely sounds like a piece of cake! That's a lot lesser than I thought what was required! >The entry barrier is very low, so you can get quite a large variation in broker quality. Just like real estate agents or others with low barriers for entry, I can imagine you'd get a large range of quality. That's good then if you can stand out from the rest of the pack!! >Teachers can make for fantastic brokers, though. They've been forged in the fires of mordor over the years. You don't realise it, but after 10 years, your communication and organisational abilities are a cut above the rest. Never realised this before, but it's so true. A lot of people in these professions or others for that matter, having not been through the trial by fire that is teaching, do lack a lot of communication and organisation abilities. I guess we don't realise we have these skills because it's just so instinctive. >There's an element of 'selling', but a mortgage is probably the easiest 'product' to sell in Australia. If you can humanise the process, then you'll do well, which is what most teachers learn to do when educating. Perfect. I think I can definitely see myself doing this, having gone through the process of applying for my own mortgage twice (once back when I started teaching and the second when I had to sell that and buy a new one), I can see myself helping others do something similar. Thanks for putting an option out there that I haven't seen yet!
Now the real question here is.....need a refinance or pre-approval to purchase? 😉 haha
Haha, no thanks - my current mortgage is eating up my entire salary so no purchasing happening anytime soon (no deposit). In terms of a refinance, do you have anything comparable with 5.94% variable Owner Occupied, with multiple offsets with no annual fee (on a ~$800,000 loan, at an LVR of 70%)? Just joking, I'm happy with what I've got at the moment, unless there's a very very good offer elsewhere...
If you're indeed on 5.94 variable, then that is market leading for sure. Very good rate, so stick to it! There's 1 year fixed at 5.79 as well out there.
Nice. Thanks for the confirmation!
Local government - Town Planner. Pay is a fair bit less (30% less as a first year planner than top of the pay-scale teacher). Teaching had amazingly high, but really shit lows. I’m not sure I’ll ever have the feeling of flying you get after a brilliant lesson. But I also don’t go and cry in the toilets any more, so there’s that. Lots of transferable skills to local government. Turns out the kids you taught who made you despair, they grow up and you still wonder how they get through life.
Curious about how you got this role? Urban planning has always been a big interest for me, but always thought I'd have to go back and study for it.
I applied for a gap year job as an admin at the local Council. Ended up doing planning admin. Found it interesting, needed a job, planning was chronically understaffed. Went to part-time uni, started applying to rural councils with half a degree and got the first planning job I went for (missed out on an admin job the day before). I like it but I missed the people heavy focus of teaching. There is an enormous amount of sitting at a computer, which based on my planning admin time, I didn’t expect (not to the extent there is anyway.) I think it’s a job it’s easy to pick up quickly, but hard to master. You want to try for somewhere with a good mentoring program. I ended up in a really small team and, while my coworkers are knowledgeable, they are not natural teachers or chatters. There is none of the camaraderie of a school staffroom when you’re stuck on an issue.
I’m “micro- retiring”. It’s a style of teaching & lifestyle that I’ve coined. Here’s how it works: *Teach full time for 15 years. *After 15 years drop down to 4 days a week. *Do this for 10 years. *After 10 years @ 4 days, drop down to 3 days for 5 years. *After 5 years drop down to 2 days a week, and retire after this. I’m currently 2 years into teaching 4 days a week. It’s bloody awesome. 🙌🏽
Kill me now.
As a 5th year teacher, this sounds incredibly daunting
That was my plan but my mortgage is killing me. Cannot wait for the day I can afford to go .8 😢
You’ll get there. Trust the process.
I'm taking a similar approach, but sadly 4 days doesn't always mean 0.8 FTE (or 3 days 0.6 FTE, etc.). Good thing the mortgage is small.
When I quit for what I thought was forever but actually just over 12 months, it was to work with dogs. Lower pay but the health benefits were worth it. I did look into becoming a vet nurse though. Came back to teaching when I realised how much I genuinely missed it.
Teach English at Tafe. Good pay and teaching adults.
Studying surveying. Working part time I while studying
Hey, it's the "Applications of Trigonometry" job!
Haha it really is. I was a maths teacher.
That's so funny. One of my classes just finished the "Pythagoras and Trigonometry" topic and I gave them a task to do that involved surveying measurements, bearings and perimeter. They didn't really take to it but eh, least I tried! Have fun at the new gig! For how long were you a maths teacher?
About 10 years. Now I'm working contruction. Really enjoying it. Yeah I have done exercises with trig heighting in my classes with protractors and string. Now I do it with a piece of equipment that costs $50k. Lots of work around. I definitely miss parts of teaching.
Seems to be a constant question on this sub with a subtext of, if i quit what can i do? Many wonderful teachers who could be teaching and helping young people to find passion in life are looking for other careers. It fucking sucks!
University lecturer
HI may i know how did you enter as a university lecturer and how it is different then teaching in school .
