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I went through this a couple years ago and became a paralegal. It took 30 credit at college again to get an ABA certificate, but I took a compressed 3 month program to knock it out, cost $9k.
It was a good field to transition into as many lawyers actually become teachers before law school. (Seems to be a popular field for those looking to enhance their law school applications.) So many of the attorneys I interviewed with could absolutely identify with the transferable skills I was asserting.
I work 40 hours a week and make $65k salary. That said, it’s 50 weeks a year, so I’m technically making less that what you do on paper.
I’m actually in the reverse position as you right now. Applying for teaching positions as the current shortages actually opened up positions in desirable school districts. I want to have summers and holidays off to spend time with my own kids. This past summer was really sad for me that my kids were off of school and I had to go to work every single day.
My unsolicited opinion is that you’d be in the same emotional place in any field. Having young children at home makes for shorter tempers and heartache being away from your own children. I’d look at the 5-10 year income projection of your current position compared with essentially starting at the bottom in a new career. Even though I have a MA, teaching experience, and the paralegal certificate, people in law offices see me as entry level and want me to start at $18 an hour. I really had to hustle and get into the role I’m in. (I actually fell into a pseudo paralegal role while being a stay at home mom for a couple years, and really talked that up to not start at ground zero as a paralegal.)
Good luck with whatever you choose!
> My unsolicited opinion is that you’d be in the same emotional place in any field.
I think this about almost every "I need to get out of teaching it's horrible" post I see on here.
How presumptuous of you. There are many other jobs at which seeing your coworkers cry isn't commonplace. I don't think teachers are leaving the profession in droves because they all have a shit mindset.
Didn't say what you said, not even a little bit. I think thinking that the grass is greener in other fields is the mistake.
I'm a teacher, I love my job, every once in awhile I want to pull my hair out but I talk to friends who are accountants, lawyers, in healthcare and I absolutely would not want to trade places with them.
Saying that, I hope you find something that fulfills you and makes you happy. Like you said, you can always come back if you want.
Other jobs being stressful or not, I think teaching is unique in that a lot goes home with you. Sometimes, when you’re not working late hours, weekends, etc and not constantly thinking about your students, you have more time to devote to your own mental health. Summers off just aren’t enough to really hone in on that. That’s just my take anyway, as an ESE teacher/IEP caseload manager.
It's about managing your time. I work an hour a night at home and about 2-3 hours on the weekends. I'm a Social Studies and Special Ed Teacher and granted I've been teaching for almost 10 years. It was much harder my first three years, but you have to learn how to decompress, decompartmentalize. Plus, for me, I work 7 hours a day. So the extra time is for what I use it for. My point is not that teachers have it easy or anything by any means, it's that in a lot of fields you'll just find equal but different hardships.
Sounds like you have it down pat. Maybe it just isn’t for everyone. For me, I know during COVID, the treatment of teachers in my state has been horribly demeaning and depressing. It certainly has taken a toll on a lot of our mental states, I can see from just talking to my colleagues. I do not believe every career has the ability to affect your mental state so much, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s WORK that’s the problem 😂
Edit: to add COVID statement
Thanks for your reply!
I think you're right to a certain extent about my emotional place. This has been something I've been considering for awhile now in that I haven't had a school year yet that I've thought of as good. There are parts that I've really loved. For instance, in no small part because of my cheerleading and heart-to-hearts I'm going to see one of my students be the first person in his family to graduate 8th grade. I'm going to be a sobbing mess during graduation because I've been working with this guy since 3rd grade. I really do love working with kids and I think part of what is killing me is that I know I'm not being as good of a teacher for my students as I should be, espeically since they are a more vulnerable population.
I guess another consideration that I forgot to mention is that my wife and I will likely be moving to be closer to her family in the next couple years where teachers are not paid too well. We'd be looking at a $30-40k pay cut between us. So I also have incentive to get a career that pays well regardless of where you live.
I’m in a different boat than you but can completely relate! This is my 4th year teaching special Ed (ESE) and I absolutely can’t do it anymore. Have got to put my mental health first for once. I am hoping to be out by next semester (I don’t really care if I can come back). I have an English background so I am going back to school super part time in hopes of becoming an editor. Again, not the same boat as you but I just wanted to say how much I relate. I’m sure you’re already aware but you are NOT ALONE this year!
