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Teach at a Community College

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Re: Teach at a Community College

#111

Post by Mezzie »

dpkirchner wrote: post #98
Mezzie wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In comparison to other higher ed institutions, you're right. This one in particular (I grew up in the region) has still seen its in-state tuition grow by 300%+ in the past 20 years. Where's the money going?

Was the tuition subsidized to a greater degree prior to the price increase?

Yes. Which goes back to 'if my community doesn't value teaching, why should I do it?' In that case, I'll use my background and skills to help those in my immediate circle and their children - people who do value it. Or make use of other skills I have that are more valued even if I like doing them less (I would prefer to teach over code but shrug).

If society heavily implies "teaching is stupid and has no value" then of course fewer people are going to be teachers. How many SWEs would keep doing the job if it paid 20k a year, required reporting to multiple people, asked for a Master's+, and involved verbal abuse? I'm guessing most people who like to code still wouldn't take that job; they'd do something else and code in their free time.

Re: Teach at a Community College

#112

Post by SoftTalker »

gabereiser wrote: post #54
neilv wrote: post #37

There's sometimes a stigma, which we should get rid of. First, I had great instructors at Portland Community College. Also, in addition to what I learned there, an area company (Tektronix spinoff) happened to put a job post there for a co-op student, and it turned out to be a great company, doing big things, which launched my career. After later working and then going to fancy-pants schools, one day a professor disse…

Community College is for people who are busy getting things done. The stigma around community college is that "You weren't good enough for 4-year, let alone Ivy League" when simply that's not true and a stereotype. I started at a community college. This was a long time ago now but I remember having to dance a precarious line between explaining where I went to school and explaining what I know. To this day when people…

Also for people looking to get the best value for their tuition dollars.

Many colleges (often by law) have to accept local community college transfer credits. A freshman can save thousands by taking prerequisite/introductory math, science, and other courses at a community college and then transferring to a traditional college or university to complete an undergraduate degree.

Re: Teach at a Community College

#113

Post by AlbertCory »

I made this movie for a film class at De Anza College in 1990.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re2Oh4rxN6w&list=PL3F463A677...

This teacher knew his stuff. He read us the poem "The Eensy-Weensy Spider" and when everyone laughed, he said, more or less, "If any of you can write a script half this good, you'll be a success."

It was on Super-8. "Editing" consisted of cutting the film and taping it together, and then punching sprocket holes in the tape.

Re: Teach at a Community College

#114

Post by bane »

neilv wrote: post #37

There's sometimes a stigma, which we should get rid of. First, I had great instructors at Portland Community College. Also, in addition to what I learned there, an area company (Tektronix spinoff) happened to put a job post there for a co-op student, and it turned out to be a great company, doing big things, which launched my career. After later working and then going to fancy-pants schools, one day a professor disse…

I grew up pretty poor and never had hope that I could go to college...so I never tried in high school, and never took my SATs and was resigned to a life in lower paying non-career jobs.

After a few years of this, I remember interviewing at a larger company for a position in their IT department. I didn't get the job, but the interviewer gave me life changing advice, "why don't you just go to the local CC?". I had no idea that was even an option, so I looked into it, the cost was cheap, it allowed for flexible part-time schedules, and I started my journey.

I ended up dual majoring, graduated from the CC, moved to a state Uni graduated with a BS, and later worked through an MS. It absolutely transformed my life. I'm the first person in my entire family to have been educated to this level.

I also grew up in an immigrant heavy area and met many wonderful people from around the world at the CC, who also all went on to get BSs and MSs and move through successfully better careers at major companies. CC was their entry point into the American dream.

Still, that stigma hung with me until I had an experience where I was able to move past it. I was invited to a be part of a business team to build a product to sell to an overseas customer. Everybody introduced themselves and their backgrounds, some were very impressive, and a couple of them even had graduated from the Ivys. It clicked then, even with all of this impressive education and experience, we were all working at the same place on the same effort and I deserved to be there.

Ever since then, whenever somebody tries to edu-shame me or another person, I always reply with "and yet we're all working in the same place" and that shuts it down immediately.

