So, I have decided to make a career change. To be perfectly honest, I actually made the decision nearly year ago. I have only just got
around to writing a post about it. I toyed with the idea of starting a blog, but never got round to it until I read “Show Your Work” by
Austin Kleon. I will write a post at a later date dissecting my thoughts on the book. But for now, lets just say it changed my opinion
on the value of writing blog posts on something that you know next to nothing about. So one domain name registered and
WordPress set up and I am ready to go. Now I just have to find something to write about!
The decision to leave teaching is not something I came to lightly, or quickly. Having spent the last six years working in international
schools, totalling more than 10 years experience in various roles as a classroom teacher I had been feeling disillusioned for some
time. I thought the solution to that might be a total change of scenery, rather than teaching privileged children in private schools,
maybe the solution to my discontent would lie in returning to the front line of teaching in the UK. So having pulled a complete 180 I
found myself working in as part of the team working to turn around a failing school in one of the most deprived areas of London.
Fulfilling and meaningful work, right?
To be fair to my colleagues. they are absolute warriors. It takes someone pretty special to go into work in a school like this one. I
distinctly remember having a discussion with my line manager after a few months of working in the school that went something
along the lines of. “How was you day?”, “Well, we got through the day with no fights.”, “In a school, we call that a win.” Just to be
clear, I am not lumping myself in with these people. They actively choose to undertake this work, and are committed to staying. It is
just not for me. To be fair, it is not just this school. I have just come to the conclusion that I have done my time as a teacher.
However, at the moment at least, the focus of this blog is not supposed to be my previous career as a teacher. But the journey I
have chosen to undertake.
So having come to the conclusion that I no longer want to be a teacher, it was time to figure out how to move on. I have always had
an affinity with computers and was even a full time Computer Science teacher for a time. Maybe in part seduced by all of the
promotional materials around being a programmer or coders as we now call them, I decided to try and pursue a career somewhere
in the field of computer science. But in case you didn’t know, computer science is a large field with almost limitless possibilities. So I
very quickly realised that I was going to have to narrow down my focus.
After some research and some soul searching, I concluded that I would like to pursue a career in some form of programming role.
Web development seemed like a good fit. So employing my philosophy of not over committing myself, I decided to enrol on an online
web-developer boot camp. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. So I decided to take the next step and enrol in some more formal
qualifications. In this case, a MSc in Computer Science from the University of York. Fully remote and taught part time it meant I
could keep working full time to fund my studies and study in the evenings and weekends.
It is probable worth noting that this decision was taken during the initial lock down, when there was nothing to do but work and
walk increasingly well worn routes around the local footpaths. That and enjoying the national past time of drinking.
So that is where I am now. Almost a year into a part time master in computer science and barrelling towards the end of lock down
3.0 and the inevitable return to full time teaching and part time study. With one note worthy comment. I have decided to accelerate
my plans for exiting the teaching profession in order to more enthusiastically pursue a career in the IT field. Undoubtedly, July won’t
mark my last day in the classroom, supply teaching will inevitably form a significant part of my income in the immediate future while
I search out gainful employment in a totally new field.
I have to confess that I am absolutely terrified. For the first time since 2013 I will not be employed full time. Not only that I will be
trying to make my way in a new field at the age of 36
