👩🏻‍🏫 WHY I QUIT TEACHING … my story 

LINK TO PART 2 - Elementary Teacher to Product Designer (All about my new career / How I made the transition) : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ID8sd1rwv54.htmlsi=f8uR6fp5eMSF5Z3x

I am a first year teacher and I am trying to get out. I’ve been interviewing and have been exploring different career options. I don’t understand how anyone can be in this career for multiple years, especially with how messed up the public education system is now. Absolutely no accountability for students and everything is somehow the teachers fault.

I just want everyone to take a good look at the comments here... these comments are EXACTLY why we are quitting teaching. That lack of empathy and horrid disrespect is exactly how all of your kids act.

I hope all teachers quit, you guys are being used by parents as babysitters not educators.

I have been teaching for 16 years and living from pay check to pay check, and You can feel how hard it is. The work never ends. I think you made a good decision. Wish you all the best.

I’m so glad you have found a career you enjoy. Life is to short to “stick it out.”

I resonated with this video so much. I am currently a 2nd grade teacher and am struggling with burnout and overall anxiety from the work load. I actually just put in my two weeks. I realize I need to put my mental health first. Thanks for sharing❤️

More than 20 years in and it NEVER gets easier. I'm still putting in late hours. The stress is horrible.

I'm in my second year teaching. I'm still struggling with not being able to "shut my brain off" I feel like I'm always working

I'm in year 15 (and with one foot out the door). What I don't understand is how parents can't handle their 1-2 kids, but get frustrated that we can't handle 150 (high school, up to 33 kids at a time) kids!!

After 40+ years of teaching, I’m becoming increasingly convinced college is a huge waste of time and money for most people. Go only if you have a specific goal that requires it, and work at least a quarter time while doing so. Do not take out humongous loans you’ll regret.

Reasons for leaving: horrible principal, horrible admin, racism, anti military, told I had to pay for everything I needed, which of course was EVERYTHING, being locked out of main offices because principal brought grandchildren to work (that’s where copy machine and supplies were), no support, constant criticism, no lunch break, misbehaving kids forced on me during my planning period, no time to even pee. Final straw: being downgraded on my observations because I didn’t have enough room. Seriously. Most horrible job on the planet.

Great video! As a former teacher myself, I can totally relate to these mistakes. It's so important for educators transitioning into new careers to be aware of these pitfalls. Thanks for sharing!

I am getting out of student teaching today. I’m so unhappy and don’t like where education is going.

I think it’s pretty crazy that you turn 18 and you’re expected to choose a major. You’re 18. You don’t even know who you really are. I blame the high school counselors for aggressively pushing college right after hs instead of taking an active year off where you work/travel and figure it out.

I'm a teacher from Spain, I've taught for 7 years now( In Spain). Last school year I went to the US to teach as a part of a teacher exchange program. That year got me question my whole career too. Never happened to me before

Thank You for accommodating the kids that needed it! Good Luck in your new journey

Hi Andrea. Just came across your video and I am currently in the same boat. I’ve been teaching for five years and am currently on sick leave for burnout and anxiety. I find it encouraging to see that there are other teachers out there who left the profession and are doing well. Thank you ❤

Being treated like a child ...wow girl thanks for saying that. You really nailed it...sad truth

Thank you for being so candid on this. You worked hard and had a tough experience through Covid to add to everything else that comes with being a new teacher. I think Covid has taught a lot of us that time is short, we get one shot at life and we have to be happy and healthy. I am glad you feel better for choosing another career right now. One of the good things is that you have your qualifications and lots of experience, nobody can take that away. Maybe one day in the distant future you could tutor privately. There are always options, we have to be brave and stand up for ourselves and sometimes take a whole new direction. X

I enjoyed hearing your story, I am in a similar boat and plan to leave teaching this year (my 2nd year). I have always been interested in graphic design and art related things. Youve inspired me to look into ui/ux for my next career. I start UX design labs next month. Thank you!

