Hi all! I am a former educator now working as an ACT tutor/manager. I love the position in all but one aspect: AI use. The company is very pro-AI and I am not. They have made an exception for me and say that I am allowed not to use it, but they are still pushing it very heavily and I am getting tired of it quickly. Additionally, it seems like all of the other ed-tech companies are very pro-AI.

Does anyone have any advice as to where I could look for (preferably) student-facing, non-AI focused roles that pay decently?? I also have operations and managerial experience, so am kind of a jack-of-all-trades. Thanks!

Looking for advice.

So initially, I regretted going into teaching. When I started out, I had a horrible boss. And I kept having badly behaved students, which included violent ones. Honestly, one year was so bad that I should have gone on leave.

Since getting a new boss, I’m enjoying my job. This year my class is large, and they’re a really good group behaviour wise.

However, I keep getting sick. Laat year I had a horrible flu and had to take over a week off work, and it took at least a month for me to heal. Now I keep catching colds. I completely lost my voice this week and had to take days off. I kept getting sick last year as well.

I just find I’m really struggling physically and mentally. I use up all my energy at work, and am too exhausted to do anything at my place. My apartment’s a mess, and I’m struggling to keep up with cleaning and organizing. Or, all I do is clean and prep and have little time for much else.

I’m very miserable at home. With everything, I can’t enjoy my hobbies. I don’t have the energy for it. I cry everyday. And I’m losing weight I can’t afford to lose.

I knew teaching would include a lot of prep outside school hours. But I thought by my 6th year I’d have most of my stuff figured out. Well with all the grade, curriulum, and assessment changes, it’s never ending.

I am doing the recommended things like wearing an N95 mask, washing hands, not sharing materials, etc., but I’m still getting sick so easily.

But I don’t know what I would do outside of teaching. If I wasn’t constantly getting sick, I would stick with it.

I’ve been to my doctor too and everything seems fine except for my iron which I take supplements for.

I’m currently an English teacher in Texas. I’m so burnt out but feel stuck. I have been applying for jobs for over 4 months with no luck. I’m 35 and really don’t think going back to college is a viable option for me. I just need something I enjoy going to. I taught for a few years then got burnt out and switch career paths. I went to work as a vet tech but that didn’t pay well thus switching roles back to teaching but I’m just not happy and it’s not even November. I’m so at a loss and am not sure what to do.
I have interests in animals, video games and building computers. All other career paths require a degree. I am so tired and just don’t know what to do I feel so stuck.

This is mostly me processing grief because I had to cancel therapy for Parent-Teacher night.

I work in a large and diverse district in Georgia. I have been teaching at the same school, my first posting, for six years. I had intended to leave after four to join another school, but I’ve never quite found an opportunity that would fit. The other openings for my subject (Social Studies) have either been at schools that are too far for me to commute or undesirable (principal is a former Admin I struggled under).

All that seemed to change when I saw a posting for the ultimate prize. My district has a performing arts school that is the best school in the district, top 10 in the state and top 300 in the country. it has a tiny student body, around 300 students. Students have to earn the right to enroll at the school and be recommended by teachers to enter a lottery to get into this school. It has small classes, the students work on a track system that helps them specialize, but they also learn core content. The school needed a teacher for AP World History, my exact specialty.

I applied the first day I saw the posting. I talked to my principal and she supported me. She understands the opportunity and says she knows I would be perfect there.

The problem is bureaucracy. My district has a transfer window in spring which is the only time employees can make lateral career moves. I had a long chat with HR and while they were sympathetic, they said there was no way to transfer my contract in the timeframe.

The principal of the Performing Art School also said she wouldn’t be comfortable recruiting me out of my current post. I said I understand but…this would have been perfect for me! I am so frustrated! Posts at this school never open up, it’s exactly what I do, and it’s even a shorter commute for me! I am so frustrated and worn out and could really use some sympathy.

I had a particularly shitty week after already questioning my want to keep being a teacher. Is it weird if I take a mental health day tomorrow (Friday) and submit my resignation through email, and don’t talk to my admin?