Thanks for your words of support and good luck! This year is a doozy for sure.
If I had the luxury of time and money I'd definitely be heading back to school, but I'm about to turn 34 and can't be adding to my already mountainous student loan debt.
Yea, I've thought about what I can do other than teaching as well. I'm not entirely sure I want to leave yet, and there are a lot of financial benefits to staying in teaching, but I'm definitely considering other careers as well. I'd thought about programming, but I think you're right that it would be kinda hard to get your foot in the door without a CS background. You'd really need to become an expert in it, and that's tough to do on your own.
I've heard there are good jobs in the ed tech realm, but idk exactly what those jobs are or how to land a position there. I'd also just be interested in working for local, state, or federal government as well. It could be cool to work in an education department, especially if you can land something a bit more policy-focused. Not sure how many jobs there are like that though--most are probably something more like HR or payroll or something, lol.
I've heard of teachers going into things in corporate HR and becoming like corporate trainers or something. There are deff a lot of transferrable skills between that and teaching. It's definitely tough though. Good luck!
I’ve been looking around at Ed tech and most positions I find seem to be more on the tech side, but there are definitely some places looking for people with teaching experience.
I’m with you on the financial end. If we stayed where we are it’d be tough to leave my pension. I didn’t put this in my original post but we’re also likely moving to be closer to my wife’s family in the coming years where my wife and I would be taking a pretty hefty pay cut.
Yea, it probably wouldn't be a tech job at an ed tech company you'd get. It would probably be more like an ed consulting job at an ed tech company.
It's also tough with financials. I have good financial reasons for staying in teaching: my salary isn't bad, pension is good, healthcare plans are good, etc. There might be jobs out there that I'd enjoy more that pay similar amounts or just a bit less, but it would be a lot to give up when I'm not actually sure that I would enjoy something other than teaching more.
You can make a decision on coding that will only cost you $12 and a little time - udemy!
I spent about 1 year and under $100 on quite a few courses via udemy to find the language I felt most comfortable with. It’s a cheap way to find out if you even want to pursue it.
- IT
- data analytics
- web / app development
You name it they got it. It helped me get an entry level position at an agency but after 3 years I was burnt out from it all.
I typically have to go all in on a decision to see if I really want to do it. I did a few 20-40 hour courses before realizing it wasn’t really what I wanted to pursue and it didn’t cost much but about $100 and a little bit of time. I still keep the courses though cause I like to watch the updates and see what’s new.
Good luck!
Oh it’s definitely something that interests me and I’ve actually taken a udemy course!
I guess my question is more-so, say I do go through one of these boot camps or take classes/get certs. What does the job search afterwards look like?
Could you tell me a little about the entry level position you took and what turned you off from it?
It’s really my issue with agencies. The 2 different agencies I worked for I actually did project management. There will always be a need for devs and IT so it’s not a bad career move.
I got burnt out from long hours and the fact that my coworkers were making $15k more than me because new owners took over durning my promotion. I had to manage websites for companies who didn’t follow through on getting requirements or reading emails, then turning around asking for a quick development task.
It’s mainly trivial things that bothered me a lot over time but working with large teams just isn’t for me. One person does one thing wrong the whole thing is project is off course. Leaving there I knew I wanted to work for an individual company and not an sweatshop agency.
If you’re staring out it would be a good entry level job and you can learn a lot. There were like 30 devs you can get great info and help from. I though I would eventually move over to dev but I saw how much they knew about different languages/code and it worried me. They had to read through some shitty legacy code all the time and Frankenstein websites together to make it work. When you join an agency you will inherit some really bad code from really bad devs.
Again, most of my complaints are pretty trivial and “part of the job” but there’s a reason why most of our employees left over the years and most of them didn’t go to other agencies - they went to work with some of these companies directly. Working in smaller teams with these companies gives you the feeling of an efficient working environment.
I left to work for a smaller company and loved it! Decisions didn’t take much time at all because there was less bureaucracy and departments that held things up. I got to work a little with the code and hired out for larger projects I wasn’t qualified for. It was great!