Great info....all student teachers should have to watch your video...I've been at it for 28 yrs. I wish I could have seen this video when I first started.

Watching the whole entire video now. Thank you so much for sharing your story and experience here.

Congratulations on your new journey!!! Can you make a video with advice on transitioning to tech? ❤

Thank you so much for sharing. I am a 27 year veteran teacher and feel stuck. I have made the decision to transition from the teaching profession for my own mental and physical health. Some of us stay way too long reminiscing of the good times. I’m so glad that you got out when you did.

Just happen to come across your video and I am glad I did. In fall of 2019 I graduated for elementary Ed. However I have yet to start in the career field. I was even an EA just to make sure I wanted to be in the schools. I love it, but I don’t think I can mentally handle the stress. Or even physically because I have a lot of medical issues. Although, I am sort of struggling to find another profession. I am hopeful I can find something, because I am unsure teaching is for me. It is definitely a lot! I admire teachers, but it is so tough. And I had no idea how hard this job is. I admire your story tho. You stuck through a lot of major changes! Thank you for your real story.

Hope you are still doing well - IT is an amazing world - there is sooooo much under the hood that you can get into (and if you have the drive, desire, and aptitude it can be extremely rewarding - my passion was databases and back-end servers (including middle tier servers) - even the buzzword "Cloud" is still just a different front-end to the "real" back-end). Word of warning though, IT can consume you if you let it (and, if you move into management, be sure you understand what that means in the long run - some love it, some hate it).

Apparently third year itch is a real thing in teaching. This is my 2nd year teaching and I'm most definitely not working as hard as I did last year. I'm not staying behind. I'm not going above and beyond or volunteering for extra things. I only do things unless I'm told or the deadline is near. I don't have school email on my phone and never reply unless it's specifically directed at me with my name on the email. I've not be printing anything this year, it's all on Google classroom to save printing everything and it also saves precious planning time. I phone for help if behaviour gets out of hand. I do spreadsheets within my own time and don't rush things. I feel so much more relaxed. I leave about 20 minutes after students leave and only do a little bit of work at home (e.g. open all tabs and powerpoints on my computer for next day or a little bit of marking). I don't care what anyone else says, but if teacher wellbeing and mental health in isn't prioritised, the teaching quality will be poor. Seriously. Students push the boundaries to see how much they can get away with and how little work they can do. As staff, try the same. Stop going OTT and working so hard and see what happens. Because the way education is going, just being in the building with lessons prepared is enough. This doesn't mean you don't care about your students. It means you care about your health and your wellbeing that is vital for teaching good lessons, and this will rub off on your students education and wellbeing. There is nothing wrong with this! Good luck and I'm sure you have made a good decision.

Thank you for making this video. There is so much I want to say. I quit teaching a few months ago, mid-year because it was destroying my soul and I was no longer taking care of myself. Just...thank you for this video. Thank you. Truly.

Good for you. I went into teaching and taught abroad and in the States and I went back to my former non teaching job this year and I'm so much happier. I had a baby during teaching and it was stressful. I wfh now too and get to see my child and it's lovely.

It’s a very tough job that only teachers and their immediate family can see. I’m sure you feel so much healthier.

Thank you for sharing your story. I’ve been trying to leave teaching since my 2nd year and now I’m on my 6th. I’m terrified of making another terrible decision. I moved into high school, which is so much better than elementary (I can use the bathroom!!) but I still need to get out. The problem is when? The past two weeks I’ve been running on less than 4 hours of sleep due to this job. It’s so hard to start something new. I know I’ll get out, though!

This video is exactly what I needed, I'm thinking about getting into the same thing! Thanks so much for your insight! Do you have any credible sources or places to help someone break into that field / industry?

Good job being an advocate for yourself, very proud of you

Smart to get out at the three year mark. Teaching never gets any better. I made it 24 years and retired. Admin beats loving teachers to death and they enjoy doing it!

