I guess I should answer this one. I quit computer programming to teach public elementary school during the summer of 2015. I had been planning my exit for five to maybe ten years ago. The pay is nowhere near what one can make as a programmer - but I didn't really need all that money anyway. I teach a technology class - every kid in the school takes it for an hour - some of it involves programming, some of it is letting the kids explore tools like Twine, some of it is programming my own apps for the class.
For me - I can't see myself going back to an office. To teach kids is such an antidote to the self-loathing and looming pointlessness that I felt as a programmer. I'm not saying those feelings apply to any of you or to the profession as a whole - I just needed people in my life. And I guess I was tired of feeling like other people were using me for their projects - I want to use me for my projects.
I'm still in a bit of transition - do I continue experimenting in the classroom and attempt to release the apps I develop there? Or do I stay focused on teaching and improving my community? I think I'm set on the latter - I'm happier when I'm not chasing some impossible dream. But who knows - one still has ambitions that are impossible to repress anyway. Either way - it's great to have this kind of choice.
I'm not sure if I would feel quite the same about high school - one time I showed up to work and there was a green construction paper heart in my mailbox that had YOU CAN HANDLE THIS SITUATION sloppily printed on it.
No - you're right, this is all still fresh to me - second year has been even better than the first. Let me know if you ever write up your feelings, I would love to hear about your full experience.
I am fortunate to work at a public school that gives me autonomy, so the only issue I share is the salary issue. Which I genuinely could care less about - thanks in large part to the autonomy.
Just read that and concur that it rings true for many of the negative aspects of teaching I've experienced as well. Plus I work in a private school environment where there is the complication of parents being to a certain degree customers whose satisfaction matters to the financial success of the school. And then there are the big donors who see themselves as some kind of local nobility.
I did something a little similar. After one too many Microsoft reorgs (5 managers in one year, including a VP fired for sexual harassment) I left to do other things including teaching tech to middle school students, mostly Scratch, Lego Mindstorms, and MinecraftEdu. It is very rewarding but also often frustrating.
The one overall guiding principle I have now is that if I am going to spend time on something using my tech skills, it is going to be something that leaves a positive legacy and isn't just in the pursuit of shareholder value or making a buck as its primary goal.
I will never forget the day a student gave me a handmade note saying simply "thank you for teaching me", and the many students who similarly thank me at the end of a class, or who simply show their passion by signing up for every single thing I do at the school over their 3 years in the middle school grades (roughly age 11 to 14). On the flip side there are parents who just sign their kid up for my after school elective programs so they can put it on the high school application (or, even worse, because we priced the activity fee too close to the after school extended daycare fee and they just see it as a little nicer program to park their kid in rather than paying the nanny), and the kid clearly doesn't want to be there or engage in the program.
I have a very high degree of autonomy over how and what I teach. I could tear up all of my curriculum every year if I wanted to, and I do make significant changes every year. I also get zero feedback or suggestions other than "you're doing great!" -- I would say I most miss working with other high performing technology professionals and the virtuous feedback loop that pushed me to achieve more.
The classroom can be a tough work environment, especially when you get just one or two students who really don't want to be there and are more interested in pursuing destructive rather than constructive activities. Both my parents were teachers so I already had a high regard for the profession, but working side by side with professional accredited teachers for a few years now I have even more respect for what they do. I feel pretty competent at the process of effectively teaching the subject, grading, making it fun, and providing feedback and encouragement, but I've become more and more aware there is a whole slew of skills I lack around classroom behavior management and cracking the tough nuts, the students who will just glide through with no engagement unless you really focus on their individual needs and situation.
For me - I can't see myself going back to an office. To teach kids is such an antidote to the self-loathing and looming pointlessness that I felt as a programmer. I'm not saying those feelings apply to any of you or to the profession as a whole - I just needed people in my life. And I guess I was tired of feeling like other people were using me for their projects - I want to use me for my projects.
I'm still in a bit of transition - do I continue experimenting in the classroom and attempt to release the apps I develop there? Or do I stay focused on teaching and improving my community? I think I'm set on the latter - I'm happier when I'm not chasing some impossible dream. But who knows - one still has ambitions that are impossible to repress anyway. Either way - it's great to have this kind of choice.