Pondering the idea of maybe becoming a computer teacher of some kind, need advice

StonedHitman

First, I'd like to tell you guys that I'm studying for my ccna R&S and so far so good, and will continue to work on my ccna studying at my local vocational school where I got interested in networking. I'm on break so i'll be going back next month for the second semester. After I'm done with the course in december I should be ready for the icnd2 exam(probably sooner but i'm staying til finished).

At that point, late dec, I should have my CCNA. From there I'll still be studying for certs like ccna security, wireless, and other vendor certs while at the same time going to my local community college where I plan to major in computer science. In addition to computer science I want to take speech/communication courses, I feel that would be helpful for any teacher. On a more personal note, I'm an introvert and have self esteem issues, always have. But I want to change that, I've been lost since I graduated high school, not sure what I wanted to do with my life. 21yo now, and I'm ready to change for the better.

Anyways, my plan is to get a BS in CS, by that time I'll probably have some certs to compliment it. After researching, a computer teacher at the HS level or even an instructor like the one at my vocational school require atleast a Bachelor's and hopefully I'd have that(I think the instructor job requires experience too tho)

As for work and looking for a job, I was thinking about teaching computer science, networking, or general IT stuff. That, or try to get a job as a school's network admin or something like that. Or even both(be the admin and a teacher).

Well, that's one of my possible career paths. Still some more research I need to do but I think this could work. If anyone could share their thoughts or any advice, it's much appreciated.

ande0255

My personal experience going to college through the classes, desktop hardware/software/security/storage/etc, is that 90% of the class in every one of my classes was either playing World of Warcraft or falling asleep. I found that a lot of people like the idea of going into IT as a career, but they don't want to put the work in, and given that my professors taught multiple classes in my curriculum I got to witness their frustration with this for literally years. Myself and a couple other students would stay after class, dig deeper into the subjects with the teacher, and I'd like to think made it worth their while even showing up to teach.

However you will need to come to terms with the fact that about 25 out of 30 students are just going to sit there and not do ****. I think that lazy people go into IT, cause a job sitting on their lazy ass sounds good in theory, but I would bet my last dollar they are still at home play World of Warcraft. I was a tutor for CCNA R/S subjects for about a year at my school, and when most people approached me, they wanted me to show them how to configure their homework assignment, and not how the configurations / protocols worked. Needless to say, after a few months of not happily doing these lazy peoples assignments for them, eventually they stopped asking for help and would opt to fail the class, which going through the same program with them was extremely frustrating to me from even a tutor perspective.

I was later asked if I would teach CCNA classes for a teacher going on sabbatical, and he told me because their curriculum goes through Cisco Academy, I'd have to do some 10-day presentation to become certified or whatever it is to teach the class. The 10 day course / presentation would be coming up with a teaching plan including a schedule for topics covered over a semester, creating a teaching plan of action (Lectures, slide shows, labs), and it would be assessed by Cisco before you could teach. Given that I'd just passed my CCNA, I had enough of hardcore studying, and trying to teach kids who didn't learn both in and out of the classroom. It is amazing to me how many people go to college for IT and don't pay any attention at all, absolutely stuns me.

I'd love to teach, I loved tutoring the people who wanted to understand R/S, and would get great satisfaction when the light bulb went on in there head about the subject. However, I had a very hard time dealing with the fact that well over half the people I tutored were not interested in actually learning, so I didn't want to sign up for the job. Since I've gotten into R/S / Voice / Firewall troubleshooting, I am very happy with my current role, and the reward of solving a complex problem is about on par with tutoring as now the light bulb is going on in my head!

And that is all I have to say about that.

Jon_Cisco

I have always enjoyed teaching. As I sat in the CCNA classes at my local community college for the last two semesters I though I could do so much better. I program is run very poorly and the instructors take turns teaching every other class so there was no continuity.

Anyway I feel where you coming from. However I have experienced the same thing as Ande in that half of the kids didn't do the work and cheated there way thru class (serious flaw in Cisco's testing/grading). The other half saw the way the class was run as a joke and so they followed that lead and put in minimal effort. Starting with 20+ students in Networking I we were down to 10 in Networking IV. Of the 10 only probably 3 will likely take the CCNA. The classroom labs were basically done by the 3 interested students while the others watched and talked.

So my point here is not that you should or should not explore teaching. But make sure it's a passion. You have to take pride in your successes and simply do your job with some of the other students. If you engage the students and force participation. Learn what grabs their attention and use it in your lessons you just might shape the future for some of them.

Good Luck

Danielm7

My experience in taking Cisco classes is the same as the two above me had in teaching it. I was the only one really into the material, and this was back in 2002. The whole program was supposed to get you up to the CCNP level at the time, don't ask me why they thought this should all be in one set of courses with mostly job transition people. Most of the people were there because they got their unemployment extended by 6 months by taking the course, I was the only one who took the CCNA and was three tests towards the CCNP by the time it was done. I was the only one who could stay after or could actually do anything. You could tell how frustrated the teacher was as 95% of his class would have rather been sleeping.

On a related note a similar thing happened with a friend of mine just last year. She's an scientist, she assumed all high school students would be as into the material as she was. She went back and get her MS in education, started student teaching and realized that at that level most kids just don't care. She got frustrated and went back to being a scientist without even bothering to look for a job. Never assume that because you have a passion for something that everyone else will feel the same way and it will build a good environment.

Also, about the introverted part. Being introverted is a personality type, you can work on self esteem issues, but true introverts aren't happy in front of a group, find calm in being alone, etc. It isn't a bad thing, it just is what it is, if that is truly your personality type if you take the self esteem stuff out of the picture, then maybe trying to force yourself to be an extrovert isn't really a good thing.

StonedHitman

Great responses guys. I definitely understand what you guys mean about the students not caring. At my vocational school where I'm studying for the icnd2 there's a group of high school students that are loud, obnoxious, and they just play games all day lol. I guess what inspired me to consider such a position is because every time there was something that I just learned or something I know pretty well I'd want to pass that knowledge on and help others understand it. Right now this plan is on the back burner so I'll have plenty of time to think about it. Thanks again for the replies.