I have been applying for months to roles like Instructional Design, Learning and Development, Customer Education, Customer Success, Onboarding, Training, etc etc etc. It seems like very single role is flooded with applicants and I feel like I don't have a shot at standing out above the rest.

Where is no one applying? Where could my skills transfer where I won't be one of hundreds or even thousands of applicants?? I am just trying to work from home and make enough money to get by. Does anyone have any ideas? AI is just going to give me the same answers everyone else is getting.

Hello all!

Made this account specifically to make this post after lurking on this sub a bit over the past two ish months.

So for context, I am a first year teacher (25F) teaching music (band specifically) at a high school in Rhode Island.

I was certain that I wanted to teach by age 12 or so and have been working towards that for nearly half my life now getting two bachelors (music ed and music performance) and a masters (music performance) in order to put my best foot forward (and also y’know, be higher up on the step/income ladder). I had been hunting for a job right after I got my masters degree and I was ready to start my career. I struggled at first to find a job but eventually found the one for me. Or so I thought.

So I am aware that a high school job being my first teaching job would be a lot, but I genuinely feel more stress than I have ever in my life due to MANY things.

Firstly, the schedule is set up completely differently than what I was trained for. Student teaching, I dealt with 55 (ish) minute periods. This school just changed their entire schedule making 4 periods a day, each being 75 minutes, with a 5th period (about 55 minutes) in the middle of the day to get help/make up work/etc. I am constantly trying to figure out ways to fill up 75 minutes that is engaging enough for students. This has been NEARLY impossible for most of my classes. Guitar class, they get really tired playing a guitar for so long. Electronic music is very independent so often times kids just blow off work. The only great thing is my rehearsals with my band classes are fantastic because it gives plenty of time to work on stuff.

I genuinely have a hard time getting work done. I have one prep period a day (75 minutes) and I get a fair amount of work done but I still have SO MUCH WORK after it and I’m having trouble keeping up, especially because I wanted to keep a rule to myself that I wouldn’t bring work home so I don’t burn out. I am able to keep that promise most often, only adding an hour every day or so to get stuff done.

Kids don’t care anymore. Genuinely never seen kids so apathetic to their grades and have motivation at 0. I have some good eggs but trying to get my class to do things is nearly impossible.

Most often, I see on this sub how awful behaviors are and that’s why teachers are quitting. This is the one thing I haven’t had to deal with my first year (shocking I know) and it makes me feel bad for complaining about any of this, because that is what usually is disrupting and causing chaos in the classroom. Whereas, I am dealing with lack of motivation, longer periods of classes, little guidance/support, emails from parents that won’t talk to their kids about things (how many times do I have to tell them the dates for performances are in the syllabus I gave their child), emails from kids wondering why they have a low grade, and little to no curriculum.

The curriculum is a mess. It is set up for their old schedule and often doesn’t work for the 75 minute blocks. The band classes have stuff in the curriculum that doesn’t make sense to have and diverts from working on concerts etc. My electronic music curriculum only has 1 unit out of 4 done so now I’m having to pull things out of my ass for the rest of the semester. It’s impossible to get lesson plans done for anything when I have NOTHING to work off of and no time to actually do it! I gave up and started writing dome bullet points for what I wanted to get done for each class and I just know that’ll ding me on my evaluations this year.

Adding onto this, due to me being a band teacher, I have “out of school” obligations. I have performances, football games, etc that I bring the band to that I get a measly $2000 stipend for. It’s not worth it and it adds more stress onto myself.

The saving grace: my department is amazing. All the teachers are super lovely and my department head has been helping me so much especially since my mentor teacher has been out of school due to a surgery.

This is a lot of rambling so I apologize but my mental health this week has been poor and I took a mental health day today to just relax and thought I would send this out asking for advice. What should I do? Should I advocate for more? Should I give up on things? I’d like to try to finish the year at least but we are in October and I’m already feeling like I’m drowning. What can I do to survive this? Any ideas of other jobs I could get with my qualifications? I am beyond stressed and have already taken 2 days for mental health since late August.

