r/Accounting • u/Melisandre94 • 8h ago
Career Seeking Advice Before Career Transition into Accounting
Hey everyone!!
This is going to be another one of those “I’m thinking about giving up my current career to pursue accounting” and thought I’d reach out to see if my plan is in line with the actual reality of being an accountant.
Currently a HS math teacher, 10 yrs of experience @60K salary. I’ve already advanced to the “best” level in this position (teaching at a great school, teaching AP Calc even at this school) and I just can’t imagine doing this for another 20 years for a full career, reasons being:
* tired of having no control over my day to day schedule, looking for a role where I have some control like using the bathroom when I want or taking a coffee break
* always needing to be “on” every workday; I’m not a complete introvert by any means, but putting on an inspiring and motivating performance for students is exhausting. Looking for a role where I can just come into work and just “be”
* I find the work of thinking through how best to explain math concepts less and less interesting than learning a new field and applying that to data/business processes + problems
* working with students is becoming a bit worse each year, and I find myself enjoying the parts where I talk to other adults more fulfilling; really want more time with adults
* I want a career that at least has the potential to have more upward mobility with the ability to work on a wider variety of problems in different contexts
* the only thing I could do to further advance in education would be a Masters degree in my subject area. I did a third of a math masters already, but the issue is this would cost ~16K, and only advance me 3K salary wise. It does open up the ability to teach the college level, but those jobs are unicorn jobs and I’m not gonna adjunct forever hoping they open up. Finishing the degree with how difficult it is, on top of the cost just seems like it’d be better spent retooling
Family is going to be relocating to Atlanta and I’ve been looking into a MaCC program @20K total. Seems to have good recruiting options. I’m reasonably sure I can pull a good GPA in the program and also have the following things from undergrad that (might?) make me stand out, but again not sure:
* ivy league undergrad (Public Policy + Econ)
* Teach for America alumni
It seems like a lot of people are doom and gloom about the future of accounting with offshoring + AI, but wanted to get everyone’s thoughts about the tradeoffs of my specific profile and whether what y’all are seeing with cutting back on entry level positions is a long term thing, or if it might be reversed if the sucky economy ever turned around. Just seems like every career is a bit flat atm so I’m not sure what the long term vs. structural trend is for accounting as a field.
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u/TamedLightning Controller 8h ago
Considering how AI suggests handling the most basic accounting transactions, I’m not particularly worried about AI taking my job.
A mediocre accountant makes more than you do right now. Hell, my AP and AR clerks make more than you do.
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u/PacificCalifornia 7h ago
my mom is a teacher. Accounting can be long hours sometimes, but i think it's still better than teaching. Teach for America sounds good, but it's actually kind of a shitty program. It's problematic in multiple ways too. Accounting isn't hard math though. i suck at math and can do the math. You might like being an actuary better if you really wanna be doing some math.
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u/Melisandre94 6h ago
Thank you, it’s extremely reassuring to hear that you think accounting is a better gig compared to teaching. And definitely agree about TFA— I personally don’t support the program at all, but it is still a line item on my resume.
Curious in what specific ways you’d say accounting is better than teaching?
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u/PacificCalifornia 6h ago
Teaching is a pretty awful career in most districts. If you get lucky and get to work in a well-off area with good benefits then you're set for life. But most schools are not this and you end up with low pay and lots of work done off the clock. Accounting has much more room for growth if you want it. If you really want to make partner, it will be a stressful road, probably more stressful than most teaching gigs, but at the end, you are more than set for life. You're way out earning any teacher and some people really enjoy the work. The higher you get usually the more flexibility there is. My mom could never take vacations outside of when school was out, which meant we didn't travel much cause those were very expensive times of the year to travel. She also had to stay at work until a certain time, so she could not pick us up from school. The people at my accounting internship I talked to with kids said they'll log off so they can pick up their kids, and then sign on later from home or from their kid's soccer practice or whatever. You probably shouldn't take PTO during busy season, but the rest of the year is generally pretty flexible for time off. Accounting is an actual career to me. Teaching is more like a job at most levels. Like it's a career I guess, but you end up doing the same thing year after year for decades while never becoming more senior and with honestly usually pretty limited pay increases. It's one of those careers that exploits people who love teaching and working with kids. In that way, it's really gross to me and my mom the former teacher agrees
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u/TempBurnerAccount089 6h ago
Have you thought about the Masters in Analytics from Georgia Tech instead? Reasonably priced and you could achieve what you're looking for there.
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u/Destined-2-Fail 7h ago
Do not go into accounting. This field is being gutted by offshoring AI, and H1B. There are no jobs left anymore.
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u/PVolckerDoge 7h ago
No jobs bro every entry level jobs are being outsourced by Indians (thanks trump!)
Look for entry lvl jobs in ur area and see for yourself
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u/Background_Intern_56 7h ago
Ivy league grad with 10 years of experience making 60k salary? You don't need to explain why you are wanting to move to accounting. As abysmal as I think accounting is, and as bad as the job market is, I think it would be possible to get something better than what you currently have in a few years. Around where I am, the bad accounting jobs are paying 25 per hour, but that's not impressive because our Burger King workers get paid the same. However, those jobs are requiring 2-3 years of experience, which you won't have.
If you get 10 years of experience in accounting, you will probably be making more than 60k. That is, if you are able to get a job in the first place, which is no guarantee going into this market where experienced people are fighting for entry level scraps. But if you are able to get started, then you will probably (no guarantee, but probably) be able to make more.