It’s shameful how the US treats its teachers.

Yeah I'm AuDHD myself, got the diagnosis in my late thirties after finally seeking help after burning out at my seventh engineering office job. Stimulant medication has helped a lot with the ADHD side of things, but I'm just done with office jobs at this point. It's possible things might work better with another one, this time with proper medication and support. But I'm just done. I've spent so much time and lived through so much misery trying to be productive in engineering office roles that I have some degree of PTSD about the prospect now. At this last job, even though I didn't know what was happening, my subconscious sure did. I quit in a panic after three days and had to be convinced to come back. I gave it another shot and made it nine months before total burnout.

I need a new career path. And I needed to try something different. And I think teaching is it. Prior to this year I have some experience teaching undergraduate students and doing a lot of K12 tutoring, but my K12 classroom experience was limited. To explore this path, I got my substitute teacher's license over the summer. This year I'm substituting basically every day, and honestly I'm having a blast.

It works with my brain in a way almost nothing else does. Mine is more the inattentive form of ADHD than the hyperactive form. I really struggle with executive function and focus when working on long repetitive tasks, especially those with no immediate value. I've studied engineering extensively, up to the doctoral level. I love it as a subject. I love teaching it. I love learning it. I love applying it in hands on ways. But stick me in a cubicle and ask me to grind out calculations all day, day after day? I break. By the time I reach burnout on the job I'm basically catatonic, staring blindly at a screen or wall, disassociating the whole day away. That's what office jobs are like for me. Hell. And I say office job, but the actual setting is irrelevant. I've tried work from office, work from home, and hybrid. It's the work itself that is the problem, not the environment.

But teaching? Substitute teaching is hard. There are days that I leave frustrated, as some classes you just can't ever get any traction on. There are some classes I've taught that no matter what techniques I use, I simply cannot get them quiet enough to teach. There are days when the kids really get to you, and you wonder how some of these kids are going to possibly survive in the real world without just immediately ending up in jail the instant school isn't covering for them.

And yet, I wouldn't trade my worst day substituting for my best office day. (At least any office day past the first few months, when I'm usually able to maintain focus when things are new and the learning curve is still steep.) Teaching just works so well for my neurology. The regular schedule. The defined work and work hours. The immediate feedback and sense of purpose in your work. It's everything working as an engineer in a design office isn't.

Yes, the money sucks. If I substituted every single school day of the year (not really practical), I would make 40% of what I made doing engineering work. If I go enroll in a program, get a formal teaching certificate, and become a proper teacher? 60%. But honestly, I don't even mind. It's not like the engineering salary is really a sustainable thing to begin with. Thankfully I at least have a spouse that is able to make the engineering life work, so we're fine no matter what. But it would be really hard to make ends meet doing what I am now if it were just me.

Teaching is such a joy.