Need some advice re: life direction / job choice

[scruffy1 1,012]

51 minutes ago, LogicprObe said:

 

If you're not cut out for it teaching will do your head in.

Especially since they are forced to go until year 12.

 

can't disagree

 

my oldest is just completing a second term as a high school teacher locally, and it's all boys and she's had enough (having also previously done "time" at an all girls' school, which had a different set of problems in her view, but less stressful)

 

 

 

she has the luxury of no pressing reason not to go and work in japan next year (teaching), and quite probably will

 

 

but to reiterate my earlier comment, your children only get to grow up once, and you can't take a rain check if you want to be part of their formative years

 

that's a hard choice if the teaching gig sucks for you

 

 

 

Edited November 27, 2019 by scruffy1

[Jeruselem 827]

I guess if one want really wants to get into teaching as career, there's a price. Teaching these days will never be a high income profession and you pretty much do it for the love of the job.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight/here-s-what-a-teacher-s-pay-really-looks-like

 

[Kimmo 254]

I'm working for decent money these days, but I reckon I'd rather be fixing bikes again, where I didn't care if it was the weekend or not. 

[Nich... 764]

2 hours ago, Jeruselem said:

I guess if one want really wants to get into teaching as career, there's a price. Teaching these days will never be a high income profession and you pretty much do it for the love of the job.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/insight/here-s-what-a-teacher-s-pay-really-looks-like

 

If teachers aren't a moderate to high income profession, you're probably doing pretty well with your life.

[Jeruselem 827]

19 minutes ago, Nich... said:

If teachers aren't a moderate to high income profession, you're probably doing pretty well with your life.

 

It's relative ... if you got kids and a mortgage, and the partner has no job then the fact teachers wages don't grow much does probably make a difference. If the wages cover inflation over time, it's barely enough to cover inflation of major expenses. Official RBA inflation does not factor in stuff like mortgages and rents!

Edited November 28, 2019 by Jeruselem

[Kothos 55]

 

The long term pay doesn't really make a huge difference to me.  I'm sure down the track I can change jobs or negotiate more pay based on being

- male and

- teaching maths or

- teaching computing and engineering but have 20 years industry experience

 

However it does make a difference to me short-term as my wife is on maternity leave right now and we used up a lot of money building a house and on loads and loads of birth-associated medical bills.

 

On balance, I'm thinking if I can juggle the finances enough to stay alive, I'd be much happier doing the teaching.  Overall I found it really fun interacting with teenagers.  Even if they were shits I wasn't taking it personally because frankly, they're 12-18 and I'm f---ing ancient so I can't see any way they could really get under my skin.

[Jeruselem 827]

OK, can teaching give enough income to cover all debts you currently have? Including long term debts like mortgages and paying for stuff that just goes up like health insurance.

Edited November 28, 2019 by Jeruselem

[scruffy1 1,012]

57 minutes ago, Kothos said:

 

The long term pay doesn't really make a huge difference to me.  I'm sure down the track I can change jobs or negotiate more pay based on being

- male and

- teaching maths or

- teaching computing and engineering but have 20 years industry experience

 

However it does make a difference to me short-term as my wife is on maternity leave right now and we used up a lot of money building a house and on loads and loads of birth-associated medical bills.

 

On balance, I'm thinking if I can juggle the finances enough to stay alive, I'd be much happier doing the teaching.  Overall I found it really fun interacting with teenagers.  Even if they were shits I wasn't taking it personally because frankly, they're 12-18 and I'm f---ing ancient so I can't see any way they could really get under my skin.

 

then kick arse !  you'll be a great asset to young lives with that attitude

 

my offspring lacks the experience to let that stuff slide past, and has a 17yo sibling to contend with (who attends the same school, though not her student)

she assesses that he's one of the very nicest adolescents at the place, and even he drives her nuts at home being a manky teen - so looking after a gross of them is .. too gross

 

if money is not a driving force, do what your heart tells you...  being rich is a really bizarre reason for neglecting a vocation when you know it's a calling

 

 

conversely, being destitute due to an over-active conscience is a bit pathological, and best avoided

[LogicprObe 124]

1 hour ago, scruffy1 said:

 

 

 

conversely, being destitute due to an over-active conscience is a bit pathological, and best avoided

 

This.

If you haven't paid off that house yet, do it first then do what you want.

[Rybags 1,222]

The startup pay doesn't look too shabby but the progression over time is pretty pathetic.

[LogicprObe 124]

7 hours ago, Rybags said:

The startup pay doesn't look too shabby but the progression over time is pretty pathetic.

 

Given the amount of time they actually spend teaching, it's a pretty good wicket.

Once you get your long service leave up, you're hardly ever there!

They just get casuals in @ $1000 a day to cover you.

[Cybes 1,368]

2 hours ago, LogicprObe said:

They just get casuals in @ $1000 a day to cover you.

 

...  Um - $1,000 a day, you say?  New plan: be the casual.

[Jeruselem 827]

4 hours ago, LogicprObe said:

 

Given the amount of time they actually spend teaching, it's a pretty good wicket.

Once you get your long service leave up, you're hardly ever there!

They just get casuals in @ $1000 a day to cover you.

 

Mum was a full time teacher, she did some casual teaching at her old employer but she's retired now.

 

[chrisg 724]

Hmm,

 

 One of my nieces is easing her way back to work from maternity doing part time education, early childhood, doesn't get anything like that. I used to think kindy teachers earned less but it is not apparently the case.

 

Cheers

 

 

[.:Cyb3rGlitch:. 755]

My partner just did the opposite, moved away from teaching after wasting a fortune on her Masters degree because it was doing her head in . She's not in IT per se, but now training in UX, which works closely with software developers. In the end the staff room politics, the bullshit promises of contracts that end up being 'trials' if they even bothered to contact her at all, and the arsehole kids that know even a detention can never be enforced these days made it hellish. Not worth it unless you know for sure that you'll love it.

 

That said, she was perpetually stuck in causal because her area was not STEM. The work she got she was never paid fairly for because of the broken SAP system overtaxing, or staff forgetting to put days in. Very fun when rent is due. You already have a job lined up - that bypasses a lot of the stress of finding work and being paid reliably, which honestly is half the battle. Teaching has the potential to be very rewarding in the right situations. Smaller schools especially should be easier to work with.

 

IMO, do what you enjoy. You might get paid more in IT, but if you hate it, therapists (human or the retail kind) will cost you a lot more.

[LogicprObe 124]

14 hours ago, Cybes said:

 

...  Um - $1,000 a day, you say?  New plan: be the casual.

 

They pretty much do child minding.............. a coupla daze a week!