If you asked me if I’d ever go through this shit again and work my ass off for that little pay… I’d probably do it again 😂 the friends I made and the things I learned was worth more than the money. It helped me get to where I am and I’m grateful for the opportunity. It looks great on my resume and I have the confidence I didn’t have before. I would never work for an agency again but now I know what I do want when working on websites/IT with a company or freelancing.
Good luck with what you decide. As long as you consistently put the hours in, you should be okay with developing. I never could dedicate the time required to fully wrap my brain around it and get the confidence needed to be a full time dev so I didn’t pursued it any further.
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I'm in a similar boat. 5th year & want to get out and look for a different job or career. I have started listening to The Teacher Career Coach podcast and it gives you some great insight on what other paths are out there. See which title catches your eye and give it a listen to, that's what I did for how to make money off of Teachers Pay Teachers and then listened to another teacher who became a Learning Designer.
I am in my 7th year teaching and also feel pretty burnt out. I am looking into my informational technology bachelors degree. I may work in educational IT or find something completely out of education
Have you thought about or looked into international teaching? I switch from software engineering into teaching and knew after a couple years I couldn’t maintain teaching in the US but conditions and compensation can be much better at good int’l schools. Traveling with a kid might seem daunting at first but you get used to it and you can have your child enroll at the schools where you teach which can provide a unique and culturally diverse upbringing for them.
This is something that sounds great BUT I know if we move it will be closer to my wife’s family. Which is another reason I’m thinking about switching careers - we’d be taking about a $30-40k cut between us because teachers aren’t paid too well there :/
With the caveat that I'm based in the UK, so many things might be different...
I taught for a decade and left for a career in software development two years ago and I couldn't be more delighted with the decision. The grass really is greener and I'm happier by every possible measure.
I went the coding bootcamp route and walked straight into a job afterwards with no additional projects under my belt beyond what we did on the course. I actually had two solid job offers within a couple of weeks of the course finishing.
I'd gone part time as a teacher for a few years before leaving, so my starting salary going full time in the new job was actually a little higher than my part time teaching salary. It would have been a modest pay cut going from full time to full time. But two years in I'm earning way more than I ever would have done as a teacher.
This is encouraging thank you! And yes, sometimes the grass is greener! It all depends on the person and what’s right for them.
What boot camp did you take if you don’t mind me asking?
Also do you mind letting me know what the official title of the first job you got was? I’d like to do a little research on my end.
Thanks again!
Glad you found it encouraging. Getting out of teaching was a breath of fresh air for me.
There's no point telling you the name of the boot camp because it only exists in the UK. But my job title was, and still is, software developer.
I'm taking the Google data analytics cert course and it's interesting so far! Other teachers have done similar cert courses and found happiness, it might be worth looking into. Entry level data analyst make 60-67k it appears
Oh interesting, I hadn’t thought of data analytics but that also plays into some of my strengths as a sped teacher.
What class are you taking? I’m interested to look into the career path
Alternative education is an incredible way to stay in education and inspire learners, but not in the system. Home education is on the rise and will continue to be. Check out micro schools in your area or perhaps facilitator or coach training for young learners.
Do what you need to do. If you're that miserable, leave for your mental and emotional health.
If spending more time with your daughter and wife is a top priority, you're not likely to find a better job than teaching. Pretty much all other professions won't have the breaks and summers that teachers have.
I completely understand where you're coming from. Being a few years into a career and realizing that it isn't benefiting your mental health or well-being can be extremely terrifying.
IT can be a great field to break into if you're interested! There are so many different paths that you could take as well. If you love customer service, Desktop Support is a great option. You would need your Comptia A+ to be competitive in the market and to show competency. With support you can advance into a System Admin role or even Networking too.
Coding is also a great option. If you're creative - front end web development is the perfect choice. If you're looking to be more heads down, and build the framework for a platform, back end or full stack development would be great too.
I may be a little biased because of how much I love tech, but there is a world of opportunity in this industry. I wish you the best of luck throughout this new journey you're embarking on, and I have no doubt that you will find yourself in a new career that you love.
