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I took some time off to teach. Years later, I'm still doing it. I teach computer science and programming. This is a good field to go into, because (a) it appli

I took some time off to teach. Years later, I'm still doing it. I teach computer science and programming. This is a good field to go into, because (a) it applies my knowledge acquired from my earlier life as a developer, and (b) is always in demand. If you want to teach this, you will have no trouble getting a job at a high school, community college, or university. I would also argue it's not, strictly speaking, a technology job. Teaching is a people-oriented job, regardless of the subject.

hunter-gatherer 4y ago
I seem to have a different definition of "tech work" than most people here. When I dream of taking a sabatical I think about being a baker or barrista for $10/hour.
- guenthert 4y ago
  I inquired at a local bakery and was told that the bakers start their shift at midnight (!) so that the products can be sold by 4 or 5am. Mad respect for all bakers!
- chizhik-pyzhik 4y ago
  I actually did this, I was laid off a few months ago and went to work at a bakery part-time. The shift wasn't crazy early, I was working 6-9am 3 days a week... this was still too early for me, I ended up moving to helping close up and prep for the next day, so 1-3pm or so. Working at a place like this is totally doable, so many bakeries and cafes are desperate for workers that are more competent than high school kids. The work is busy and technical but much lower stress than resolving on-call incidents.
nunez 4y ago
Much more emphasis required on the "people-oriented"ness of the job. My wife has taught at the high school and community college levels for almost 15 years. Given ten years of her stories and experience (that's how long we've been together; DAMN TIME FLIES!), this is what I have to add: 1. Spend time at /r/professors and /r/teachers in Reddit. Read their stories. Ask questions. Warning: those subs are overwhelmingly negative for a reason. 2. I wouldn't recommend teaching CS at the high school level unless you have complete (and I mean COMPLETE) control over your schedule and curriculum and REALLY REALLY REALLY love teaching growing children. Because most school districts don't offer the former since they teach to national standards, the latter is much more important here. 3. Regardless of the level that you teach at, you'll essentially be casting a huge net hoping to catch a handful of fish. Lots of people only go to school because they have to. They don't care about learning and will suck up a LOT of your time, energy and patience. The only teachers/instructors/professors that universally get lots of love from students are the ones that give easy A's, which given the way that education as a whole is going, might not be a bad idea, unfortunately. (Much more profit-driven, even at the comm college level.) This is less likely to happen if you teach upper-level courses, like CS2xx or 3xx courses. The students taking them are much more invested and want guidance. At community college, those students are almost-certainly trying to get into a four-year and want to improve their chances of a transfer. They'll be more receptive of your content, and you'll feel more fulfilled teaching it. 4. You probably won't be teaching CS2xx or 3xx levels. At many schools, there are three rank levels: adjunct, staff, and full-time. Adjuncts are basically 1099s (contractors for the non-US folks) that get paid peanuts with no hope for career progression. Unlike tech, staff is essentially adjunct++. they take the schedules full-time faculty don't want, work as hard if not harder than them, and get paid less to much less for all that trouble. full-time faculty is where you want to be. you make your own schedule, get all of the time off, and get paid the best (though it's still peanuts relative to tech). Academia is insanely gatekeeper-y about full-time faculty positions. Four-year colleges require Ph.Ds for those roles, no exceptions. Most large comm college networks do as well. Some smaller comm colleges are fine with just a Masters or Bachelors in a related course of study. As far as I understand it, colleges are often fine with hiring staff-level professors with industry experience alone, but you probably won't ever become full-time and will probably not have control over your schedule, courses, and students. Also, most colleges relegate the upper-level stuff to full-time faculty only. TL;DR: Do a LOT of research and ask lots of questions before becoming a teacher or instructor. Way more work than people think. Also, sub to /r/professor and /r/teachers on Reddit.
- nextos 4y ago
  > Four-year colleges require Ph.Ds for those roles, no exceptions In British academia it is not impossible to get a lecturer position (equivalent to US assistant professor) without a PhD. Simon Peyton Jones, who is famous for his Haskell / GHC work, got one and progressed all the way to full professor. The OP might want to consider this. If one aims at CS positions that are mostly / fully devoted to teaching in not-so-prominent universities, it's totally doable. There is a shortage of good programming teachers because of the big pay gap compared to industry. A lecturer will get ~£40-50,000 gross, whereas a good programming job in London will be more than 2x that figure. However, if you land a lectureship somewhere cheap, in practice the paygap won't be so dramatic.
  - nunez 4y ago
    Yep, totally possible to get to an assistant professor/lecturer without a Ph.D, but they are not considered full-time faculty, will not qualify for tenure track (i.e. can theoretically get fired at any time, but realistically probably not), do not get top pick for courses/course slots (and might not be eligible to teach certain courses despite having the credentials to do so), and, at some schools, are not eligible for the same number of holidays as full-time faculty are. It makes sense from within. The goal for a majority of Ph.D's is to become a professor at a four-year college and conduct research on government grants (or get tenured so that they can basically get paid to be retired). That can't happen if you have industry vets who can _actually teach these courses, and probably do a better job of it_ taking those spots. So you lock them out of those opportunities entirely and get TAs (for bigger core classes), adjuncts or staff/lecturers to teach everything else.
    - nextos 4y ago
      In many European countries, including UK, tenure has been abolished. At the time of application, you know whether the job is permanent. Some lectureships that do not require PhD, or where PhD is optional, are permanent jobs.