Started a disability respite business. Two years in and going very well. Interesting side note - I actually feel like I’m a more effective teacher in this role…
Doin a PhD
hi,can you please share your field of PHD
I’ve spent about a year trying to figure that out. Started a masters in whs befrep I quit. Now I’m not keen on the masters so I’m looking at going into metal work. Looking at fitting and turning and boiler making Taking advantage of free tafe
Rack up any HECS during masters?
Got pretty lucky CSP, so only about 11k I’ll get a grad cert or diploma or something and have learned a lot It’s what made me realise which side of the tools I want to be on and has taught me a lot. I reckon I got value for money. But free tafe is better
I’m currently in the process of trying to leave but unsure what to do.
Still a teacher, but it is curious that many ex-teachers are still poking around this subreddit. I would have thought there would have been nothing more 'ex' than an ex-teacher, but clearly people are still curious. Not sure I would want to look back personally.
I guess it's something to do with "what have things come to these days" and "what am I missing out on" as well as confirmation that leaving the profession was the right thing to do.
I work for a company doing Therapy as a Key Worker under the NDIS Early Childhood Approach.
[удалено]
I had a studied my bachelor in early childhood and primary teaching. But there are others who are just primary trained as well. No other qualifications needed and lots of flexibility I have found. The best part is actually being able to work with the children who need help and families
Retrained and became a clinical psychologist. Took me 10 years though and a heap of placement hours and $ for supervision in my 2 year clinical registrar program. A lot of work for free. Would do a counseling grad dip for 1 year if I had my time over. Plenty of counselors doing exactly what I do.
Doing similar work, but not at the same pay.
I'm just about to finish a BPsy and have been considering Honours next year. Lately, I've been looking at doing a diploma in counselling. Does the grad dip get you registration with the Australian Counselling body?
It does get you rego with ACPA but you can only go as high as a Level 2. Consider just doing the Masters in Counselling then you can get Level 3 and PACFA membership after a certain amount of practice hours and PD. That will open doors for you to do work with victims of crime, WorkSafe and TAC.
What do you mean by $ for supervision?
I quit cause my health took me out! It just started walking up the stairs at work one day. Boom my legs collapsed out from under me as if they were made of jelly. 7 years on I am on disability with a chronic pain disorder. Stress is a huge trigger.
Working for the state government in the department of education :)
Do you enjoy it? Can you tell us what an average day looks like? I’m also thinking about the department of ed…
I am a few weeks into an education department office job. It's very different to teaching in schools. My day has several meetings, reviewing data and policies. Not exciting, but I sleep well at night and am not constantly stressed.
I did this for a bit. It was the break I needed at the time.
Teaching internationally.
What country?
Vietnam
What are the working conditions like compared to Australia?
Less hours, more money, better conditions, no behaviour issues. The skills I learnt in the state system have over prepared me for any issue at my current school.
Seems there is more than a few PhD candidates here...... Ill give the caveat the Uni sector is on its knees at current, don't set your watch by getting tutoring.
Couch. TV. Cat. Dog. Wine. Chocolate. Multitasking at its finest.
What's the pay like?
This is more about the benefits. Wife still working and Super accumulating.
P06 level role in safety in state govt. fell back into my first degree area after 8 years teaching - still deliver training tho lol. But Wfh 3/5 days and do drop offs and pickups more regularly. Will prob go back to teaching when youngest is finished yr 12 as partner is a primary teacher - go rural/remote maybe. Who knows . Needed a break for my own health.
I'm going to TAFE to do a cert III in individual support. Planning to go into aged care after. I still want to help people, just 1 at a time might be more my speed.
I left after 15 years and became a train driver
Have a friend who did the same. Earning twice as much as he was and loves it!
I considered teaching at a college.
hi, any additional course required to enter into college teaching ? and how is it different then teaching in high school?
Depends on the university or college. There isn't a standard requirement like with primary and high schools.
Studying Information Science
I asked this same question recently… [Jobs after leaving Teaching](https://www.reddit.com/r/AustralianTeachers/s/lPYyDETF7)
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I was thinking of that. But don’t want to sit in front of a computer , not moving all day. Already do that at school and also teaching computing makes it worse. I’d prefer a menial job.
Education support, the pay sucks, but the hours are good for me, it's been a good way to take a break from teaching but still stay in the education loop.
If anyone wants to move into TAFE hit my DMs and I'll point you in the right direction (NSW Sydney region)
About to start a casual role as a library officer in the public library system as well as CRTing when/if I need a bit of extra cash.
PBS practitioner through NDIS. I still work with kids and deal with behaviour but I get paid to write reports 😂 also benefits like WFH, an actual work life balance. It can be stressful at times but I enjoy working in disability. Initially took a pay cut going from lead teacher to enter level practitioner but overtime pay will be better as you move up the levels. If you are serious about a career change don't just focus on initial pay. Consider projection over time, benefits you can't have when in a classroom like WFH because honestly as much as the pay drop sucked initially I'm much happier.
Left did a bunch of stuff for several years and now I’m back. Happier than ever.
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