I'm on an advisory board for the CS department at the local CC. They have a real problem hiring teachers, because their students end up making more than them at an entry level. And not just a little more, a lot more. So anyone they hire to teach the material is poached almost immediately, or quits due to despair at the situation. Not sure how to fix this, but it's a terrible situation for an educational institution.
Teach at a Community College
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Re: Teach at a Community College
#42While I wholeheartedly agree with “learning by teaching”, one question I have is whether one could teach in community college. May be just my CC experience of study field (music) combined with locale (talent-attracting city of Los Angeles) but I hear one needs to be a PhD these days to compete for a CC professor spot.
Professor yes, adjunct no. My dad started teaching English Comp at the local community college and got me pulled in as well doing some computer science and information science classes. I started at the CC and did a few at the local state university.
Most schools are not hiring tenure track staff, and use adjuncts and contract assistant professors for the less profitable teaching roles.
I would imagine that music has a different dynamic, as lots of emerging professional musicians may be seeking those roles to get benefits, etc.
Re: Teach at a Community College
#43I tried. Programming classes in my CC were SO bad it made me want to help.
They wanted someone with a PhD and it paid 38k… non starter. The kind of PhD that’s willing to take that in a field like computer science is a very unique kind of person that doesn’t have better opportunities for whatever reason.
Re: Teach at a Community College
#44I tried. Programming classes in my CC were SO bad it made me want to help. They wanted someone with a PhD and it paid 38k… non starter. The kind of PhD that’s willing to take that in a field like computer science is a very unique kind of person that doesn’t have better opportunities for whatever reason.
Might also be someone who already had a career and wanted to do some teaching at the end of it
Re: Teach at a Community College
#45There'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…
Totally agree. For me the most important metric is to what extent a person has made use of the opportunities available to them. I would hire a passionate and engaged community college grad who has hobbies before someone who went to a "top" school but only has grades to show for it.
Re: Teach at a Community College
#46I'm on an advisory board for the CS department at the local CC. They have a real problem hiring teachers, because their students end up making more than them at an entry level. And not just a little more, a lot more. So anyone they hire to teach the material is poached almost immediately, or quits due to despair at the situation. Not sure how to fix this, but it's a terrible situation for an educational institution.
Does your CC require a PhD to teach basic COP classes?
Re: Teach at a Community College
#47I taught at a boot camp from 2013-2015 and it was one of the best moves of my career. I should find a community college to help at
Re: Teach at a Community College
#48I 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'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…
CCs aren't charging kids much.
Re: Teach at a Community College
#49I tried. Programming classes in my CC were SO bad it made me want to help. They wanted someone with a PhD and it paid 38k… non starter. The kind of PhD that’s willing to take that in a field like computer science is a very unique kind of person that doesn’t have better opportunities for whatever reason.
Might also be someone who already had a career and wanted to do some teaching at the end of it
Might be, but still limits your pool of candidates so much that you’ll have to go with the first person that shows up.
Re: Teach at a Community College
#50There'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…
Totally agree. For me the most important metric is to what extent a person has made use of the opportunities available to them. I would hire a passionate and engaged community college grad who has hobbies before someone who went to a "top" school but only has grades to show for it.
Hobbies can be a complicated signal.
Consider someone studying while also working to pay their way through school or support their family, vs. someone who has more free time.
(I say this as someone with open source, which I wouldn't have been able to do, if I had anyone to support when I started the bulk of it. The open source helped get me a few very nice jobs, but I still would've had much of the skill and potential without that. So I don't want to over-fit, and exclude people with skills and potential, just because they had different circumstances than I did.)