Teaching?

Hi,

first let me say, I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, but I couldn't think of anywhere else.

So have any of you thought about teaching any of the IT skills you have? I'm currently wondering how I could go about this. My idea is to teach some basic Linux skills across maybe 5-10 lessons, each lesson being 1 or 2 hours long. I imagine doing one lesson a week would be a good idea. Does anyone have ideas on how you'd go about this?

I'm thinking a local college would be a good place to start, but what would the complications with doing this if I was to approach them? Any ideas...

Regards,
Sycrid.

 

I am not an expert in the field of teaching, but my experience (mostly based on hearsay from others who went for such positions) has been that credentials are a big factor in getting teaching gigs. This is especially the case if you go to traditional academic institutions like colleges. They will want to see advanced degrees in the subject matter, at a minimum.

There are less rigorous "schools" around here that offer adult education on a wide range of topics to anyone for very small fees. My understanding is that the instructors teach for free, so some do it simply because they enjoy it, others to build up their teaching resumes, and some do it in the hopes that some students will become clients. Credentials will still be important both to the organization and to the students signing up for the course, but will not likely be as demanding as a college.

You could also strike off on your own and offer courses online or in physical locations. However, credentials will have to be a big part of your sales pitch to attract students to sign up.

The other standard comment that I have heard over the years is that the positions always pay at the low end of the scale. What I mean is that you generally will be compensated much higher for doing "X" than for teaching others to do it.

But, ultimately, a lot of people seem to get great satisfaction from teaching, so it can be a very rewarding endeavor from that perspective.

 

That's some good feedback, thanks jrbiz. I am just thinking about it as an addition to my work, as I think it'd be fun to teach a little. You have given me a lot to think about though, so thank you.

 

I'd post an ad on craigslist to see if I get any good responses.

I am not sure though how many folks out there are walking around thinking: "I wish I could know Linux better." I am sure there are some but that percentage could be really, really small.