Find community inside and outside of your work environment. It's helpful to have a thing you like or want to try on a consistent basis (for me it's going to open mic, though I am not a good singer or poet), so that you have a place to meet new people and find like-minded friends.

Laws and rules are flexible in certain countries. In China, I lost my ID card needed to get on the trains (I'm American, but Chinese birth and still have my national ID), so I went to the police department and got a temporary one. On way back home, I realized I would have to repeat this process since the temp ID expired. But when I explained this to the policeman, I got yelled out of the office. Are you stupid? Why are you so honest? Just fold it roughly so the expiration date is hidden and shove it at the worker at the counter! No one is going to care! So I took his advice and got through. So many situations like this here in Italy too. A law says one thing but real life situations say another. If you find yourself in such a country, you should not take the first answer as truth, but ask many questions to probe; so this isn't allowed, but I really need to get it done, is there another way? what would you recommend? etc.

Thanks all for the advise to save early. I have no debt, live below my means, try to save and invest around 30-40k a year. At this trajectory I think retirement is possible, though I doubt the likelihood of returning back to the Silicon Valley unless the housing market collapses + pension/SS. I doubt expat retirement communities known for cheap and good lifestyle will be cheap and good by the time I'm old, and I highly doubt I'll stay at this trajectory; looking around at the forums, having a family throws things out of whack.

On a different note, I'm also bothered that a lot of parents ask me, what is my child going to do now that she/he has fallen in love with art and wants to major in it in Uni? What kind of job can she/he get? And I can definitely give career advice, but I feel a bit strange having gone straight into teaching without too much foray into the art and design industry itself (outside of a bit a freelance). Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn't have come into teaching as an older (wiser?) woman =P

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@wrldtrvlr123
What do I want to do every day? It's all so vague; the only answer I can give you is that I am a typical INTJ personality and I want to solve problems (and make art, swim, dance and sing opera lol). In that sense, I love the moment of optimizing a lesson or a classroom space slowly through trial and error, and seeing that change translate to more student enthusiasm and learning (and all the free time I get to do the other things). I realize the classroom may not be the only way the fulfill this, but it is not a bad way either.

My salary is just that, including housing; the reason it's tax free despite being in Europe is because this is a embassy school of SA with a strange financial jurisdiction as agreed between the two countries. Despite not having been to SA, I imagine it's like temporarily stepping into a slightly more liberal version of SA while at work, and then stepping back into Europe afterwards. So yes, I do think there are better schools out there. May I ask how many years it took you to get into the DoDDS and if you had experience back home?

My professor of education in university expressed similar ideas about people outside of teaching missing the mark in changing education, and he advised that if any of us wanted to become admin or change education outside of the structure, to first "fight on the front lines" as a teacher first. However, anyone who has been to a school with terrible admin, inconsistent internet, or uses collaborative learning technologies in the classroom can feel the difference outside factors make. There is an invisible system supporting (or shackling) us. I suppose each person looks at education and shakes his/her head in despair, and goes about tackling the problem on a multitude of levels. I just feel a little lost where I should be.

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@PsyGuy
Thanks for the breakdown! I suppose I need to looking into option 3 a bit more as I have not really considered it. I don't think research and publication in a university is a bad thing, but yes, having recently been through the lecture hall system, I don't imagine it being all that great.

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@dantespal
Thank you for your perspectives on education companies outside of the school systems. I am admittedly one foot in the bubble of the Silicon Valley since a great number of friends are there, so it's all unicorns and rainbows from their end. What's your opinion about nonprofits like KhanAcademy? MOOCs?

How did your return back to Colorado go? Was it a difficult re-entry? Are you in public or private?

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Thank you all for taking the time to respond!

Hi all, I am a young IT with 3 years experience abroad straight out of college. I humbly look for advise on whether it is wise to continue on this career path or not.

A little background: I'm American, and teach art at a small embassy school in Europe. Pros: I earn around E 60k+ tax free, a light work load and am left alone in the classroom where I'm happiest. Cons: the school has incompetent admin, national curriculum teachers resent IBDP teachers for being brought in recently, IB teachers resent them back for being horrible at classroom management and passing us some kids who have not done homework their entire lives or know how to calculate fractions. The students are sweet but lazy. I wish I spent more time on intellectual conversations and less time on bureaucratic ones.
So I thought, ok, maybe it's time to switch to another school. I got on SEARCH and ISR and realize that there are some pretty bad schools out there, along with some terrible compensation packages. And considering the lack of retirement planning, even some higher tier school packages don't seem all that great. Meanwhile, friends back in the silicon valley are working to change education through tech and design companies, are well compensated and work in efficient environments on interesting projects, and don't worry about retirement. In other words, I'm having a crisis and wondering if I should pivot career-wise, return to the states and become a UX yuppie designer =P

However, I'm trying to keep in mind the lifestyle and travel opportunities, and that I actually like teaching. I'd like to ask all of you:

1. What is career advancement or goals to you? Do you just aim to become a better teacher? leadership? admin? landing at a top school?
2. Do you think you can retire from IT well? or will your retirement dependent upon investments and pension plans from a previous career?
3. Do you work on the side? Anyone freelance or something outside of tutoring?
4. Has the IT market kept up with inflation in the last 10+ years?
5. Just wondering: can anyone compare teaching at University level with teaching at high school level?

I realize I may sound ignorant and naive, so I thank you in advanced for correcting any misconceptions I have.