Teaching is definitely an under appreciated/paid field for sure, I have a few teacher friends in similar positions and from what I've heard from them, the challenges are pretty consistent to what you mentioned in this video. Glad you found something that gives you a little more flexibility and less chaos though! 🙌

I'm close to retirement but would not have stuck it out if I was 20 years younger. Lack of support for students with diverse needs is the biggest challenge in my experience. It's not that we don't care. We do!! It's just not a hill we are willing to die (literally) on.

I'm so sorry you went through this, Andrea, it must be terrible to invest so much time and effort into what you think at the time is your passion, only for it to fall through. I can't imagine the stress you must have gone through, it really seems like teaching demands so much of you but barely gives anything in return, the whole school system is so screwed up. I hope your career as a UI and UX designer works out for you, honestly, you seem like you're so smart and talented and I think you would excel at whatever you choose to do. I've really been enjoying your channel so far, I appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule to make these videos.

I respect your decision completely. I was in a similar boat. Teaching took a toll on my health.

This video made me realize as a kid I should have told a classmate to stop bothering the teacher. The kid was a real jerk.

I quit too. I could definitely relate to your story

Lord Jesus I pray I get blessed with an at home job so I can be a mom and wife 😭 I’m on year 3 of teaching and it’s too much.

Great video. I am a fifth year middle school teacher. I too quit after my third year (for reasons similar to yours), did substituting for a year and returned to the classroom. Nevertheless, I will probably only teach one more year before finding a job with more work/life balance. Still, I will always be honored to have been an educator.

I used to be a UI developer and now I’m going into teachers college because of carpal tunnel and other wrist issues. Thank you for sharing your story although it did not help with my anxiety. I feel like UI/Ux is more dependent on intelligence but not so much on mood. You can get work done even in a bad mood. But in teaching, mood has such a huge impact on everything you do. You could be having a bad day but still have to show up to class at 8 AM and deal with whatever random situation and make good decisions on the spot.

They need to have a separate secretary for teachers to help with decorating and contacting parents and the other minor stuff

I feel the same. I love my kids and admin was supportive but the amount of money I had to spend to fund my classroom all while being paid so little plus working 60 hour weeks. It's just not worth it. If they pay teachers more I would go back but until then I found a job that pays way more for doing less work.

I want to thank you so much for sharing your story! Also want to apologize on behalf of others' rude comments -- people are weird. Anyhow, I was also unsure about my career path so ended up double majoring in communications and elementary education. I ended up becoming a teacher and share so many similarities with the working conditions you shared. My last year teaching, I was literally starting to feel like I was in an abusive relationship with teaching. I made it five years, just long enough to qualify for student loan forgiveness and get the pension. I had a lot of guilt/shame surrounding leaving but the working conditions are just ridiculous. I'm now a therapist and it is a welcome change.

American society has devolved to a point where teaching school is no longer possible.

This is my 15th school year. My first 7 or so were great years- then I started getting classes from hell with seriously disturbed students (some of which are currently in prison for serious crimes). It broke my teaching soul. I started seeing all of these issues a few years before the pandemic so as much as people like to blame Covid, that just isn't true. Apathy, overbearing parents, and unrealistic district expectations are pushing many of us away and out. I feel sad because I dedicated my life to this profession, and don't want to leave, but this has become unsustainable.

I’m on that’s same boat. I’ve been teaching for 5 years. I’m about ready to leave the profession.

Everything you’ve said I relate to 100000%. I quit last week. I tried to make it to December, but there was no way. Only made it 2.3 years, but I’m so relieved to be done. There are so many more sustainable careers. Thank you for sharing!!!

Middle school teacher here ... I went back to teaching last year after a really long hiatus of being a SAHM. Teaching is a whole different world since I left. Covid really changed things dramatically. However, it's also just dealing with constant BS either from admin, co-workers that are hard to work with, difficult parents, students with significant educational needs or emotional problems, not to mention the insane workload. Let's not forget the ridiculous meetings that are pointless, or the lack of planning periods. I will give another year a shot, but honestly I'm not sure I can stick it out beyond that. I'm looking for a new job in a new school, so I guess I'll see how it goes.