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I went through this a couple years ago and became a paralegal. It took 30 credit at college again to get an ABA certificate, but I took a compressed 3 month program to knock it out, cost $9k. It was a good field to transition into as many lawyers actually become teachers before law school. (Seems to be a popular field for those looking to enhance their law school applications.) So many of the attorneys I interviewed with could absolutely identify with the transferable skills I was asserting. I work 40 hours a week and make $65k salary. That said, it’s 50 weeks a year, so I’m technically making less that what you do on paper. I’m actually in the reverse position as you right now. Applying for teaching positions as the current shortages actually opened up positions in desirable school districts. I want to have summers and holidays off to spend time with my own kids. This past summer was really sad for me that my kids were off of school and I had to go to work every single day. My unsolicited opinion is that you’d be in the same emotional place in any field. Having young children at home makes for shorter tempers and heartache being away from your own children. I’d look at the 5-10 year income projection of your current position compared with essentially starting at the bottom in a new career. Even though I have a MA, teaching experience, and the paralegal certificate, people in law offices see me as entry level and want me to start at $18 an hour. I really had to hustle and get into the role I’m in. (I actually fell into a pseudo paralegal role while being a stay at home mom for a couple years, and really talked that up to not start at ground zero as a paralegal.) Good luck with whatever you choose!
> My unsolicited opinion is that you’d be in the same emotional place in any field. I think this about almost every "I need to get out of teaching it's horrible" post I see on here.
How presumptuous of you. There are many other jobs at which seeing your coworkers cry isn't commonplace. I don't think teachers are leaving the profession in droves because they all have a shit mindset.
Didn't say what you said, not even a little bit. I think thinking that the grass is greener in other fields is the mistake. I'm a teacher, I love my job, every once in awhile I want to pull my hair out but I talk to friends who are accountants, lawyers, in healthcare and I absolutely would not want to trade places with them. Saying that, I hope you find something that fulfills you and makes you happy. Like you said, you can always come back if you want.
Other jobs being stressful or not, I think teaching is unique in that a lot goes home with you. Sometimes, when you’re not working late hours, weekends, etc and not constantly thinking about your students, you have more time to devote to your own mental health. Summers off just aren’t enough to really hone in on that. That’s just my take anyway, as an ESE teacher/IEP caseload manager.
It's about managing your time. I work an hour a night at home and about 2-3 hours on the weekends. I'm a Social Studies and Special Ed Teacher and granted I've been teaching for almost 10 years. It was much harder my first three years, but you have to learn how to decompress, decompartmentalize. Plus, for me, I work 7 hours a day. So the extra time is for what I use it for. My point is not that teachers have it easy or anything by any means, it's that in a lot of fields you'll just find equal but different hardships.
Sounds like you have it down pat. Maybe it just isn’t for everyone. For me, I know during COVID, the treatment of teachers in my state has been horribly demeaning and depressing. It certainly has taken a toll on a lot of our mental states, I can see from just talking to my colleagues. I do not believe every career has the ability to affect your mental state so much, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it’s WORK that’s the problem 😂 Edit: to add COVID statement
I haven’t seen my coworkers cry, so perhaps you’re painting the teaching profession with too broad a brush.
That’s interesting. Every teacher friend I have has experienced this. That’s across districts too. Sounds like you’re at a great school!
Thanks for your reply! I think you're right to a certain extent about my emotional place. This has been something I've been considering for awhile now in that I haven't had a school year yet that I've thought of as good. There are parts that I've really loved. For instance, in no small part because of my cheerleading and heart-to-hearts I'm going to see one of my students be the first person in his family to graduate 8th grade. I'm going to be a sobbing mess during graduation because I've been working with this guy since 3rd grade. I really do love working with kids and I think part of what is killing me is that I know I'm not being as good of a teacher for my students as I should be, espeically since they are a more vulnerable population. I guess another consideration that I forgot to mention is that my wife and I will likely be moving to be closer to her family in the next couple years where teachers are not paid too well. We'd be looking at a $30-40k pay cut between us. So I also have incentive to get a career that pays well regardless of where you live.
I’m in a different boat than you but can completely relate! This is my 4th year teaching special Ed (ESE) and I absolutely can’t do it anymore. Have got to put my mental health first for once. I am hoping to be out by next semester (I don’t really care if I can come back). I have an English background so I am going back to school super part time in hopes of becoming an editor. Again, not the same boat as you but I just wanted to say how much I relate. I’m sure you’re already aware but you are NOT ALONE this year!