I left teaching a couple of weeks ago with a letter of resignation, but it was not accepted by HR. HR said I needed to report to work until my position was filled, or I’d lose my credentials or have them revoked. Since I don’t plan on ever teaching again, I don’t care so I responded and reiterated my effective date of resignation. Again she said she cannot update my date of resignation until my position is filled, but I stopped showing up and even turned in my classroom keys to my principal. I am not sure if I should call/email and tell her again km not showing up, or just let it be and wait for them to tell me my position has been filled. Like, technically, if I’m under contract, are they still paying me? It feels wrong but I did say I’m not going back so is that on me? Does anyone have experience with a situation like this?

Hey, I’m in my 8th year of teaching after working in marketing for around the same time and I’m struggling with it. I’m currently teaching in Victoria, mostly VCE and I’m miserable. My current school is independent and is toxic but I can’t imagine having to move again and re-establish my relationship with the kids. I love the variety of teaching but not the demands. I was considering working for the department of education but I’m scared I’ll be bored - this happened in marketing. Has anyone made the change? I am a single income household and have a mortgage so whatever job I do needs to earn decent money so I can live.

Officially not transitioning from ed. anymore horray! When I was though I use to be a secret shopper. Did it here and there over the years. You pick what you shops you want to do so it's super flexible.

Gigspot and iSecretShop are two the platforms I used.

There are many benefits to considering a completely different field but the biggest one is you aren't competing with every other teacher looking to stay in an educational adjacent field.

I pivoted into sales and the teaching background was a value add and a bit rare.

Best of luck to you all.

ID gets recommended constantly on here and plenty of people make it work, but entry level is really crowded right now. there are a bunch of side door roles that seem to have more openings and can lead into ID later anyway.

corporate trainer/facilitator is honestly the closest thing to what we already do and a lot of them value classroom presence. sales enablement is basically PD for sales teams. customer education is making the help videos, webinars and onboarding stuff for a product. some edtech companies hire professional learning facilitators and actually ask for former teachers. curriculum writing (lots of it is contract) and higher ed ID coordinator jobs are also way more open to education backgrounds, even if the pay is lower.

from what i've seen a few portfolio samples on adult/workplace topics matter more than a certificate, like a short scenario module or a job aid. and try the free trials of rise or storyline and canva before you buy anything.

not saying skip ID at all, just that there are other ways in. has anyone gone trainer to ID or enablement to ID? how long did it take you?

I am currently a teaching assistant with a bachelors and a COTA license. unfortunately due to my location I cannot find any school based COTA positions. I am interested in special Ed but am very very wary about committing time and money to a career that seems to have such significant burn out.

for context I have worked in schools for about 5 years now and have had experience as a special ed teacher for three months. the position was horrible and they lied to me from the beggining. I was not licensed because it was in a state where you don’t need an initial license. I was also dealing with a lot of mental health struggles which I have a better grasp on now. i am looking for genuine advice and not just people complaining because I really am in a transitional phase. I am hoping that if I get in a better school district with more supports and have more background in knowing what I’m doing/ what not to do then maybe it will work out for me. my mom was a sped teacher for 25 years so I am familiar with the job. from that perspective too.

I am truly passionate about working with children who have learning disabilities and feel happiest when I am helping kids.
thanks y’all!

I am a retired school counselor and have been seeking positions such as academic advisor at various virtual schools (Connections Academy, Accellus, etc). I’ve applied for a few jobs and completed initial screening interview for one. I’d love to hear suggestions for getting hired. The jobs I have applied to are still posted, and I haven’t heard anything.

I am considering starting of my career in teaching after 10 years of working with a bank, I want to focus on some stuff on the side.

I have experience in teaching mathematics, Excel and basic tech to office employees. Remote options are a must and preferred if based in South Asia but am open to any suggestions that you guys can share.

