I teach IT-related Courses

I teach IT-related courses for two community colleges; an online course for each and a f2f for one. The community colleges I teach for prefer adjuncts with master’s degrees, but they might accept a candidate with a bachelor’s particularly if he or she has work experience in the area to be taught. Work experience is particularly important for adjuncts; their tie to real-life work experience is beneficial to students desiring to work in that career field.
Many people are returning to higher education because of the tough job market. This is particular true for community colleges and for-profit schools. It seems as if there should be a lot of teaching positions available. And there probably are, but there’s also a lot of competition. Full-time positions don’t open very often because they tend to be held by those who are committed to the teaching profession.
They work until they get tenure, and they don’t leave unless a better teaching opportunity becomes available or they retire. Part-time or adjunct teaching positions often make up a large percentage of a school’s teaching staff. However, these positions are likely to be held by people who work in the industry in which they teach, and those teachers are not going anywhere either. Adjuncts understand that if they leave a position they will be replaced and it may be difficult to return. They also understand that they are likely to get first crack at additional course sections or new courses offered; after all, they’re in the system - part of the team. If they do leave a position, that experience is likely to help them land another adjunct position. Retirees or near-retirees view adjunct positions as a way of keeping busy, earning extra money, and something they can do forever. Many plan on teaching online until they can no longer see
the computer monitor.
I don’t mean to present a gloom-and-doom scenario, but I want to present a different perspective. Many on this list are new graduates with no work experience or work experience in an area unrelated to their degree or the areas they wish to teach. Last summer I was hired to teach an information security course online. It just so happened that a full-time instructor left to teach at another school and his course load was available. I expect my acceptance had to do with the fact that I teach an online security course at another college, have a master’s in information security, have a certification in information security, and work as an information security engineer. I’m not Mr. Wonderful, but my ducks were in line - at least for this course.It is said that, “you can’t win if you don’t enter.” I encourage everyone to keep applying for online positions, but also work on getting your ducks in line. There’s lots of competition. You have to
convince an employer that your ducks look better then their ducks.