Adjunct Teaching

powerfool

I have always thought that I would be good with teaching. I have assisted many in their studying endeavors and I used to write guides for a popular Linux website. My engineering role now has me mentoring junior engineers and operations staff and I write documentation that assists them in doing their jobs. So, I am now looking into doing some adjunct teaching for a local school that is for-profit; I actually took courses there when I was working on my first MCSE.

Anyhow, those with this experience, how did you approach it and how much could one expect to make? I know that schools typically seek those with graduate degrees, so I am at a disadvantage since I haven't completed one, yet. But I have a dozen years of experience and loads of relevant certifications. They asked what I was looking for pay-wise and I threw out $30/hour, but I have no idea if that is realistic or if I am leaving money on the table. Anyhow, I think that ten hours a week at that rate will be a good bump from my current situation. Plus, I will meet up and coming IT professionals and could potentially assist them in finding work and plotting out their careers.

eansdad

Adjuncts at our community college get a few grand per class ($2k-$3k) and do 2-3 classes a semester. I've thought about doing the same thing in a few years.

erpadmin

From my own research, and I'm sure petedude will chime in on this, you only need a MS to teach undergraduates/community college. If you have an MBA, then you need 18 credits of your specialization to teach as an MBA is considered a general degree (it's not specific enough). If one were to get an MBA with 9 credits of a specialization, then you'd need 9 credits more just to have a shot of adjuncting.

In order to adjunct at the graduate level, you need a doctorate (Ph.D, DBA [as in Doctor of Business Administration... ], etc. ).

hiddenknight821

I'm seriously thinking about doing some adjunct teaching at my old school where I got my AAS and improve the program there. I missed the community already since I realize it's not easy for a deaf person like me to wander alone in this lost world. I think I may be too young to be thinking about this. Especially when I don't have my bachelor or master yet. Plus, I think I would need job experiences before I can start. I'm thinking about doing graduate school, but not sure where and when yet. Now I have a reason to visit soon. I'm gonna ask my old chairperson what it takes for me to join her team and replace a couple of goofballs there that I know can't teach well. I still remember how many time I have to correct them.

erpadmin

hiddenknight821 wrote: »

I'm seriously thinking about doing some adjunct teaching at my old school where I got my AAS and improve the program there. I missed the community already since I realize it's not easy for a deaf person like me to wander alone in this lost world. I think I may be too young to be thinking about this. Especially when I don't have my bachelor or master yet. Plus, I think I would need job experiences before I can start. I'm thinking about doing graduate school, but not sure where and when yet. Now I have a reason to visit soon. I'm gonna ask my old chairperson what it takes for me to join her team and replace a couple of goofballs there that I know can't teach well. I still remember how many time I have to correct them.

It's not as simple as just getting a graduate degree though. You need to have pretty decent work experience in what you're teaching, as well as either have a great resume and/or have some sort of "in" (just like everything else, but academia especially). The competition is pretty fierce, even at a school like Berkeley College.

hiddenknight821

erpadmin wrote: »

It's not as simple as just getting a graduate degree though. You need to have pretty decent work experience in what you're teaching, as well as either have a great resume and/or have some sort of "in" (just like everything else, but academia especially). The competition is pretty fierce, even at a school like Berkeley College.

I am aware of that. I said I was a alumni from that exact same department I graduated from. You are right. Competition can be fierce, but they won't consider a non-signer if there are two candidates that are equally qualified for the position, but one of them do not know sign language. However, if the non-signer is a far better candidate, then he may stands a chance, but he would be required to learn the language as soon as possible once he starts. Recently, a professor added to the team, and he was not picking up quite as much as I thought he would in a year. I can see some of his students were being frustrated when they came to see me for tutoring. Believe me, the world I am in is a lot smaller than yours, and I have a better chance once I possess all three things: few years experiences, master, and sign language skill. I think I still stand a chance against those goofballs since I told you I have corrected a couple of them several times that I can't keep track of it. I am not sure if they are tenured. If I attempt to apply for a position outside of that school, then I would be facing a lot more challenges than a candidate who has the same qualification as I do, so I don't think I have a shot at it. So it's either there or I can kiss my teaching dream goodbye.

tru504187211

I've taught classes at both the graduate level and the associate level for two area institutions. One is a for-profit career college and the other is a local university (which I attended for both degrees and am pursuing another grad degree with).

They average in the range of $2k-3k per class taught and are just a contract...no benefits, extra perks, etc.

I really enjoy teaching...more so at the university however, because of the subject. I've met many wonderful, challenged, and determined folks along the way.