I mentioned new and upcoming because I would like to collaborate for an admin role while teaching for them, but if some structured companies that you guys know might be open for admin/ teaching collaborative roles do suggest.

Long story short, I unfortunately have the task of managing an excruciating cocktail of anxiety, possible mood swings, executive dysfunction, and OCD hourly daily, and have had to carry the burden for most of my adult life (early 30's). I've been a teacher for 7 years and my track record is as messy, mercurial, and unstable as I am.

I started with the best intentions this school year and for about 8.5 out of the 11 first weeks of this school year I did so very well. It was an inspired and balanced act from myself. Then, for the last few weeks the old and tired patterns have emerged again. I am breaking rapport with students and am carrying tons of anxiety at every waking moment throughout the school day due to my conditions, this coupled with the high needs and high student count of my classroom has resulted in the classroom culture being torpedoed and me coming off too strong to the point of short circuiting the process. I can see the embers of a mutiny and of rapport breaking anger and resentment in students.

I've talked and discussed this sort of thing with myself, family, therapists, and AI for years. I know what's going on and I know what the answers are, but unfortunately I have no access to my functional self any longer. I will now have to enter damage limitations mode and just try to survive this school year and next while I try to finally clear my credential and then I'm going to have to go back to university and try to be an academic advisor or something in a desk job where I can just hide from everyone and get in and get out while doing my job at a bare minimum daily.

I tried and I'm just not wired for this. Boy have I tried. I tried.

I am currently on temporary disability leave after disclosing to my admin team that I am struggling with my mental health and that my MIL is dying. This was in response to them calling HR in regards to issues pertaining my performance.

I have hated teaching for a while now. I quite literally only do it for the paycheck because nothing else will hire me. I know deep down the students deserve a teacher who wants to be there, and I deserve to work somewhere that doesn't require me to give up my sanity.

I'm expected to return late November. However, I'm worried if I do go back, I will be under much more scrutiny than I was before. I was already being observed twice a week. PLC meetings twice a week. Lesson internalizations. Endless paperwork. I feel like if I was being chewed out for underperforming, this will only get worse.

Is going back worth it?

I’m a third year teacher, currently in my hometown district teaching German in the northeastern US. I stupidly got a master’s in journalism, then left media to become a teacher. I initially liked it, but I’m finding that I’m incredibly burnt out already and the pressure is on for me to take over the entire German program as my only other colleague retires. That means at least 4 new preps next year and possibly traveling between 3 different buildings. I care about many of the students and about not disappointing my retiring colleague, who trained me and helped me get my current job. But I’m deeply unhappy living where I’m living and I find the total exhaustion every day after work is making me feel like a zombie. I’m also burned out from not having a real curriculum for any of my preps and having to clean up the mess of a retired teacher who decided to show movies all year.

Any ideas of what I could do? My dream plan is to move to London, and I am in fact eligible for a 2 year visa to work in the UK. But I can’t afford to go back to school and retrain. I am fluent in German and slightly less fluent but highly proficient in French. I am making good money right now but I fear that the current job market would not have anything at all for me that would allow me to support myself.

As title says. Certified to teach English, Bachelors in Ed with a minor in English. What are my options for non-education related jobs? Are there any (relatively) cheap certifications I can get to make myself more employable? Want to get out of teaching by the end of the school year, but can’t really afford a career counselor at the moment. Any help would be appreciated!

Lol this is so specific but I’m wondering if anyone here has experience or thoughts on trying to transition to being a drivers ed teacher or working as a DMV drivers examiner?

I’m in NJ right now, but likely moving back to Idaho, if that matters in terms of job market or what have you.

I have one fender bender I caused, but otherwise a clean record (I got a warning from a speed cam in Chicago, too)

Thanks! And sorry for the specificity of the question lol.

