The Complete Guide to Becoming An Education Teacher, Postsecondary
What you'll really do, earn, and face before you commit to a career teaching future teachers
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
The real story of teaching teachers at the college level: pay, workload, degrees, and whether you'll actually like it.
About this book
Thinking about becoming an education professor or instructor? You've probably heard the vague pitch: 'You'll shape the next generation of teachers!' But no one tells you that you'll spend 40% of your time on grading and student emails, that your first job might be a one-year contract with no office, or that the 'PhD required' sign is no joke. This guide fixes that.
Written like a career counselor who has actually worked alongside these faculty, this book walks you through a real day in the life, breaks down the three distinct career paths (community college, teaching-focused university, research university), and gives you actual salary ranges from entry-level adjunct work to full professor. You'll get a self-assessment to check your own temperament, a concrete plan to land your first job, and honest answers to the questions you're afraid to ask, like 'How hard is the PhD really?' and 'Can I do this without one?'
If you're weighing whether this career fits your life, your wallet, and your personality, this guide gives you the unvarnished truth so you can decide with confidence.
Reader Reviews
Laura Rivera
★★★★★I'm a junior in college weighing whether to go for a PhD in education, and chapter 1 alone was worth the price. The breakdown of what a typical week actually looks like, including the 2,000-word grading sessions and the committee meetings, made me realize I was romanticizing the job. The salary chapter also grounded me, I now know I need to target teaching-focused schools, not research universities, to avoid the publish-or-perish pressure.
Cynthia Robinson
★★★★★It's a solid guide, but I wish it had more on the online teaching side of things. I currently teach K-12 and was looking to move up, and the book does a good job covering traditional campus roles. The chapter on education and certification was helpful, though it confirmed that I'd need at least a master's, maybe a PhD, which is a big time commitment. Three stars because it's accurate, but not exactly what I needed for my specific situation.
Jacob Adams
★★★★★The book is honest, almost brutally so, about the adjunct grind and the low starting pay. I appreciated that it didn't try to sell me on the dream. That said, I felt the chapter on day-in-the-life was a bit long, I got the picture after the first few hours. The self-assessment checklist in chapter 2 was genuinely useful, it made me realize I don't have the patience for the grading load.
Mark Green
★★★★★This is exactly the kind of resource I wish I had before I started my master's program. The chapter on landing your first job had practical advice I haven't seen anywhere else, like how to get a campus visit invitation and what to put on a teaching-focused CV. The salary table gave me a realistic range for my region, and I now know to negotiate for a course release in my first year. Worth it for anyone on the fence.
Stephanie Nelson
★★★★★As someone who just finished a PhD and is adjuncting, I found a lot of validation here. The breakdown of the three types of institutions was spot-on, I wish I'd read it six years ago. The book confirmed that I want a community college job, not a research one, and gave me a clear plan to get there. The chapter on career growth also helped me see the path from adjunct to full-time. Highly recommend for grad students.
Eric Ramirez
★★★★★I bought this because I was curious about the job but I'm not sure I want to spend years in school. The guide does a good job of explaining the reality, but it also made me realize the payoff for the time isn't great for me personally. The education and certification chapter was clear, but the cost section scared me off a bit. It's a fair book, just not one that convinced me this path is worth it.