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Comment by plim8481 | Hacker News Reader

How would you break in to this without going through school again to get certified?

In almost every school district, there is an emergency rule that says that a bachelor's degree in an appropriate field is enough.

That said, unless you have a passion for teaching and an enormous tolerance for people making mistakes, I would avoid this.

Become a substitute teacher first. I've heard good STEM substitutes are hard to find. (and frequently rebooked)

It'll also a low bar way to test out whether you enjoy teaching, and which age range you prefer to teach.

How does that pay though? I know OP mentioned they’re fine with a paycut, but I my understanding was subs tend to get a low per-diem pay that would probably end up much less than 1/3 of what they were getting in tech. Most subs I remember tended to be rather old and I imagine they were mostly supplementing other income.

In the upper Midwest, somewhere between 100-200 per day is typical.

Just be ready to get called at 5AM for work at 7AM at a school that could be an hour away, and then get treated like shit by the staff and the kids. You could not pay me enough to do that.

Many school systems (in the US) will hire on a provisional basis, especially for STEM teachers because they are often so desperate for them. You usually get 1-3 years to complete some certifications and then move into the regular CLP style continuous learning after that.

It's a huge amount of work, but I've met a couple of people who set up their own out of hours "school" and have been running it for years. That said, they lost money on it and even now it only breaks even in a good year, so it depends whether you're looking for a worthy occupation to fill your time, or something to do.

If you have the knowledge they might hire you as a teachers assistant helping the teacher with curricula and teaching the subject.

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