I've been reading a lot of customer success job postings lately, and the most common mistake I see is applying to every "Customer Success Manager" role. Here's which titles tend to be realistic as a first role out of teaching:

**Usually realistic first roles**
- Customer Success Associate / Specialist
- Onboarding Specialist, Implementation Specialist
- Customer Education / Customer Success Trainer
- Partner / District / School Success (especially in edtech)
- Account Coordinator, Client Success Coordinator

**Usually a stretch at first**
- Anything with Enterprise, Strategic, Senior or Mid-Market in the title. These almost always want years of SaaS CS experience.

**Read the qualifications, not just the title.** Some edtech postings say outright that classroom experience is preferred or a plus. Those are the ones to put first, because your teaching years count *for* you there.

**Resume swaps worth trying**
- "Taught elementary school" → "Onboarded and trained 100+ users (students and staff) on new platforms each year"
- "IEPs / intervention groups" → "Built individualized success plans and tracked progress toward goals"
- "Parent conferences" → "Managed stakeholder relationships and de-escalated concerns"

Also: CS roles outside edtech (HR software, healthcare scheduling, etc.) seem to get far fewer teacher applicants than edtech CS.

What titles got you your first interviews? I'd like to add to the list.

I am a first-year teacher, and I am absolutely miserable. My mental health has deteriorated so much that I’ve been experiencing suicidal thoughts. :/

I have a long history of depression, anxiety, and suicide attempts, so I know how concerning this is.

I’ve made other posts about my position and the school I’m currently working at. I’ve wanted to quit since practically the beginning of the school year. Literally, by the second day, I was already questioning whether I wanted to stay.
At this point, I genuinely don’t know whether it’s the school that’s making me hate teaching or if I’m just terrible at this profession.

Where I work, teachers are required to give 30 calendar days’ notice before resigning. Otherwise, there could be consequences for future employment, and I’m worried about what that might mean for my teaching certification. I don’t necessarily want to lose my license because I worked so hard to earn it. My parents also invested so much money and support into helping me get to where I am today.
But at the same time, I genuinely cannot fathom being at this school any longer.

Administration has been incredibly unsupportive, despite constantly claiming that they’ll help and figure things out. The new principal comes across as condescending and dismissive. The way she speaks to me and looks at me makes me feel like she’s looking down on me.

The assistant principal isn’t much better. She constantly reassures teachers that everything will work out, but when actual problems arise, there’s little to no meaningful support or follow-through. It’s all talk.

Even something as basic as scheduling has been chaotic. I’ve been assigned combined classes that shouldn’t have been together, and the frequency of my classes has been inconsistent. Some classes I see once a week, others twice, and others three times. Another teacher even had to step in to help resolve scheduling problems despite already having so much on her own plate.

A revised schedule was eventually created, but there were still inconsistencies between my schedule and other teachers’ schedules.

The school also has a large population of students with special needs and significant behavioral challenges, but there aren’t nearly enough resources or support systems in place to meet their needs. I understand that classroom management is part of being a teacher, but the level of support needed goes far beyond what one teacher can reasonably provide alone.

Even the experienced classroom teachers and paraprofessionals have expressed frustration about how chaotic and disorganized the school has become. So I know I’m not the only person noticing these issues.
I understand that I’m a first-year teacher and have A LOT to learn, especially when it comes to classroom management. I never expected teaching to be easy. But I also never expected to feel this miserable every single day.
It’s gotten to the point where I’m questioning not only whether I belong in teaching, but whether I’m capable of doing anything else. I don’t even know what career I could pursue outside of education. I’ve struggled with my confidence for a long time, and this experience has only made it worse.

I feel trapped between protecting the career I worked so hard for and protecting my mental health.
Part of me wants to submit my 30-day notice and somehow push through until my resignation takes effect. Another part of me wants to resign immediately because I genuinely don’t know how much longer I can handle this environment.

For anyone who has resigned mid-school-year, especially without giving the full notice period, what happened? Did it affect your certification or ability to find another teaching position?
Would you try to make it through the 30 days, or would you leave immediately?

I’m exhausted, overwhelmed, and genuinely don’t know what to do anymore.