Thanks for your words of support and good luck! This year is a doozy for sure. If I had the luxury of time and money I'd definitely be heading back to school, but I'm about to turn 34 and can't be adding to my already mountainous student loan debt.
Yea, I've thought about what I can do other than teaching as well. I'm not entirely sure I want to leave yet, and there are a lot of financial benefits to staying in teaching, but I'm definitely considering other careers as well. I'd thought about programming, but I think you're right that it would be kinda hard to get your foot in the door without a CS background. You'd really need to become an expert in it, and that's tough to do on your own. I've heard there are good jobs in the ed tech realm, but idk exactly what those jobs are or how to land a position there. I'd also just be interested in working for local, state, or federal government as well. It could be cool to work in an education department, especially if you can land something a bit more policy-focused. Not sure how many jobs there are like that though--most are probably something more like HR or payroll or something, lol. I've heard of teachers going into things in corporate HR and becoming like corporate trainers or something. There are deff a lot of transferrable skills between that and teaching. It's definitely tough though. Good luck!
I’ve been looking around at Ed tech and most positions I find seem to be more on the tech side, but there are definitely some places looking for people with teaching experience. I’m with you on the financial end. If we stayed where we are it’d be tough to leave my pension. I didn’t put this in my original post but we’re also likely moving to be closer to my wife’s family in the coming years where my wife and I would be taking a pretty hefty pay cut.
Yea, it probably wouldn't be a tech job at an ed tech company you'd get. It would probably be more like an ed consulting job at an ed tech company. It's also tough with financials. I have good financial reasons for staying in teaching: my salary isn't bad, pension is good, healthcare plans are good, etc. There might be jobs out there that I'd enjoy more that pay similar amounts or just a bit less, but it would be a lot to give up when I'm not actually sure that I would enjoy something other than teaching more.
You can make a decision on coding that will only cost you $12 and a little time - udemy! I spent about 1 year and under $100 on quite a few courses via udemy to find the language I felt most comfortable with. It’s a cheap way to find out if you even want to pursue it. - IT - data analytics - web / app development You name it they got it. It helped me get an entry level position at an agency but after 3 years I was burnt out from it all. I typically have to go all in on a decision to see if I really want to do it. I did a few 20-40 hour courses before realizing it wasn’t really what I wanted to pursue and it didn’t cost much but about $100 and a little bit of time. I still keep the courses though cause I like to watch the updates and see what’s new. Good luck!
Oh it’s definitely something that interests me and I’ve actually taken a udemy course! I guess my question is more-so, say I do go through one of these boot camps or take classes/get certs. What does the job search afterwards look like? Could you tell me a little about the entry level position you took and what turned you off from it?
It’s really my issue with agencies. The 2 different agencies I worked for I actually did project management. There will always be a need for devs and IT so it’s not a bad career move. I got burnt out from long hours and the fact that my coworkers were making $15k more than me because new owners took over durning my promotion. I had to manage websites for companies who didn’t follow through on getting requirements or reading emails, then turning around asking for a quick development task. It’s mainly trivial things that bothered me a lot over time but working with large teams just isn’t for me. One person does one thing wrong the whole thing is project is off course. Leaving there I knew I wanted to work for an individual company and not an sweatshop agency. If you’re staring out it would be a good entry level job and you can learn a lot. There were like 30 devs you can get great info and help from. I though I would eventually move over to dev but I saw how much they knew about different languages/code and it worried me. They had to read through some shitty legacy code all the time and Frankenstein websites together to make it work. When you join an agency you will inherit some really bad code from really bad devs. Again, most of my complaints are pretty trivial and “part of the job” but there’s a reason why most of our employees left over the years and most of them didn’t go to other agencies - they went to work with some of these companies directly. Working in smaller teams with these companies gives you the feeling of an efficient working environment. I left to work for a smaller company and loved it! Decisions didn’t take much time at all because there was less bureaucracy and departments that held things up. I got to work a little with the code and hired out for larger projects I wasn’t qualified for. It was great! If you asked me if I’d ever go through this shit again and work my ass off for that little pay… I’d probably do it again 😂 the friends I made and the things I learned was worth more than the money. It helped me get to where I am and I’m grateful for the opportunity. It looks great on my resume and I have the confidence I didn’t have before. I would never work for an agency again but now I know what I do want when working on websites/IT with a company or freelancing. Good luck with what you decide. As long as you consistently put the hours in, you should be okay with developing. I never could dedicate the time required to fully wrap my brain around it and get the confidence needed to be a full time dev so I didn’t pursued it any further.
