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Ask HN: How to transition from education to Edtech?

9 points by markles ↗ HN
After well over a decade teaching high school, I'm planning to step away in the coming year. I used to work in software, and though that experience is mostly moot at this point, I do teach computer science and spend considerable time learning new stuff and building my own projects.

I've been thinking I may like to work in Edtech, but I'm not sure where I should start looking. Are there roles for people like myself with a background in software and education where I'd get to use both? Any advice on forums, feeds, keywords to search or other resources I could follow to get an idea of what is out there?

Anything would be appreciated. Thanks!

7 comments

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codegeek
Usually you have 3 options :

1. Instructional design and Course authoring. This is where you can build content for clients and companies. Think keywords like SCORM etc

2. Sales/sales engineering: you are technically skilled to sell a complex product that requires technical discussions/implementations. You may have to start as an SDR/AE first.

3. Customer Success/Account Management.

I am a bootstrapped founder in this space. Happy to provide more tips if you want to reach out directly.

markles
Thank you for the reply. Your first idea is something I'm currently doing as part of a few side projects, and I'd like to keep working at in the future. It lacks the technical side (ie. code) that I'm fond of. Looking into SCORM right now and it seems like this sort of thing which straddles the line pretty well.

Thanks for the offer, and I'll try to organize my thoughts a bit better and message you over the weekend. I really appreciate the help.

ultra_nick
Apply to EdTech startups. They need teaching talent.
MisterSandman
Stay away from Indian EdTech startups though, if you can.
matt_s
Go to a bootcamp to get more training in software development and see if you like it enough to change careers. There also is the Product Mgmt side of things, or sales or support where your background is a really good match to understand the business models, the procurement processes and how school districts work. Chances are most entry level positions of those will pay more than teacher pay.

Software development by itself is constantly learning things so there are opportunities to help fellow developers but that is likely not the same as actual teaching.

brian_spiering
I made a similar transition. I suggest finding any role in a fast growing organization and then working your way up.

There are EdTech specific job boards like http://www.edsurge.com/jobs

markles
That's a nice resource, thank you.

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of position did you end up in?