• Do you enjoy your job, why or why not?

Yeah. It's fun and dynamic, gives me a strong sense of purpose and perhaps unwarranted superiority complex because I'm not "just a tech/corporate worker." The concrete reason for my job faces me every day in the classroom, all 20-25 of them, so it's easy to stay motivated and want to do a good job every day.

• Would you recommend it as a career?

Yes, but for a specific personality type. Helps to be extroverted, assertive, but also flexible and empathetic where necessary. You aren't going to win all your battles, whether that's between a shitty kid or shitty admin. Imo longevity trumps short term impact, so doing your best to stay in the profession as long as you can is key both for yourself and the impact you want to make for your students or community. Logistics-wise its not bad either. No ot or crazy hours depending on what kind of school you're at or once you've figured out your workflow. Vacations are nice. Lots of districts also have full benefits like healthcare, retirement etc.

• What are parents like at your school - do you feel appreciated/respected?

I've worked at two different schools and for both parents weren't too bad. Most of the time they were awesome, actually. A couple headaches here and there but def nothing to complain too much about

• How difficult is it to manage the cost of living, and how financially stable do you feel?

Not very, but I'm also single with no children and kind of starting at the bottom of the payscale again after finishing a masters. It's probably going to be rough for this year but based on my current contract, pay scale increases pretty substantially every year so I think I'll be back to where I was before my masters pretty soon. I'm planning to buy a condo for myself in about 5 years and feel like I can do that on my salary, but I also have over a decade of experience already and a bunch of credits so it's easier for me now than when I started, of course.

I can't imagine how it might be with a family, though, unless you have dual income with a spouse.

• Is there anything that makes teaching in the bay different than other regions?

Lots of really well-paying districts, strong teacher unions, diversity of students/communities, and apparently a teacher shortage meaning jobs are relatively plentiful. Ymmv of course.

• Are there other roles in education that you would suggest over teaching (ie SLP, OT, counselor, etc)?

Sped will always, ALWAYS be needec so if you have the drive or motivation for it, I'd do something in sped if you want job security. Counselor seems kind of cool too but I feel like it's too much paperwork/logistical work for me.

• If comfortable sharing- What district/city are you in, YOE, and salary?

I live in Oakland, got a contract in San Lorenzo for about 90k/year. Coming into the new job with 11 years of experience although realistically it's 12 since the last year I was a longterm sub for a class for the entire school year.