I just quit my teaching job, in California, after 22 years. Everything you said in this video is true. The profession needs a major overhaul. Due to its dysfunctional nature you will be emotionally drained and your attitude will become extremely negative about the job. You will feel like your dreams of teaching (and making a difference) are being crushed! And, yes, the workload is tremendous and the pay is crap. Kudos! Your heart was in the right place...💙

I’m currently in the healthcare field and I want to switch careers. I’m happy that you were able to find something that you really enjoy now and gives you some work/life balance. Could you maybe do a day in the life for the current position you’re in?

I’m so tired of this. A student threw up all over her desk and the floor yesterday. I told administration and they just told me to push her desk to the back. We had to stay in the room the rest of the day. The vomit was still there when I got in today and it smelled sooooo bad. Luckily I finally convinced them to get the janitor in….. ugh I hate it here

The part about the Sims connecting with your love for design resonated with me. I’m a burnt out teacher and I think I’d love to work with city planning due to playing Cities Skylines. lol.

When I was growing up,m (2000 - 2012) none of my teachers seemed as stressed as my colleagues and I seem now. They certainly weren’t leaving left and right.

My wife is an awesome 2nd grade teacher, she loves her job. BUT, student behavior is out of control. And there are no consequences and little support from Admin. I’m not sure how much longer she can continue. Teacher morale at her school is in the toilet.

I think the future of teaching might be teacher teams in one class. Although there is pride and a feeling of success to have your very own classroom, I think things have changed today and a team of 3-4 people maximum could teach a class and they could all communicate when one is going to be out sick or take turns working from home to grade ect. A team could help with the overwhelming amount of duties for one person. (Emails, adapting for iep’s, lesson planning, classroom mgmt ect.)

I was not officially a teacher, but I worked in special education when I was in college and I learned quickly that teaching was not for me. I became an accountant just because I love the quiet lol. The thumbnail of this video hit me in the gut. You seem like a genuinely kind soul who went into the teaching profession to make a difference. I’m sorry you didn’t stay long in teaching, but I sincerely wish you well.

Thanks. I just cried alone in my class after my Grade 2s. They don't stop talking, no matter what I do. I'm a specialist music teacher in a Private school. I cried while brushing my teeth this morning, and my mom noticed and had to console me. 3 months in, and .... I'm not sure this role is for me anymore. I'm going to start sending resumes tonight. Thanks for sharing your light, and "there is always something to be thankful for" is really helpful for me at this moment.

I retired last year after 21 years of teaching. My life is blissful right now without undisciplined students, entitled parents, and fake “I understand what you’re going through” administrators.

I feel identified with you in the 100% things you said... I couldn't agree more! I've been a teacher for 5 years now, I'm 30 years old... The problem is that I don't have another job....

‘Teachers see the children more than they see their parents on a given weekday.’ And we wonder what the problem is?

It’s also hard as parents when it comes to special need child. I know that you had to document everything and we thank you for that. The doctors wants the school to deal with the situation and vice versa for the teachers. When my son went to preschool, I knew something was up. Teachers are afraid to diagnose and doctors were just giving us the runaround. Even though we keep going back to the doctors. He was not properly diagnose until he was in 5th grade. He went to kindergarten and by first grade we decided to homeschool him until 5th grade. Even though I homeschooled my child, he also had in person classes twice a week. I stayed with him in class for a couple of months, stayed in the lobby of the school so he can still see me and eventually I would leave him and do my errands.

I was in the classroom for 8 years and I had to make some big changes this year. I am now private tutoring and I've been thinking about training to be a UX/UI designer. I love teaching, but I'm starting to hate being in education.