Re: Teach at a Community College

#115

Post by SoftTalker »

gabereiser wrote: post #81
SantalBlush wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Community College is for people who are busy getting things done. FiveThirtyEight has a great article from 2016 that agrees with you. [0] It also debunks a lot of the myths of higher education, like the myth that students are mostly majoring in humanities: >What few journalists seem to understand, Goldrick-Rab said, is how tenuous a grasp many students have on college. They are working while in school, often jugglin…

I'd love to see an update. 2016 doesn't seem like long ago but in the labor markets and advent of TikTok I'm curious to see what the industry (higher ed) looks like compared to trade schools w/ TikTok channel on the side or something. I've met a ton of folks who, like me, decided to sail off into the sunset and started a youtube channel and now that's all they do and are thriving. I decided against the channel and in…

I have met nobody who is making substantial money from Youtube or other social media. Is it not true that you need huge subscriber and view numbers to make money? I compare it to making money as a professional athlete or musician or other celebrity profession. Yes you can do well (even really well) but the odds are much more likely that you'll make peanuts.

Edit -- I did think of one person I kmnow personally who is probably making some money from YouTube, but he was a well-known author and public speaker before that. YouTube became an additional channel for things he had already invested many years in creating, it was not something he launched into as an alternative to or replacement for his day job.

Re: Teach at a Community College

#116

Post by grogenaut »

hgsgm wrote: post #74
ramraj07 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony being I know lecturers who teach at actually prestigious universities and make decent money and have none of the useless requirements satisfied.

PhD and postdoc include on the job training as a teacher.

But does not give you the certifications/course work. Which the cc likely requires.

I went to take an EMT class. I was required to show I passed high school algebra. I couldn't get my hs transcript. The cc wouldn't accept my college transcript because the lowest math I took in college was calc two. Same for English comp. I tested out of that in college so much lowest comp class was 350 - tech writing.

I had to take 2 hours of online tests to show the competency. For a class that didn't even require either.

Re: Teach at a Community College

#117

Post by everybodyknows »

300bps wrote: post #14
spicyusername wrote: post #9

I looked into this, as I'm starting to burn out of working in the industry. The community colleges in my area require a surprising amount of prerequisites and pay _dismally_. Even with 15 years of industry experience, I'd need at least a year or two of additional schooling (while not being paid) to earn a paltry few hundred dollars per credit hour per semester while teaching. Hard sell to not get paid for a few years…

I taught a non-credit course on Novell Networking at a local college back when I was a Certified Netware Engineer. Will never do that again. 10% of the class picked it up quickly. 80% of the class picked it up. 10% of the class would never understand the material and dragged the rest of the class down asking incessant questions. The money was a joke and I hated it.

As someone who might be tempted to someday attempt a community-service teaching assignment, the lessons I'd take from this are:

1. Accept only a for-credit class.

2. Demand a "weed-out" midterm, to be held before the last-drop date.

Re: Teach at a Community College

#118

Post by bane »

spicyusername wrote: post #9

I looked into this, as I'm starting to burn out of working in the industry. The community colleges in my area require a surprising amount of prerequisites and pay _dismally_. Even with 15 years of industry experience, I'd need at least a year or two of additional schooling (while not being paid) to earn a paltry few hundred dollars per credit hour per semester while teaching. Hard sell to not get paid for a few years…

> The community colleges in my area require a surprising amount of prerequisites and pay _dismally_.

Exactly. They want quality education provided by people who see it as a social giveback. The pay is almost an honorarium.

Many CC professors are seniors in industry or professors at other local universities who do it really to give people a chance or to help with career mobility within their industry.

Re: Teach at a Community College

#119

Post by SoftTalker »

porknubbins wrote: post #15
Mezzie wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not in tech but I'm qualified to adjunct/teach some other subjects and this is it. I'm even a good teacher. But why would I do it when I'm making more and I'm treated better working retail ? My local CC just posted a part-time librarian job I would jump on if it paid more than 21/hr. Fuck that - I could do better as a waitress or bartender. If they want to use my experience and education they can pay for it; God…

I thought community colleges were just a fraction of the cost of 4 year colleges? In my state at least CC are free to local HS grads. I think in a lot of cases you would have to do it out of a desire to teach rather than as an profit maximizer.

Almost anybody who is teaching is doing it out of a desire to teach. It's certainly one of the lowest paying ways to put years of experience/specialized knowledge to use.

Re: Teach at a Community College

#120

Post by e-_pusher »

ignoramous wrote: post #35

I taught Celullar Networks and Android Internals at my alma mater just this past semester and can relate with TFA. It took 4 to 6 hours of prep to deliver a one hour class. Preparing from existing course materials available online or from YouTube and Wikipedia was the fastest as opposed to going through the text books. I found it very hard to know when to go fast and when to go slow, what to skip and what to include.…

Is your android internals course available somewhere? It is a topic I have been meaning to learn more and there is not much out there that is up to date.
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