Disclaimer: The views expressed by our interviewees are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of GradSimple. We only edit these responses for clarity. All opinions remain those of the interviewee.
- Name: Alexa R.
- Year Of Graduation: 2021
- College/University: San Diego State University (SDSU)
- Major: Psychology
What do you do for a living?
I’m a substitute teacher in the San Diego area. Currently, I’m on leave due to a shoulder injury for the rest of this month.
Can you tell me about your job search experience after graduation?
So to go back a little bit, I got a shoulder dislocation injury in high school when I was playing varsity soccer, which initially wasn’t too bad but ended up getting a lot worse as the years went on. It was so bad, that my shoulder would dislocate while putting on a shirt. I had to get surgery after graduation. My thought process was more focused on taking care of myself and my health first before anything else.
During university, I was able to find a company that allowed me to be a full-time student and also work part-time as a behavioral therapist with kids with autism. I actually worked with them through 2023, after graduating. That was my first time ever working with children with disabilities. I quickly realized that I really loved working closely with families and children. Not only was I able to help them be self-sufficient and become their own individual, but I could also show their families how they can help their children succeed. It was really rewarding to see my kids grow and meet their goals.
Our parents tell us to find a good company after graduating and you’ll have more internal opportunities and can climb the ladder. I was really hopeful that would happen with the behavior therapy job. I got a lot of great feedback from the families and children I worked with, like they loved me, but it was a three-hour commute and I was only really working for a few hours each time as well. Unfortunately, they were hesitant to give me more hours. When I realized that wasn’t going to work out for me, I was like, okay, I need to switch gears or try something new.
Once I realized I wasn’t going to be getting the hours and pay that I wanted, I started looking into substitute teaching for elementary school districts. I did the prerequisites and background checks, and after about two to three months of waiting, I was able to start subbing last year. It was kind of a special case since there was a shortage of subs due to COVID. They changed the requirements which meant I only needed a bachelor’s degree whereas before you needed to pass a couple of different exams and get some additional credentials. They’re changing the requirements again soon, so my credentials are only valid until 2025.
I did get to start working full-time as a teacher, though. I subbed probably three times before I got offered a full-time position at a charter school. It’s a bilingual school, so Spanish and English immersion for kindergarten through sixth grade. The reason why I was offered the long-term position was because one of the second-grade teachers left due to illness, and did not come back. That’s all I knew about him. When I was offered the role, I felt a bit pressured into it because they were in need and I’d worked with kids before, but I’d never fully managed a classroom of 30 kids before except for the few times I’d subbed. I was mostly working with kids one-on-one, like in my behavior therapy job. I ended up being added as an on-site substitute so they could kind of work around me not being a fully credentialed teacher and still pay me full-time. I had that classroom of second graders from August of last year to July of this year, so the whole past school year. And this is when I started having my existential crisis.
Why did you choose your major? If you could go back in time, would you change it?
I was very athletic in high school. I played varsity soccer, so I thought I was going to play soccer for a university, but that didn’t happen. I didn’t get any scholarships. I was kind of forced to pivot. I’m in San Diego, and the district I was in for high school had a program called Compact for Success. So if you had a certain GPA, you could get into SDSU (San Diego State University). So I had that option, and I also got offered to play soccer at a community college. I was kind of conflicted. The coach for the community college really wanted me to join the team, but I just wasn’t feeling it. I began studying at SDSU in 2017.
Since I was commuting, it was kind of hard for me to get to know people on campus, so I started working at a summer job at a campground near where I was living. I always knew I loved working with children, and mental health. So I ended up majoring in psychology and I loved it, but especially here in California, it was very much like, you need to have a 4.0. You need to have a really good SAT score. You will need a master’s degree in psychology or social work, or behavior to make a good career. Base pay for a bachelor’s in psychology is very low. This is my main predicament right now. I’m 25 and I know I want to go back to graduate school, but I don’t know which route I want to take. It’s really difficult for me to narrow it down and just take that risk. The outcome might not be what I expect, which is scary.