Teaching is tough when you have bad unruly kids

A word of encouragement..... I taught iniversoty, then two years pf Grade 4. Loved the kids but they are exhausting. Parents were good. Admin.... Not so great. Studied comp programming, ended up administering co phone system. Then back to adult day high school.... The best of all! They wete migrants/refugees, and wanted t Learn English. their attendance was checked by social support system. We had fun. Few young ppl nowadays will have only one career for life. I tell them thatm im 80.

Even as a full-time student teacher, you don't get the whole picture of what the job involves. I kind of wonder if they do that on purpose...

I think the pains of being a teacher are found in many other industries where there is often a lack of time and resources to achieve what the company demands. That said, there are certainly jobs and careers that are better than others. Of course it depends on the individual as well. I also like creating, where in most of jobs that involved repair, there was a fair amount of creating, which was my favorite part even though fixing problems was also fun in that you had to put on your detective hat and examine the clues to figure out who cause the problem. I think if computers and the internet would have been around when I was trying to figure out my career I would have chosen that path. I have built computers, learned programming which includes web design, but it has mostly been at the hobby level and very little at my jobs.

Hi, I am literally on the same boat you were on right now. 2nd year and feeling "over it" What course did you take online for design? I have been shopping around for options. Did slight contract work as well this past summer! relate to this video ALOT.

I've been a parapro for a few years and loved it so much. I've been wanting to go to college to pursue a career in teaching but after seeing what all the teachers go through, I didnt think it would be worth it to pay for college just to go through all that crap when I already get payed pretty well just to be a parapro so i decided to stick to that. I'm lucky enough to be in a district that pays more than the average in my state.

damn this is crazy relatable. Did 3 years of teaching (high school level), then quit recently to do real estate. Not a realtor, but flip houses then rent them out AirBnB. It's quite easy, less hours of work, and makes way more money. Glad you put this vid out to see I'm not the only one.

I'm working Going to College This year My Major this year is workplace critical thinking I'm Excited Go Back to college when i was little i knew that i wanted to be a English Teacher and Help My students Be Better students should Always listen to teachers and parents should Always listen to students and learn from their mistakes and make the right decision and choices I'm Going to put Behavior Mangement in My Classroom

1, Efficiency: Lack of EFFICIENCY is a major problem. Give teachers time to improve the actual learning opportunities. Allow teachers time to tweak learning opportunities to make them better, time to find/make entirely better learning opportunities, to present learning opportunities that fit the teaching style of the teacher and learning style of the students, etc. Do not waste time with lesson plan submissions, too many grades in the gradebook, giving teachers too many preps, giving teachers too many students, giving teachers too many forms, etc. Give the teachers their time/freedom to grow and get better on their own. That is very important if not the most important! 2, Passing along students: Many are PASSING ALONG STUDENTS if you will and not standing their ground with grades. Because of this and for the most part, students know they are likely going to pass, so they hardly try in class, which leads to bad conduct. An extreme amount of students are lacking in key measures of college and career readiness, but yet, they are still walking across that stage their senior year. 3, Egos: A variety of people voice major concerns (bullying, violence, safety, bad choices, toxicity, etc.) to others, but others have unnecessary EGOS directed to those people, which leads to a large amount of major concerns being ignored and what not.

Could you make a video about your new career ? I am very interested to know more about it.

Your experience resonated with me except I knew right as I graduated that I needed to go into something else. I was just disappointed and realized for the same time investment I should have been taking data analytics, business, real estate ect. An education degree does give you transferable skills but there is no substitute for the hard skills you need for a business or government management position. Education classes were awesome but a young 17/18/19 year old is not going to know how a job differs from the class IE planning for special Ed vs. not having the resources, funding, or team. Homeless or at risk kids also deserve way more assistance then they get. We did things like help kids wash their laundry, but it was hard to go home imagining that they were living in a camper or tent. Couldn’t shut my brain off either.

