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Comment by walledstance | Hacker News Reader

Teaching. I moved from a big tech company to teaching. Teaching is the hardest job I’ve ever done, and requires entire new skills. Teacher pay, depending on where you are, can be real low compared to FAANG money, but damn do I sleep well at night knowing that I help people. There is nothing like watching someone struggle and then suddenly understanding the subject.

But seriously, it is a hard job. You learn quickly that just because you understand something doesn’t mean you can explain it to someone.

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Also moved in to teaching high school CS. It's hard but the kids are great. I've found that it's a lot less about doing a great job explaining loops or whatever and more about mentorship and getting kids excited about the topic. If anyone's interested in making the switch my email is in my bio, I'd be happy to chat.

This is a great take. Having been a kid that was super intrigued by CS, the classes were more a formality, and a place to ask the few questions I couldn't put into words very easily for an internet search. Not to say classes weren't important, but I can definitely speak to it being more about getting kids intrigued than just going through the curriculum.

As a complete side note, I think it would have been easier to learn programming if I had started with some lower-level CS, not high-level programming. Some concepts behind even high-level programming don't make a lot of sense to a newbie unless they understand what the limitations of a machine are, and why they inherently exist.

I did the other way around. Went from teaching (university level) to FAANG. I could discuss for hours about the pros and cons of each job, but the bottom line is that I can't afford not earning that money. I'll save every single dollar I can from my SWE job and think about something else when I'm laid off, but I'm not leaving on my own.

You sound like a prisoner. No disrespect intended. It really sounds like you would be happier somewhere else. I wish you that you find that place soon.

I really want to move into teaching. I learned to love programming in HS AP CS and am really considering making the move. I would love to hear more about your experience switching.

Take a day off of work and substitute teacher.

Depending on the district you end up in, it's not for the feint of heart.

I was a teacher for ten years before taking a position at a small tech consultancy. I also encourage you to jump into the substitute pool; however, please understand that as a regular classroom teacher you will have many more tools to manage a high functioning classroom (not least, a regular classroom teacher has established relationships with their students). Substitute teaching is teaching, but there's a reason expectations for what's accomplished during that day are typically quite low. This all will change classroom to classroom, school to school - of course.

Definitely but it's good for anyone thinking about a career change to get a taste for the rougher aspects of teaching to ensure that they don't have unrealistic expectations about the career

Absolutely true.

I think there are many teachers who would love to have an experienced individual come in and guest-speak about one topic or another, if that's something of interest to people.

Definitely. It's much easier to engage with a class when you're not the main source of authority. It's like being the cool aunt/uncle.

Teaching is not easy and a lot of tech work is much less stressful than it

I have a number of family members who teach (or have taught) all ages and I feel it's one of the most important, difficult, and undervalued occupations out there.

I spent the last 3 years teaching at a software bootcamp, after being a SWE for 8yrs. It's been super rewarding - you're working with adults who are often in a hard spot financially and personally, and you get to help coach them through a major challenge, and see the positive outcomes for them.

The pay will likely be much higher than teaching elsewhere (though I still took a 30k cut). Some bootcamps are more legit than others, so just do your research first

Me too! How i wish i'm a fast learner when it comes to tech.

I really resonate with this. I work in academia and I finally decided that I don't want to do research any more, but I want to teach. The choice now is whether to take a teaching-only position in a university, or do something a little crazy and try to go back to my country and teach in a public school. Either way, I hope to feel the same as you say.

Good to hear! I'm just about to start the process of getting my teaching qualification, but it feels really daunting to make the switch and leave my fairly comfortable job behind, where I'm well appreciated (but personally I don't feel like I'm really contributing to the world).

What subject are you teaching? Mine will be physics, if all goes well.

I'm in exactly the same situation. Possibly.

This is always something in the back of my head as something I'd like to do if I aged out of tech. I come from a family of teachers and got to see first hand the satisfaction that comes from the job. A few years ago I looked my mom up on one of those rate my teacher websites and was pretty shocked at how many kids she impacted. I always assumed she was good at her job and saw her go above and beyond but seeing it was eye opening.

>I always assumed she was good at her job and saw her go above and beyond but seeing it was eye opening.

I was the only of my mother's children to attend her employer's appreciation event after she died [family did not have a funeral]. It meant so much to see how her community appreciated and respected and missed her. My siblings, her fellow children, did not want to witness this for some reason ["a waste of time"] but it's among the most beautiful things I've witnessed.

To those gathered hundred+ friends of my mother, I loudly thanked them for attending and sharing the spirit of her beautiful life; I told them calmly and proudly that "this is a celebration of 'how you should live your life,' to have left such an impact upon so many wonderful people."

Top 5 life moments/memories. RIP.

you really nailed it on the head, In way less of a way I made somewhat of a similar switch (not at all similar in the level of helping the world) from working at a huge national health/property insurance company (the literal devil) and now work for a welfare related government agency and I think not working for the devil REALLY helps as you say with sleeping at night, hopefully I can somehow make up karmically lol.

That's great. Not sure if you teach programming or CS but there is a huge shortage of high school computer science / programming teachers. If you can teach 30 kids programming every year odds are at least 1 or 2 will go on to start a successful tech company someday.

One thing to mention here is that it depends on the school.

I know a few teachers who quit or went private (for less money) because of problems in the system. The bureaucracy can be oppressive and conflict with your morals. Safety and mistreatment can also be a real concern in some areas. The good news here is that most of the kids you'd be dealing with would be taking programming as an elective, so they should actually give a damn.

> There is nothing like watching someone struggle and then suddenly understanding the subject.

This is why I love mentoring new hires and interns.

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