I worked in IT for a long time but I’m getting tired of it. I don’t want to quit my current job but it’s kind of unstable (a small startup) and I’m often thinking about what to do if I lose it. I just don’t really want to write code all day any more, and I have zero management skills so this is out of the question.
I also have a PhD in math and I wouldn’t mind going back to teaching college, maybe community college, but these jobs are hard to find without a solid teaching experience. I don’t want to teach in school but I enjoy tutoring kids in math one on one. My dream is to tutor gifted students who are not challenged enough in school or are homeschooled, but I think I can explain things pretty well to “normal” students who struggle with algebra.
However, I think the tutoring market is really saturated where we live (an affluent college town) and all ads I see have tutors with long teaching experience. I wanted to find one or two students to tutor at low rate to gain experience, but I haven’t had much success. I’ve been a volunteer tutor for a few months but most such programs run during and right after school, when I have to be at work, so I can only do evenings and weekends. I was recommended to one potential paid tutoring client, and I thought our first meeting went well, but then the student’s mom didn’t contact me again and didn’t reply to my emails. So I don’t really know how to go about this. Any insights? Or maybe other careers I could try which use math/programming/analytical skills but don’t require a lot of additional schooling or relevant experience (I know, I know…)?
Oh man, not sure where you live exactly, but I know there would be demand for someone with a math Ph.D to tutor and coach competition math kids in middle and high schools. Nationwide, you’ve got 5 to 6 thousand kids at the AIME level trying to get to USAMO. Maybe 15,000 at the “near” AIME level. I’d think you could carve out a niche there, again depending on where you live. Maybe try dropping by the local math circles and offering some help?
I’m not sure I can train AIME level. I believe at this level it’s mostly student’s own work of spending hours trying to solve problems and reading the solutions - or probably special coaching skills which I don’t have.
^ You’re right, of course, @yucca10, about it being mostly up to the kids themselves at that point. But the cynical side of me has to point out that the parents often don’t know that
Seriously, drop by the math circles if there are any. Also, although we don’t have personal experience with any tutoring (yet… fingers crossed), many parents seem to find tutors on wyzant. Ph.D is instant credibility - almost no one will have that. I do applaud you for wanting to work with kids. My math background is considerably more modest than yours, but I found working with middle school kids on AMC8 and AMC10 problems (plus SAT math for 6th and 7th grade talent search kids) extremely rewarding. Never made any money though off of it…
I am a very busy tutor and I started by offering free tutoring one on one. Get on the local social media parents’ page, or have a friend post for you. Once I had a few kids under my belt, I then started by charging a really low amount for quite a long time until I felt confident that I was worth more than that. I now could charge turly outrageous money, but I just can’t do that, because I feel strongly that I need to try to be reasonably affordable for most people in my area.
As for the gifted kids, honestly, there aren’t that many. There are plenty of bright, hardworking kids. There are a lot of average kids, and above average kids. You have to do just as good a job with the regular kids as the gifted ones. I’m working right now with an intellectually brilliant student, and one who I honestly think is well below average. The brilliant one is more fun to work with, but the below average one is more rewarding and I have to be a lot more on my toes to get through to him. You should accept that if you want to succeed, you have to take them all.
Ask around and see if there is a neighborhood Facebook page that you can join. The offers to be tutors on that page all seem to get responses in my area. Offer to meet students at a library or other public spot where it is still possible to study.
Lots of good ideas, also many tutoring companies (from small one person shops to national chains like applerouth and c2) offer skype sessions, so you seemingly could have the opportunity to get clients outside of your local area. As a parent, I wasn’t quite sure about skype tutoring, but D19 worked with a highly recommended ACT tutor via skype sessions and it worked out great.
to prove yourself as a tutor you should take real ap exams in the area you want to tutor and then get 5’s on them. then show the report to your potential kids. makes you legit. but like you got to get constant 5’s like every time.
My S is a middle school math teacher. He tutored a couple of nursing students at a small nursing school who needed to pass algebra classes to complete their nursing degree. He enjoyed working with adults for a change, but the math was still not too advanced that he felt confident. And since they were adults they paid nicely.
So maybe see if you can find any tutoring at a local community college or similar type place.
Have you tried sending your resume around to the various colleges saying you are looking for adjunct work? Don’t limit yourself to math if you could also do computer or programming etc. I would look at what each school offers and look for any courses described that you could teach. Then send info directly to those departments. Don’t worry about lack of teaching experience. Adjuncts are their own breed. You have a PhD. If you were even a TA in college…
@Lindagaf Sure, I would certainly take them all, but tutoring gifted kids seems to be a fairly unoccupied niche. I think I can go significantly wider and deeper than an average school teacher. However, the main focus for brilliant kids now seems to be getting ahead to calculus and beyond plus doing competitions, so they may get to college without having any idea about all the variety of math - too bad.
@sylvan8798 I’m not looking for adjunct work now because I have a full-time job, so I’m just thinking about the future.
@Mwfan1921 I might change my opinion in the future, but right now I think I’d hate Skype tutoring for the lack of real personal connection.
Do you have the patience to work with autistic kids? If you are near a state school, they often only offer group tutoring which doesn’t work well for some of them. Another thing they need is organization, and someone to keep them on track.
I think you’re forgetting something. Gifted kids don’t tend to need a lot of help. I spend far less time with them than with my average students. As I said, there’s a small pool of truly gifted students. You need to be realistic.
Also, I began tutoring as a volunteer at the local community college. That’s a good place to start. Yes, there a bright students at the CC’s too.
One idea is to make up business cards (look at vistaprint). Write up a letter introducing yourself, include a resume, and send it to the guidance dept. of local schools-- public, private, charter. If you’re prepared to do SAT prep, include that.
There are a number of tutoring companies out there. True, you’ll make less per hour. But they’ll provide you with kids.
Yes, @bjkmom is right. I started professionally at a well-known tutoring company that had a surprisingly rigorous interview process, and then had to do 20 hours of online training. I no longer work for that company, but I did learn a lot of very useful stuff by starting out there. Investigate that option, because it gives you credibility and experience.
Good point about the training. We’ve all had teachers who knew their stuff cold, but had no idea of how to explain it, how to wrap their heads around the idea that someone couldn’t get from point A to point B in the material. That’s where all the years in the classroom can make a difference in success as a tutor. I can anticipate the mistakes my kids are going to make before they make them because I’ve seen them so many times. I can warn a kid that 5^3 is NOT 75 (they square it, then triple it. I don’t know why, but I can promise that they’ll do it.)