That is why you always have to go for your passion. It doesnt matter how many oportunities about it there are of its a good idea from somebody elses eyes.. you will make it work because you love. When you setle for something else then what happens is that even if you can find plenty of jobs you will eventually quit and its not worth it

This is my 20th year of teaching and the last three years have been a nightmare. Where did you find these coding courses?

I'm curious as to what coding camp you enrolled in! *fellow teacher here*

How long did it take you to feel comfortable enough to do UI / UX full time?

Love this story. This thing of "It's my calling"... like some mysterious force that says, "You are meant to teach." To me it's nonsense.

3rd year teacher here. Having a lot of the same experiences, but I think I'm going to ride it out due to my district being very high paying. What state was this in? Edit: this sounds so much like Ohio lmaoo

Hey Andrea, do you plan on bringing the awesome car vlogs back?😍

"Learn to code" is a real thing. Awesome.

What the hell are these comments asking if she has only fans. Leave her alone and only comment if you are showing support. I completely understand how you feel and I wish you the best. I’ve seen teachers get into recruiting and onboarding after they leave teaching. Easy field to switch over into!

I love being a teacher but yeah, it's not an easy career path. Worse so, teachers are not given the treatment they deserve. It's still the most taxing job I have ever done/still doing and love too.

I quit teaching 34 years ago. It was already unbearable even then, but since the bastard offspring of Dubya Bush’s dim mind, “no child left behind” was introduced, the public schools have been reduced to custodial daycare institutions where it is virtually impossible to segregate, much less get rid of, chronic disciplinary offenders because once they’ve been diagnosed with any sort of psychiatric disorder they become members of a privileged class of persons known as “special needs” who are on an “IEP” and who cannot be suspended more than nine days per year, or so I’ve been told. By way of contrast, back in the dim recesses of the early to mid twentieth century big city school districts in particular had institutions casually referred to as “bad boys’ schools” where the real dirt-bags where kept isolated lest they spoil every last school building with their obnoxious behavior. But apparently such measures are now considered reactionary and unenlightened. With this in mind it should come as no surprise that no one wants to teach school anymore.

Hi Andrea. I have a degree in computer science with a concentration in software engineering (recent graduate). I haven't been able to find a job. I would love to do what you're doing as a UI/UX designer. Do you have any tips or suggestions for what I could do to get into that field? Thank you, Aaron

“Stress related illnesses” .. and I subscribed

How much is it young teachers leaving vs older teachers teaching?

I see so much content like this that discourages me. I know the education system is messed up but I'm seriously considering becoming a Spanish teacher. I don't want to regret it but I want to at least try and give it a shot.

She should not have to do all the paperwork and communication for new students .It is the job of administration to communicate with parents about all policies, so teachers have time to do teaching

I quit two years ago after teaching for 15. I now have a podcast where I interview current and former teachers and get their perspective on burnout and what is fueling it. Let me know if you're interested in doing an interview!

If you want to teach, do it at the university level. Better pay, more autonomy and you don't have to deal with parents.

How much of the 'IMPOSSIBLE' situation in teaching would you say is actually parent politics problems? Thanks.

As someone quitting real estate this year after 7 years - a real estate major is NOT necessary. I swear some successful realtors are practically illiterate. They delegate everything.

I see so many vids of teachers who quit, and most are very young. I assume that older teachers hang in for retirement.

wow, never realized it was so emotionally stressful. What percentage of you leaving was due to low pay and what percentage was due to stress?

Congrats on your career change to UX UI design. It really inspires me to wanna study UX UI because I work at Sherwin Williams and they do not offer a legit 1 hour lunch. You can still eat lunch but it doesn't matter if 1 customer comes in or 100 customers come, you're forced to stop eating and help them out. It is stressful, especially during the summer because everyone and their mother wanna paint their house. Color blind karens are the worst, always seeing yellow color cards as brown for some reason. Anyway, bottom line, I want a career change too, just like you and your story is very inspiring.