Dear Career Doctor:
I am currently an 8th grade math teacher who is tired of barely making enough to pay bills. I am also burnt out working in the classroom and need to get out next year if possible because I’m tired. I planned on going back to school to become an administrator (1 year program) but requirements were just changed this year making the process much longer. I want/need a change now and wonder if going back to school and increasing my current student loans is worth my effort. Teaching is no longer my passion but I do enjoy working in the field and have strong leadership skills. My dream is to make enough money in education to eventually quit and flip homes full-time.
What do you think? Money and leadership are very important to me. I could become a school counselor to immediately exit the classroom but that wouldn’t solve my money and leadership needs. In summary, my skills are: presenting, planning, building relationships, training, leadership, high computer aptitude, and mediation.
Tanna
Dear Tanna:
Everybody I know who works in a school feels burned out by this time of year. And nobody should go into education to get rich: their main motivation should be helping/teaching kids. People who have your motivation and skills can earn good money in the corporate world.
Corporations use math, computer skills and training in many different ways. Here are some possibilities:
Technical training: Every computer company and many corporations have technical trainers. Apple Computers, for example, collects a huge amount of data from its computers, mobile devices, and iTunes about usage, software problems (bugs), buying trends, etc. The software used to collect this information is written by a small number of folks, but many people are needed to train the rest of the organization that uses this data in order to understand and use it.
Technical sales: Employers in technology, biotech and finance often hire people with an education background because sales staffs have to educate potential clients about products. For example, risk analytic software vendors need client education and training staff to service large institutional investors and they pay quite well. (This is a test: are you interested enough to find out what “risk analytic software” is?)
Of course, if you are really interested in flipping homes, you might want to go to work selling real estate or managing the office of a building rehab contractor, so you can learn more about the field you say you really want to be in.
Thank you so much…this has been such a frustrating internal battle but I totally agree with your suggestions. Thank you again and God bless.