Teaching is hard work, we all look around and see what else we can do at some point in our teaching careers, so don’t feel guilty about trying to find your true value.
I hear this question a lot in the different communities that I belong to. Turnover is pretty high, and just this week I saw a teacher on Tik Tok explain that there is more money in creating and helping new teachers, than there is in sustaining veteran teachers. From a brief point of view, I kind of agree with him, in some aspects.
But with this post I will try to point you in the best direction as far as one career. Teachers are always managing different tasks, people, and objectives. A teacher truly wears many hats, and is very much in charge of the day to day activities. As teachers, we have to be competent and knowledgeable in most things these days. We also have multiple “stake holders” involved with our job. We have the principal, the assistant principal, the parents, the school board, different instructional coaches, the list honestly goes on. And we still do our jobs well, even with all of this going on.
The job that we could easily transition to, with the right certifications, (imo) is Project Management. From what I have read about project managers is that they have to work with diverse teams(relates to diverse students), multiple stake holders, and complete a main objective. Your goal, as a project manager is to keep everyone on task, and communicate everything with the stake holders. That sounds a lot like what we do as teachers, no joke.
Is It Hard To Become A Project Manager?
I’m going to answer this with a grain of salt, because I am not a PM myself. But I have friends who are, and other friends who hire PMs. There is no easy answer to this question. It depends on where you live, your network, certifications, and other things to take into account.
There are things you can do, that will definitely help you apply to PM jobs, get to know the job better, and give you the confidence you need to work as one.
First action item would be is to take a course on PM. I would highly advise to do Google’s Project Management certification with Coursera. It’s honestly a great program, and really teaches you the ins and outs of project management and what to expect. I myself am a quarter of the way through and I have gained so much knowledge, and quite frankly I feel experience through the course. It starts off pretty easy at first, then it becomes more challenging. But it needs to be more challenging so you better retain the info. After completing the course, Google will send you a certificate, and you will have completed your capstone project. Completing this program will put you much further ahead in a PM career, than most other programs out there.
Once you’ve completed your Google certification, the next major item to accomplish would be taking you CAPM exam with PMI. The CAPM exam is listed on a lot of entry level PM jobs. It also shows employers you have taken your first steps towards a possible PMP certification. Having a PMP certification puts many PMs way ahead of the pack. But to get PMP you need a few years of actual PM experience.
What does all this cost?
As of today, the coursera Google course costs $40 a month, and is a six month program. But as a teacher, I think you could finish it in 3-4 months. But to conservatively price it, we’ll stick with six months. So that program will cost a total of $240. But you pay monthly. As a teacher, I think you could afford $40 a month.
To take the CAPM exam, it costs $300. That’s a one time fee.
How much do PM’s make?
This is another reason why I am suggesting a PM career for teachers. The average PM salary is a pay bump. According to Business Insider, the average teacher salary is $61,000. Where as the average PM salary, according to Indeed is $80,000. Obviously with more experience and a PMP certification, you will most likely be above $80,000, over time. I would be willing to argue that, if you completed both the Google certification and the CAPM, you could possibly see at least a $10,000 pay increase from your current teaching salary, if not more.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows on the PM side. But from what I hear and have read, the pay is better, most work environments are better, and I hear the respect is better. I am not trying to sway you from teaching, we need all the good teachers we can keep. But I do know there are a few teachers out there, that want something different, with higher pay, to take care of the responsibilities they do have.
But mostly the purpose of this article was to give you options as a teacher. When you feel down, and your admin is threatning you, and you feel like you have to put up with it, because you don’t know what else you could be good at. This is just one of many jobs teachers are great at. You are loved and respected from your peers looking in. Never feel alone or guilty.
Please feel free to comment on this post any questions you may have, or any helpful input.
Best of luck!
-E
1st Year Texas Teachers 