hunter-gatherer 4y ago

I seem to have a different definition of "tech work" than most people here. When I dream of taking a sabatical I think about being a baker or barrista for $10/hour.

guenthert 4y ago
I inquired at a local bakery and was told that the bakers start their shift at midnight (!) so that the products can be sold by 4 or 5am. Mad respect for all bakers!
chizhik-pyzhik 4y ago
I actually did this, I was laid off a few months ago and went to work at a bakery part-time. The shift wasn't crazy early, I was working 6-9am 3 days a week... this was still too early for me, I ended up moving to helping close up and prep for the next day, so 1-3pm or so. Working at a place like this is totally doable, so many bakeries and cafes are desperate for workers that are more competent than high school kids. The work is busy and technical but much lower stress than resolving on-call incidents.

nunez 4y ago

Much more emphasis required on the "people-oriented"ness of the job. My wife has taught at the high school and community college levels for almost 15 years. Given ten years of her stories and experience (that's how long we've been together; DAMN TIME FLIES!), this is what I have to add: 1. Spend time at /r/professors and /r/teachers in Reddit. Read their stories. Ask questions. Warning: those subs are overwhelmingly negative for a reason. 2. I wouldn't recommend teaching CS at the high school level unless you have complete (and I mean COMPLETE) control over your schedule and curriculum and REALLY REALLY REALLY love teaching growing children. Because most school districts don't offer the former since they teach to national standards, the latter is much more important here. 3. Regardless of the level that you teach at, you'll essentially be casting a huge net hoping to catch a handful of fish. Lots of people only go to school because they have to. They don't care about learning and will suck up a LOT of your time, energy and patience. The only teachers/instructors/professors that universally get lots of love from students are the ones that give easy A's, which given the way that education as a whole is going, might not be a bad idea, unfortunately. (Much more profit-driven, even at the comm college level.) This is less likely to happen if you teach upper-level courses, like CS2xx or 3xx courses. The students taking them are much more invested and want guidance. At community college, those students are almost-certainly trying to get into a four-year and want to improve their chances of a transfer. They'll be more receptive of your content, and you'll feel more fulfilled teaching it. 4. You probably won't be teaching CS2xx or 3xx levels. At many schools, there are three rank levels: adjunct, staff, and full-time. Adjuncts are basically 1099s (contractors for the non-US folks) that get paid peanuts with no hope for career progression. Unlike tech, staff is essentially adjunct++. they take the schedules full-time faculty don't want, work as hard if not harder than them, and get paid less to much less for all that trouble. full-time faculty is where you want to be. you make your own schedule, get all of the time off, and get paid the best (though it's still peanuts relative to tech). Academia is insanely gatekeeper-y about full-time faculty positions. Four-year colleges require Ph.Ds for those roles, no exceptions. Most large comm college networks do as well. Some smaller comm colleges are fine with just a Masters or Bachelors in a related course of study. As far as I understand it, colleges are often fine with hiring staff-level professors with industry experience alone, but you probably won't ever become full-time and will probably not have control over your schedule, courses, and students. Also, most colleges relegate the upper-level stuff to full-time faculty only. TL;DR: Do a LOT of research and ask lots of questions before becoming a teacher or instructor. Way more work than people think. Also, sub to /r/professor and /r/teachers on Reddit.

nextos 4y ago
> Four-year colleges require Ph.Ds for those roles, no exceptions In British academia it is not impossible to get a lecturer position (equivalent to US assistant professor) without a PhD. Simon Peyton Jones, who is famous for his Haskell / GHC work, got one and progressed all the way to full professor. The OP might want to consider this. If one aims at CS positions that are mostly / fully devoted to teaching in not-so-prominent universities, it's totally doable. There is a shortage of good programming teachers because of the big pay gap compared to industry. A lecturer will get ~£40-50,000 gross, whereas a good programming job in London will be more than 2x that figure. However, if you land a lectureship somewhere cheap, in practice the paygap won't be so dramatic.
- nunez 4y ago
  Yep, totally possible to get to an assistant professor/lecturer without a Ph.D, but they are not considered full-time faculty, will not qualify for tenure track (i.e. can theoretically get fired at any time, but realistically probably not), do not get top pick for courses/course slots (and might not be eligible to teach certain courses despite having the credentials to do so), and, at some schools, are not eligible for the same number of holidays as full-time faculty are. It makes sense from within. The goal for a majority of Ph.D's is to become a professor at a four-year college and conduct research on government grants (or get tenured so that they can basically get paid to be retired). That can't happen if you have industry vets who can _actually teach these courses, and probably do a better job of it_ taking those spots. So you lock them out of those opportunities entirely and get TAs (for bigger core classes), adjuncts or staff/lecturers to teach everything else.
  - nextos 4y ago
    In many European countries, including UK, tenure has been abolished. At the time of application, you know whether the job is permanent. Some lectureships that do not require PhD, or where PhD is optional, are permanent jobs.