Possible Career Change - Advice Needed

[acamp]

Good evening, everyone,
I have been teaching full time in NJ for the past 17 years. Sadly, it is no longer teaching for many reasons. It’s actually very sad what public school education has been turned into. It’s a huge disservice to teachers who want to actually teach and ultimately a huge disservice to the students.

With that being sad, I really need to make a move into a career change. Since I have 17 years of teaching, I am at the top of the pay scale making very close to $100,000 (not that I see anywhere near that amount due to useless union fees, $900 a month medical benefits deduction, pension, and of course taxes).

All I have known is teaching. I love interacting with people and helping them. I have a masters but it is in a teaching speciality so that won’t really help in regards to a career change.

Does anyone know or can offer any ideas as to a career I can try to move into where I am making close to $100k a year and offers family medical health benefits? Side note - I am the sole provider of my family. My home isn’t big so I can’t downsize and make any money on it.

I don’t think I would be good in sales due to the risk of not having a salary come in to feed and provide for my family. Also, I am descent with technology but don’t have the brain for coding (I am a very black/white, concrete sequential thinker).

Any ideas or suggestions I would appreciate. Thanks in advance!




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[ss20ts]

Have you considered corporate training? You'd be able to utilize your teaching skills working with adults instead.

[acamp]

Have you considered corporate training? You'd be able to utilize your teaching skills working with adults instead.

I have heard about that in the past but never received any info on what it entails or have spoken to anyone currently in it. Do I need a certain degree or experience for that role? I am very passionate when I am speaking in front of people and would definitely pursue that if the pay is similar.


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[bjcheung77]

@acamp, What subjects are you qualified to teach?  What other qualifications do you have?  Any other extra certificates or any more details you can think of to give us a better picture of your scenario?  And your degrees, what exactly were they?  Consulting may work as well...

Depending on what "technology" fields you're looking at, you might want to pivot "management", here are some examples.
Cybersecurity/IT Manager,  Software/Web Developer > Project Manager, Finance/Marketing Manager.  There are so many options to select from.

You may want to get your feet wet by consulting first (on the side) while you're still teaching.  Couple that with the Coursera/TADA certs to see if you're into any of those.  You can decide after you get some experience/knowledge in the subject to see if it fits and feels like the profession you want to get into.

[acamp]

@acamp, What subjects are you qualified to teach?  What other qualifications do you have?  Any other extra certificates or any more details you can think of to give us a better picture of your scenario?  And your degrees, what exactly were they?  Consulting may work as well...

Depending on what "technology" fields you're looking at, you might want to pivot "management", here are some examples.
Cybersecurity/IT Manager,  Software/Web Developer > Project Manager, Finance/Marketing Manager.  There are so many options to select from.

You may want to get your feet wet by consulting first (on the side) while you're still teaching.  Couple that with the Coursera/TADA certs to see if you're into any of those.  You can decide after you get some experience/knowledge in the subject to see if it fits and feels like the profession you want to get into.

Good morning and thank you for the response!
As for teaching certs, I only have elementary Ed cert as well as middle school math cert so nothing too specific like a higher level science or math.

Also, since I have never held a management type position, don’t they usually hire only those workers with experience in that field?

Respond whenever - thanks again!




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[AnalysisParalysis]

@acamp, I'm not sure if it is similar in NJ but here in CA teaching at a community college is a pretty good gig. It is kind of the best kept secret of teaching. All you need it is a Masters and you generally don't get all the "other" stuff that comes with teaching in the public school system. With your work experience and Masters you could be a prime candidate for a full time instructor position at a community college. You get the joy of teaching without the headache of k-12 and typically fewer hours on campus. Around here community college instructors make more than k-12.

Source: My spouse is a tenured professor at our local community college.

