This is an opportunity that is here NOW when there are not a lot of opportunities. You can give it a year or 2 and see how it works out for You personally while there is not much going on in the industry. You might really like it, and if You do, 25 years from now it will sure be more apealing than laying in a mud & snow filled ditch welding pipe.
I was a machine shop major in school, I had a great teacher. He was tough on the kids that were there to waste everyones time, and they soon found easier places to spend their highschool years. However, He gave the slower kids who tried to apply themselves a chance to learn what they could. He really liked His job, said it was the best job He ever had. I believe He was in His 30s when He went from industry to teaching.
In each of the shops at the school I went to there were 1-3 students per graduating class that were really serious about working in the field they majored in. The learning curve is pretty steep for most students, much different than what You went through to learn welding starting as a mechanic. There may be some challenges along the way, but You will continue to learn as You teach.
With regard to being able to live on what You can earn, only You can judge that. Industry doesn't always provide steady income, as You know.
Hello Shawn, I wasn't a youngster when I went the way of teaching, although my first experiences in that area were when I was 19. Many years later I went back to it as a full-time, part-time job. It sounds like you will be teaching in a community college or vo-tech from what I have gathered from your past posts of your school experience. To me that is a good thing, especially considering your thoughts about working with those who are truly interested in pursuing and getting an education. As others have already said, high schools can be full of those who are passing time and not really interested in what they can gain from a vocational education, although that isn't always the case.
There are many folks out there who are really terrific at what they can do in specific areas or types of work, that doesn't automatically make them great "teachers", that being said, if you are the type of individual who can motivate and get across varying points of view and inspire others to work to make themselves better you are already ahead in the teaching game. Another consideration here, you are relatively new to the welding, this can be a benefit due to your likely ability to remember the challenges that you have gone through to get better and overcome obstacles as you have progressed in your own learning. Sometimes when you have been teaching for a long time it is hard to put yourself in the seat of your students and remember exactly how it is to not automatically know how to approach all the challenges of different welding scenarios. Fresh perspectives are a good thing. In my case, I try to draw on the other more experienced students while working with the new ones in order to be able to get across some of those sorts of things. There are many skills that go along with teaching that have nothing to do with a specific vocation or craft: life skills, interpersonal skills, confidence in ones own self, many other skills that your age has provided to you that you can share with students are just as important as any other skills that are directly related to welding. Those are the things that will make you a great teacher and inspire your students to become great craftspeople and good citizens.
One of the first things that I noticed about my teaching experiences that differed greatly from private industry and how it operated was the personal rewards that came from it. In private industry you are much more likely to receive kudos from superiors or praise/support from fellow workers. In the teaching arena, at least where I have been teaching, there isn't a lot of praise from my bosses, higher ups, or peers, there is however, a great deal of pride/satisfaction from seeing successful students and those who have overcome great challenges to pursue and realize their personal dreams and knowing that you have at least been a small part of that. In some instances you will just know this on a level within yourself and in other cases you will come to this realization through the thank you's, letters, phone calls, friendships, or other methods of conveyance that will come about over the years. My old teaching partner was at it long enough that he had taught 3 generations of the same family in some instances, for me I am at the 2 generation mark and fast closing on this 3 generation thing. It is a very personally satisfying sort of thing to realize that you can have a positive impact such as that.
Monetarily, I don't know the specifics of your area so it would be hard to give you accurate information there. In my area, I could certainly make more money by pursuing a career in the personal sector, at the same time, I would sacrifice much of the free-time that I have to decide whether I want to do other things or spend more time with my family. I currently have a split teaching schedule, this has allowed me time to make it to many kid functions that most other parents don't have the luxury of being able to do(for me this is fast approaching the grandparent phase). I also have a very lucrative retirement plan, great medical insurance, and other percs that make this job a good thing in the long-run. I mentioned the ability to have time that I could select for family functions or additional work/play. Most schools will consider your workload and offer you a contract based on that, if additional work is available or done they will generally take care of that by paying out on additional contracts, at least that's how it is at my institution. Additionally, I can go out into industry and work and by doing so I can maintain my teaching credentials, get paid additional monies, and also qualify for bumps in my pay schedule. Here again, I don't know if this applies at your school, yet it might, only in a slightly different manner.
You mentioned not wanting to disappoint your instructor if you came to the conclusion that teaching wasn't for you. I bet that if you sit down with him and have an honest conversation about your reservations or concerns, that you will find that he sees in you the sorts of things that I have mentioned in this post and has a hope that you would find satisfaction and contentment in being an instructor, but if that wasn't the case he would tell you much the same, as other posters on this thread, that the experience certainly won't detract from your working resume. Another consideration here that you may not have even considered, teaching and teaching partnerships are like marriages, when you have welding programs or any other multi-instructor entities, a relationship forms that is almost like a family or a marriage. Your instructor might feel that bringing you on board with him is a good fit and one that the two of you can grow and better through your comforts and effective communications with one another. I have been very fortunate in that area, I am on my second teaching partner and in both cases I have been able to find a very comfortable common ground to operate within. Ultimately, you have the decision to pursue or go another route here, I'm sure, whichever way this ends up, you will be a positive asset to those who you end up interacting with. Done with the dissertation, good luck on your immediate future, and best regards, Allan
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