Complete Career Switch- Who's thought about it/done it?

Re: Complete Career Switch- Who's thought about it/done it?

• GreenMonkey1 member

  June 2014

  I made a career change in the opposite direction: K-12 (high school) to higher education about 5-years ago.  Best change I could have made for my sanity minus the salary differential.  

  
  

  If you currently work in HIED are you eligible for tuition benefits?  That can certainly help with the cost - you could work your job and work towards a degree at the same time.  You could use your tuition benefits to cover the intro classes in early childhood to see if the coursework is interesting.

  
  

  I would recommend sitting down with a career counselor and an academic advisor at your institution.  Given that you already have previous degrees you may have some of the coursework already done, probably at least the liberal arts core.

  
  

  Ultimately I would choose the career based on what you can see yourself doing long term rather than the schedule.  The schedule in K-12 is very family friendly, but not worth the stress if you don't love the job.

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• sweetsunnyc member

  June 2014

  GreenMonkey1- Thanks for the input. I completed my Masters at my  previous job (really half of it as I had already started before I was employed there) using my tuition benefit. The current school that I work at does offer tuition benefit, but not for teacher ed. This school is more for medical/dental positions. 

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• Russiandea12 member

  June 2014

  I have been thinking about changing careers.  I am currently a paralegal and am thinking about going back to school for my LSW or nursing degree.  Have been at my current job for 7 years, and while it is fine, not sure I can really see myself doing this for the next 20+ years.

  

  
  

  
  

  

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• MommyAtty member

  June 2014

  My situation was very different, but I did a developmental assignment where I stopped being a lawyer for almost 2 years and led a team if engineers and construction contractors at my company. It was great experience. It also was the scariest thing I've ever done professionally. My view is that it's good to take risks, and if you know you hate your current career, make changes. Are there other licensing options in your state? In Texas, there is a way for you to be licensed through the region of the Dept of Education, where you take classes during the summer, teach for a year while you do Saturday seminars once a month or so, then you are officially licensed. You get paid as a new teacher during the year you are still training. It's a great program.

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• dashofreality member

  June 2014

  I would think a lot would depend on your area. Mainly I've lived in areas where the competition for teaching positions was stiff, but obviously that is not the case everywhere. Have you looked into alternative teaching certs? This largely depends on your state, but it might be cheaper than you think to get your cert.

  DD Nov 2010 ~ DS June 2012

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• MommaP12 member

  June 2014

  I think about this daily.  Maybe hourly.

  
  

  My DH started his own company 4 years ago.  I want to work with him.  However, my salary is the "security" and I also provide the health insurance.   I am starting to look into the latter so that once the revenues for the biz are up, we can have insurance I can jump the corporate america ship.  I dream of it all day long.

  

  
  

  
  

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• sweetsunnyc member

  June 2014

  MommaP12- Similar situation here. My DH  started his own business about 2 years ago and I provide the health insurance for us and our 3 daughters. It's hard to feel confident in doing different things when you have the financial/insurance piece to worry about. If I could, I would throw in the professional towel for a few years and bar-tend until my youngest went to kindergarten  

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• sweetsunnyc member

  June 2014

  MommyAtty- Thanks for the suggestion. It looks like there is an alternative license program in CO-

  I will be making a few calls this afternoon

  
  

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• mlee116 member

  June 2014

  I've definitely thought about it, but I'm just not sure what I'd like to do enough to quit my job and/or go back to school.  Maybe one day!

  
  

  DH is a teacher and has a couple of colleagues that did this though.  One was in marketing and the other was a drill sergeant.  Both just felt called to be a teacher and while they do enjoy their new career, they admitted it was tough and more work than they imagined.  But if its something you think would make you really happy, I'd look into it because it'd be worth it in the end.  I would definitely also look into job shadowing a teacher for awhile to get a good idea of the environment.

  
  

  Like PP's said, I'd look into the alternative cert. process and check on openings in nearby districts.  DH had a really hard time finding a job and we've moved three times for teaching jobs.  In our hometown, which is finally where he landed his most recent position, a lot of graduates are para-pros or subs for a few years until someone retires.  

  

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• sweetsunnyc member

  June 2014

  Thank you everyone for the helpful advice. I did not consider that it may be difficult to find a teaching job. Looking in to it, it looks like that may be a challenge that I need to consider.

  I am going to contact the CO dept of ed and apply for the alternative teaching license.

  I so appreciate the advice that I get on this board. Thank you!

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• MommaP12 member

  June 2014

  @mrsdelcastillo what did you find when you contacted them?  
  