If I asked you 3 years ago, what would you think you’d be doing right now (in life/career)?
I would have thought I’d be a therapist. Maybe more like one-on-one therapy and counseling. I did think maybe I could be a school psychologist or counselor. Once I kind of got more background, I saw what these roles really entail and it wasn’t what I was expecting. I thought it was more so talking to kids and helping them through whatever it is they’re going through, but it’s a lot of evaluating students. It’s a lot of typing up information and sending a report to the district. I’m more interested in connecting emotionally with the child and really offering support and guidance, which is what behavior therapy allowed me to do.
What’s your biggest struggle right now?
As I mentioned, teaching kind of drove me into an existential crisis. Teaching is hard. Every school is different, but like I said, this school is special, it’s dual language. I work with a partner teacher. I was the second-grade Spanish teacher, and there was a second-grade English teacher I worked with. I would get one group of kids in the morning, 25 students, and she would get the other group of 25. Then around 10:40 am, we would switch the groups. I quickly learned there was a lot of politics and just a lot of internal things going on. I felt very uninformed and unprepared. When I was a sub, I was just getting sub plans and doing them. That’s fine. As a teacher, though, I have to plan my lessons and make sure my students get good test scores and are learning and doing well. It got so overwhelming. My family would help me grade papers and we’d all be doing that all day on the weekends.
I also had to deal with different kinds of students as well. It was hard to get everyone in a structured routine, like they were used to their old teacher and now I’ve come in, and some of them have behavioral problems. I had one student who would cry every day, like scream cry at the top of her lungs, because I made her speak Spanish and she didn’t want to learn. I had another student who was known to be a bully, so I had to deal with disciplining and controlling them. I also had a lot of racist students in the classroom as well. It was extremely overwhelming and I felt like I wasn’t getting the support I needed from the school. I felt like I was on autopilot. I would go teach and then come home completely mentally, physically, and emotionally drained.
At the same time, I didn’t want to give up. I finished the school year and they did offer me a different job as an instructional assistant but it was for very little money, like about half of my previous salary, which kind of felt like a slap in the face. I declined the offer because I would hope that I’m worth more than that. I also started going to therapy because of my experience teaching. I felt so lost and I’d never felt more stressed in my life. They asked me to return as a sub but I felt like I couldn’t, it was too much. I’m trying to prioritize my mental health right now. I’ve been seeing a lot of different therapists just because I feel like my mind is not right and I really want to get it right before I move forward with working.
If money was not a factor, what would you be working on or spending more time on?
Definitely Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction. I loved that class in college, and I love the topic. I love talking about it and I love learning about it still. Everyone was in that class for the same reason so it was really nice to talk to a group of people that had the same interests, outlook, and thought process as I did. I am looking into pursuing this now regardless of the money because that’s one subject that really piqued my interest. I think it kind of rolls psychology, neuroscience, and mental health all together.
If we traveled 3 years into the future of your life, what would you hope we’d see?
I would hope to see myself working with kiddos and hopefully doing mindfulness-based practices with them. There was a day when I was teaching where I got to teach them anything I wanted and I decided to teach mindfulness-based practices. That was really special. We all sat down and meditated, and talked about what we were feeling in the moment and really hearing them and getting excited about it made me very happy. I would hope to maybe have a small classroom or kind of be able to help the community or help others in that way.
What advice and/or learnings would you give to current students or recent grads?
Don’t give up. I know it’s discouraging sometimes, but I think as you go through life experiences you’ll find what’s for you. Keep in mind what you’re really passionate about. I think that’s something I lost sight of, and it’s so important to stay true to yourself.
Also, I wish someone had told me that finding a job is not easy. I feel like parents tell you that once you get a degree it’ll be so much easier to get a job. That’s not true. If I’d known I would have reached out to more professors and network and seek more community as an undergrad.
Connect With Alexa:
- LinkedIn: @AlexaRodriguez
- Instagram: @alex.iguez
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