Hello,
My upcoming post is going to be a Saudi embassy school in Europe teaching ib art. Could anyone enlighten me as to how their culture affects their attitude about learning, along with tips to overcome any barriers? I'm googling this and I seem to be seeing a lot of "they are rich and lazy so good luck on getting them to do any work". Is that right? Call me idealistic but that doesn't seem to be a great or even useful way to view my students. Any practical advice?

Thanks so much for the thoughtful advice wrldtrvlr! I guess I want to be a teacher first and foremost, but I do believe being an artist would make me a better teacher. I just don't really want to only be an artist. I think I will focus on getting my teaching license and then return to the states for some experience like you suggested.

May I ask what you did before you went into education? And where you got your degree?

Hi, sorry I'm not an experienced teacher, so I can't answer the part about work environment.

As for Chengdu, I can give you a warning. It's in the west of China, located closer to all the spectacular scenes, such as Jiuzhaigou, Tibet, etc. But the city is geographically in a basin, which means polluted air has trouble moving out, unlike Shanghai, which while polluted, has winds blowing its pollution away (to Los Angeles haha). Anyways, just my two cents.

Hi respected members of ISR,

I'm a 24 year newbie teacher, and I'm writing my first post with 2 goals in mind:
1. To share my story with people who may be in my shoes a year ago (ie. recent grad wondering if international teaching is right for them), and
2. To ask for advice for those experienced international teachers and/or art teachers out there as to my next steps

------section 1------
So, I was graduating college, and wanted to teach art in China (art major). A couple of things stood in the way:
1. I didn't major in education, no TEFL...though I spent most of college TAing
2. I wanted to teach something not in high demand - art
3. there's that pesky law in China about 2 years of post graduate experience and being 25 yo to get a legal Z visa.

Well, good news is that 1 and 2 can be worked with, though I must've sifted through a million ESL offers. Rule 3 depends on the school hiring you...if it has enough guanxi...and where you are located. I think it's much tougher to circumvent the law in Beijing then a smaller city. Anyways, I got a job as an IB DP art teacher after being forced to attend a TEFL in China course by the visa authorities in my city...despite not teaching ESL...So I'm sure if you are hell bent on teaching here despite no qualifications in education, you can do it, especially if you teach a higher demand subject than art...and what subject is not in higher demand than art anyways?

Bad news is my school is a private Chinese school with an IB division, and as many of you know, they have low work hours but zero professional development. I was literally just locked into a disorganized art classroom with no supplies or budget and told to read the IB manual and work it out. Which I did. The bad thing is my western colleagues. My Chinese colleagues are experienced professionals dedicated to the school, though they have a tendency toward last minute revisions and bad management. My western colleagues are completely lazy and unprofessional and just want a job with low hours. As the only art teacher at the school I am pretty alone with no guide, and there's no one serving as a good example even outside my subject. I'm leaving as my one year contract is up. In the end, I don't regret it because it answered the one question I wanted answered that couldn't really be answered in just grad school: do I want to be an international teacher? Yes...but in a better environment please...

-------section 2-------------

So as the year ends I'm torn as to my next steps.

1. TeachReady or MAT program? I have the option of going to a slightly better private chinese school with IB DP program in shanghai and management would be western, but I'd still be stuck in the same situation, as the sole inexperienced art teacher. But I'd totally get started on getting my cert through Teach Ready and build an awesome portfolio. But I wonder if the online program cripples you career-wise...would people rather see an MAT program, maybe somewhere prestigious? does it even matter? Is killing off one year of pre-cert teaching experience worth the advantage an MAT would give you? International teachers what do you think?

2. I have the option of taking a videography job in Shanghai, maybe while I volunteer at a school with the TeachReady program...not sure yet. The job isn't the same as my ideal art job, which would be documentary, and may pay less than teaching, but it's a step in the right direction. Despite knowing I want to be an art teacher, I can't help but think I need to be a practicing artist at the same time. I mean, I see so many private schools asking for teaching artists, not just art teachers...this seems unique to art, as I never see math positions ask for practicing mathematicians... I also hate the phrase "those who can't, teach", but the number of concerned parents asking about whether their art-loving child can get a job makes me wonder if I shouldn't have one foot in the art industry to give proper career advice that doesn't involve vague idealistic phrases like "do what you love...." Art teachers, what do you think? Is it important to have an art practice? Any successful secondary teachers working in the international circuits who are not and have not actually been practicing artists?

3. I have a sneaking suspicion it's better to just give up on international teaching temporarily and try to get a job in the states for a couple of years. I even wonder if my thirst for travel can be sated if I just traveled in the summers instead. Anyone can compare working in the states and traveling in the summer vs. teaching abroad? Has anyone had experienced returning to the states after stints abroad? Was it hard to find work?

4. My dream is to develop a study abroad art program that involves documenting social justice stories through illustration, photography, and documentary filmmaking. This is why I'm tossing around the videography job also...to get experience working in video so I can use it to inform my dream educational program haha. I hardly see that possible in these underfunded schools in China, but maybe a school/grant in the US? Anyone have experience with this, in the US or abroad?

5. I actually majored in psychology also in college. I miss it sometimes. I'd totally love to teach it, but I hate that it's mixed with social studies licensure in most state programs, which involves geography, economics, and, my most hated subject of all, history. Is it worth getting licensed in this subject...it's also not in demand....Is it better just to hone my expertise in the arts?

What would make me a better international teacher? What would take me on the greatest adventure? Call me idealistic, but life is so short, and I'm scared I won't get to do all the things I want to do...

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Thanks for reading all that. You guys have been a wealth of information, and I really thank you all in advance. I hope as I gain experience I can slowly give back to this community.