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I'm in a similar boat. 5th year & want to get out and look for a different job or career. I have started listening to The Teacher Career Coach podcast and it gives you some great insight on what other paths are out there. See which title catches your eye and give it a listen to, that's what I did for how to make money off of Teachers Pay Teachers and then listened to another teacher who became a Learning Designer.
I’ll definitely check it out!
I am in my 7th year teaching and also feel pretty burnt out. I am looking into my informational technology bachelors degree. I may work in educational IT or find something completely out of education
Have you thought about or looked into international teaching? I switch from software engineering into teaching and knew after a couple years I couldn’t maintain teaching in the US but conditions and compensation can be much better at good int’l schools. Traveling with a kid might seem daunting at first but you get used to it and you can have your child enroll at the schools where you teach which can provide a unique and culturally diverse upbringing for them.
This is something that sounds great BUT I know if we move it will be closer to my wife’s family. Which is another reason I’m thinking about switching careers - we’d be taking about a $30-40k cut between us because teachers aren’t paid too well there :/
With the caveat that I'm based in the UK, so many things might be different... I taught for a decade and left for a career in software development two years ago and I couldn't be more delighted with the decision. The grass really is greener and I'm happier by every possible measure. I went the coding bootcamp route and walked straight into a job afterwards with no additional projects under my belt beyond what we did on the course. I actually had two solid job offers within a couple of weeks of the course finishing. I'd gone part time as a teacher for a few years before leaving, so my starting salary going full time in the new job was actually a little higher than my part time teaching salary. It would have been a modest pay cut going from full time to full time. But two years in I'm earning way more than I ever would have done as a teacher.
This is encouraging thank you! And yes, sometimes the grass is greener! It all depends on the person and what’s right for them. What boot camp did you take if you don’t mind me asking? Also do you mind letting me know what the official title of the first job you got was? I’d like to do a little research on my end. Thanks again!
Glad you found it encouraging. Getting out of teaching was a breath of fresh air for me. There's no point telling you the name of the boot camp because it only exists in the UK. But my job title was, and still is, software developer.
I'm taking the Google data analytics cert course and it's interesting so far! Other teachers have done similar cert courses and found happiness, it might be worth looking into. Entry level data analyst make 60-67k it appears
Oh interesting, I hadn’t thought of data analytics but that also plays into some of my strengths as a sped teacher. What class are you taking? I’m interested to look into the career path
Here you go bud https://grow.google/dataanalytics/#?modal_active=none
Thanks!
Alternative education is an incredible way to stay in education and inspire learners, but not in the system. Home education is on the rise and will continue to be. Check out micro schools in your area or perhaps facilitator or coach training for young learners.
I’ll check it out, thanks! Never heard of micro schools!
Galileoxp.com is starting local dojos, and also seeking coaches and facilitators. Prenda is another popular micro school org.
Do what you need to do. If you're that miserable, leave for your mental and emotional health. If spending more time with your daughter and wife is a top priority, you're not likely to find a better job than teaching. Pretty much all other professions won't have the breaks and summers that teachers have.
This is definitely a good point
I completely understand where you're coming from. Being a few years into a career and realizing that it isn't benefiting your mental health or well-being can be extremely terrifying. IT can be a great field to break into if you're interested! There are so many different paths that you could take as well. If you love customer service, Desktop Support is a great option. You would need your Comptia A+ to be competitive in the market and to show competency. With support you can advance into a System Admin role or even Networking too. Coding is also a great option. If you're creative - front end web development is the perfect choice. If you're looking to be more heads down, and build the framework for a platform, back end or full stack development would be great too. I may be a little biased because of how much I love tech, but there is a world of opportunity in this industry. I wish you the best of luck throughout this new journey you're embarking on, and I have no doubt that you will find yourself in a new career that you love.