  

  Not gonna lie, I looked into a career change to teaching last summer and it was mess here in IL (like everything else with this state!) because they were switching to "licensure" from "certification" and the woman was actually discouraging me!  

  
  

  After seeing this thread, I decided to look again and it looks like it's easier now that it's changed!   It looks like I can get an "Educator License with Stipulations" that would allow me to be a teaching assistant for 2 years, but it's not renewable so in that 2 years I'd have to do the work to be able to get a "Professional Educator License."   I'm really tempted to get the ELwS now especially because I could assist with Spanish speaking classrooms (BA in Spanish Translation) which is often in demand...hmm....

  
  

  What did you find?

  

  
  

  
  

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• bunny731 member

  June 2014 edited June 2014

  My DH switched to writer from financial analyst, but not because he was unsatisfied with his current job. He was doing both for years and pursuing writing full time seemed like a very interesting adventure for our family. I contemplated more than a decade ago going into teaching, the alternate license was new. I was near the end of my masters degree. I read What Color is your Parachute and the Zen and art of making a Living, and I decided to shadow a couple teachers for a few days, and realized I was making a decision based on my current job dissatisfaction and what I thought could make me happy. Work is work. It was a natural knee- jerk reaction to ' get me out of here'. So I decided that if I could get myself in a place that made me happy and I still wanted to teach I would pursue it. So I made a lateral change with a new skillset which I built on ( no additional schooling, no critical jumps in my resume) and my path became much more enjoyable and clearer. Teaching is a great professional, but one I have not thought about for years. It is easier to make solid career decisions when you are not trying to jump ship because you are unhappy where you currently are. Both those books are great resources and they have exercises that help get you thinking. Teaching can very much be your thing. But falling into - I have to do it now or else I will regret it when I am on my death bed when you are also sitting on a bad job is a recipe for a gamble, and may have you blind to what else is out there that you are equally if not better suited for.

  

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• sweetsunnyc member

  June 2014

  MommaP12- It looks like the process is do-able, but it is very confusing and there are several steps. I am in CO, so it looks like I need to first complete a statement of eligibility, finger print card and partner with a designated school to receive the alternative training. I need to make a few more calls with the designated schools, but I have not had the time this week yet. I will let you how it goes

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• Mrsgclark81 member

  June 2014

  If you think that if teaching is something that you love then I would say go for it.

  However let me clarify the "love" part.

   I mean if you are willing to put up with non stop work during the day, taking work home, getting blamed for things out of your control, being monitored under a microscope by Admin, putting up with ignorant parents, and still are able to say you love your job, then yes it would be worth it to become a teacher. If not you may want to consider something else.

  I made a career change to teaching and I went in thinking I love kids I love to teach, however  my job responsibilities went so far outside the realm of just teaching that it truly had me rethinking being in the classroom.

  It is truly a difficult job please go in with your eyes wide open about the future of education in this country.They want to privatize public education and pay teachers next to nothing.

   I wish some one would have broke the situation down for me before I put all my time and money into pursuing this degree   #-o

  
  

  

  
  

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• Designermomma member

  July 2014 edited July 2014

  I'm a graphic designer and many of my friends are teachers. When I realized my friends made more money than me started out and I had been doing the job for 7 years already I had a breakdown. I studied and passed all the content exams to do an Alt Cert. but was unable to find a job teaching. In Texas, the only teaching jobs available require ESL training as well. Math and science specialization had special grants and were sought after as well. One thing to know going in to an alt. cert. (wish I knew) is that if you don't find a job from an acredited school within 1-2 years, you loose your alt cert and have to start over. Also, a lot of school districts don't want to work with alt. cert. candidates. They only want certified teachers. Something to be aware of too. Most if the co-students in my cert class got jobs after substituting a while. I was not willing to quit my job for that chance. Needless to say, I lost my alt cert and am still working the same job (different place) but at least this place has volunteer opportunities to tutor kids and such so I get to live my dream a little. I am actually thinking if switching careers yet again now (13 years into my career) to web development. My husband WFH and makes a killing. I would love to WFH too so I'm looking into studying that now. Let us know how the teaching search goes.

  

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• sweetsunnyc member

  July 2014

  Designermomma- It looks like that alt cert is a good option, BUT you need to have a job in place. My guess is that it works well for people that are already working/volunteering/class assisting in a room already. Or subs- kind of like what you were mentioning. I am going to pursue it and hopefully things will work out. If not, I am going to continue re-evaluating what I really want to do and what would work best for my family.  

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