My girlfriend is an elementary school teacher. Money always seems to be a worry - Teachers just don't get paid enough in the bay area. She's interested in doing project management or even data . What's the best way for her to pivot into tech? Both her degrees are in education and it seems to be nearly impossible to pick up a junior PM job without 3+ years of experience.
Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
1–10 of 11 posts
Re: Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
#2It seems to me (without knowing much about the bay area hiring), that she should look for an entry into a company, where she can use her existings skills (which I would assume is mostly presenting stuff clearly)...
Maybe something like internal documentation or the like. Then find a company, that lets it's employees grow (they do exists) and slowly pivot over to her end goal.
The reason most companies wants experienced PMs is that it is not nearly as simple as the books suggest. And not being technical makes it even harder to be a technical PM.
Re: Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
#3Second what svennek said: get your foot in the door in a company that supports employees changing roles over time.
In addition to technical writing, another potential position is training. Teaching children isn't the same as teaching adults, but many of the skills will transfer.
Re: Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
#4I did this.
PM is one route and I did explore that at length. I found the same limits.
Instead I went into an area of healthcare technology that required someone who understood technology and curriculum. In my case the entry point was telemedicine. This led me to other technologies and I am now focused on what is called population health data and technology. Healthcare needs smart people who understand how humans use technology and how that translates to how people learn to use technology.
Re: Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
#5Is moving away from the bay area out of the question?
Re: Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
#6The obvious path is educational tech. Has she explored that?
Re: Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
#7> Both her degrees are in education and it seems to be nearly impossible to pick up a junior PM job without 3+ years of experience.
Well it's quite a jump, going from teaching at an elementary school to doing project management. No wonder she's having a hard time finding a company willing to let her do such a jump.
Imho, if she wants to get into tech, she should at least get to understand what sub-field she is interested in and then join pretty much any company willing to hire her and work her way up.
You know... acquire those 3+ years of experience.
Re: Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
#8> Both her degrees are in education and it seems to be nearly impossible to pick up a junior PM job without 3+ years of experience. Well it's quite a jump, going from teaching at an elementary school to doing project management. No wonder she's having a hard time finding a company willing to let her do such a jump. Imho, if she wants to get into tech, she should at least get to understand what sub-field she is intere…
Well if you consider doing lesson plans a project with the goal of students passing year end tests then that is experience. The words are different for education vs PM fields but the activities are similar that a teacher has to go through to plan out 40 weeks of educational material.
Re: Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
#9Hi! I'm one of the founders of Literator (http://literatorapp.com/). Transitioning from teaching to project management is going to be tough without any experience as many have echo'ed. We aren't actively looking for people right now as we are bootstrapped but I'd still love to chat with her if she is interested. E-mail is in my profile.
Re: Ask HN: How can a elementary school teacher transition into tech?
#10Something she might want to consider is entering the tech industry as QA/Tester.
Typically, the barrier of entry is lower for QA than roles such as PM. With the right opportunity, she will get a lot of experience working with tech teams and gain some insight into how to be an efficient PM. And the money can be pretty good too.
I was on a client where, over the course of 2-3 years, one of the QA testers transitioned to a BA/Scrum Master role. She constantly stepped outside of her role and helped with management.