A major fork in the road in regards to my future...Opinions welcome

[LennonCook]

Ask the people who know you best. Your parents, your wife. They know what you`re interested in, they know what you`d enjoy doing.
And once you`ve done that, ask the person who knows you best of all - ask yourself which you`d more like doing.
Forget about "which gives better pay" - your job satifisfaction is more important. If you don`t like your job, you will be stressed, and people around you will be stressed. So, go with the one you`d be happier with. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[homer]

It is apparent that you have a daughter that you love very much. My only opinion is: do whatever is going to give you the most time with her. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Good luck.

[Aelia Jusa]

Originally posted by MagiK: Larry, I have no advice to give, but I will say, that it is rare, that any one decision will irrevocably determine the rest of your life, unless you allow it to.

Just wanted to say, that's great advice, Magik [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[img]smile.gif[/img]

[Lord Starshadow]

Go with what you feel you should do. If it means a temporary shakeup with things in your family, you still should do it; a little time of things being a little rough for a lifetime of satisfaction and happiness is a small price to pay, in my opinion. [img]smile.gif[/img]

And don't worry about the students. The true job of the teacher isn't just to teach, it's to make the students want to learn.

Good luck with the choice, Larry. My youth is usually a detriment in terms of advising, but not all who are elder are wiser. Your heart will decide in the end, my friend.

[Epona]

Larry mate, it's tough making a decision like that.

Would it be possible to go work with the PCs for a year or two, learning some useful skills, and then go to college after? The college will still be there. Or wait til MaryBeth starts school, when your wife will feel better about taking a job? It would only be postponing your teaching ambitions by a little, and will keep your wife happy in the bargain. MaryBeth will only be little once, and once those years are gone they're gone for good, I can understand her wanting to stay home with her baby.

On another note, a 40 minute drive to college is not bad at all. People who work here in London mostly have a commute of between 1 and 2 hours each way, most would dream of only travelling 40 minutes each way, it's all relative!

[ 01-10-2003, 05:32 AM: Message edited by: Epona ]

[dark soul]

choose the job that u like better.....have the fun job and enjoy ur life with the ones u love.....so teachin is a better choice....i mean life is too short after all and u always learn a few new things from students.....

[/)eathKiller]

Become a teacher, but don't teach in the States. I recomend you seek out an organization called DoDDs which might go by the name DODEA. They need spanish teachers, especially for Cuba, because right now their spanish teacher suck pretty bad [img]tongue.gif[/img] My last one ended up with 90 % of her students making scores below C eve the best and brightest failed. The best graded students were already hispanic to begin with. + Dodds Pays very VERY well, and you get treated like a military officer when you sign up. Workin as a teacher for Military brats for the department of Defense can have you seeing places all over the world and the housing and everything is free so what have you got to loose?

[madjim]

Hmm, having been forced to change careers, I know this is tough. Bottom Line: whats the most promising?

Spanish is going to be big in the coming years unless the flow of immigration is reversed. I know that some jobs even down in sleepy Alamance County are looking for bilingual folks. Do you really think that you will be able to break into computer industry? Do you have that kind of time to stick around working for contractors hoping to land a decent job? I know a guy who has - but I couldnt.

Tough decision. Unless I was a programming prodigy - I'd head for Spanish language training. Daycare isnt that bad if you find one that isnt just Tv all the time. We found when my little monster started school she was far advanced over those that just stayed home and vegetated with Mom.

[Elif Godson]

Hell Larry teach Spanish and move to Spa...err Florida it's almost our native language we even voted on it and didnt have one chad out of place
Go with Teaching bud, computers are graet and all but teaching is far more rewarding even if you do have a few failure's along the way. But ultimatly it is your decision and no matter what is said or done there will be the what if's, never mind those and go with your passion, it can never fail [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[Cloudbringer]

My two cents worth, Larry:

The teaching would probably be not only more rewarding emotionally/mentally, but I'm thinking that BECAUSE jobs are hard to find now and BECAUSE teaching jobs are usually NOT completely filled, at least not in the state of NY, you might be better off biting the bullet and doing the schooling.

Around here, those who have certification to teach can always pick up work as substitute teachers (usually for a long stretch of time) if nothing else is available. I have a friend who got her teaching certificate and kept her bills paid that way for a few years before she got married. She now has that field to fall back on if she ever needs to. Another friend of mine took up substitute teaching after many years of not working at all and she was so busy she had to turn DOWN requests from some schools (she's in Vermont).

As some other people mentioned, Spanish IS a very popular course right now and we have schools calling my department looking for teachers almost weekly, so it would have a future, no doubt about that!

That said, I also know that teaching isn't for everyone. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication and you have to put up with a whole lot of beauracracy and misbehving kids. So I guess in the end, it's really up to you to decide what makes the most sense financially AND emotionally. Like others have said, you want to be interested and happy in whatever you choose to do. So if you think the helpdesk thing is better, maybe you should do that. If not, go for the degree!

If both were an option that'd be fantastic, but I'm betting it would be murder, time-wise!