[Alpha]

I'm afraid that I'm going to be the sour note in this thread.  I recognize that K-12 teaching is not the gig it once was.  Personally, I don't think that I could do it.  So I understand your interest in moving on to something new.  However, it seems quite unrealistic to think that you can move into a new career track without any training or experience and maintain anything close to your current salary, benefits, etc.  I'm wondering if you'd collect any pension benefits if you stuck it out until you hit 20 years.  In those next 3 years you could try to use the educational benefits at your job to gain some skills for your next gig.  I know that lots of teachers are fleeing their jobs/schools.  I'm not sure where they're all going to but I wish you the best of luck in any case.

[ss20ts]

I'm afraid that I'm going to be the sour note in this thread.  I recognize that K-12 teaching is not the gig it once was.  Personally, I don't think that I could do it.  So I understand your interest in moving on to something new.  However, it seems quite unrealistic to think that you can move into a new career track without any training or experience and maintain anything close to your current salary, benefits, etc.  I'm wondering if you'd collect any pension benefits if you stuck it out until you hit 20 years.  In those next 3 years you could try to use the educational benefits at your job to gain some skills for your next gig.  I know that lots of teachers are fleeing their jobs/schools.  I'm not sure where they're all going to but I wish you the best of luck in any case.

They may not have a pension. Every state hasn't offered a pension in many years. Mine is one of them. Teachers here have 401Ks. Once you get close to retirement, many of my teacher friends were treated like garbage. The admins wanted them gone before they retired. They cost too much money. They aren't afraid to speak up unlike most new teachers. 

Many teachers are moving to corporate training and talent development. I see a ton of former or soon to be former teachers in the MS Learning Expereience Design program at WGU. So many see this as their way out of teaching in schools.

[dfrecore]

I'm afraid that I'm going to be the sour note in this thread.  I recognize that K-12 teaching is not the gig it once was.  Personally, I don't think that I could do it.  So I understand your interest in moving on to something new.  However, it seems quite unrealistic to think that you can move into a new career track without any training or experience and maintain anything close to your current salary, benefits, etc.  I'm wondering if you'd collect any pension benefits if you stuck it out until you hit 20 years.  In those next 3 years you could try to use the educational benefits at your job to gain some skills for your next gig.  I know that lots of teachers are fleeing their jobs/schools.  I'm not sure where they're all going to but I wish you the best of luck in any case.

I agree with possibly sticking it out if 20 years is where you could earn a pension, although for most, I don't think it's a set time, but age + years = 55 or something like that.

I also think that switching careers will PROBABLY (but not guaranteed) set you back a bit financially for a while. $100k is a fairly high bar to hit for someone with no experience in the field.  So I think ss20ts's suggestion of Corporate Training, or AnalysisParalysis's suggestion of teaching at a CC, might be your best options.  The only thing that might help is that you could find a good gig with better pricing for benefits (ours are only $400/mo, and my husband's last job was $150/mo).  But nobody is giving pensions these days, mostly 401(k)'s or 403(b)'s, so unless you find someone with a good match, you're on your own for saving for retirement.

I'd probably also look for jobs in state government.

[Vle045]

I am with those that say stick it out for the full 20 years for retirement.  I have a similar retirement here in Ohio.  I am a school employee (non teacher).  I haven't gotten too much into the details, but I know that there will be a significant difference in healthcare costs if I reach 20 years within the retirement system.  And another cost reduction at 25 years  Yours may be similar.  My only option, if I leave education would be if I find a job with the state.  The retirement systems are transferrable.

A potential trajectory could be a non-teaching leadership role.  Perhaps there is something at the district level you would be interested in like Director of Curriculum and Instruction.  Or Human Resources Director.  Or Operations Manager.  Look outside public schools too.  Are there charter school systems or private school systems that might have leadership roles that bring you outside of the classroom?

You would be hard-pressed to make that kind of money as a career changer, especially with a pension.  If you are interested in leadership roles, an MBA or MAOL could be a good supplement.  There are inexpensive options out there.  It would bring together your inside knowledge with the business end.  

Don't burn any bridges.  If your retirement is anything like ours, you want to maximize that!