How Much Do You Make?

Summary: I make a lot more now than I did as a teacher, that’s for sure. My salary was $48,500 when I left, and my salary is $75,000 now.

There are a wide range of opinions and perspectives when it comes to discussing your salary. Here’s what Monster.com has to say about the Pros and Cons of Sharing Salary Information.

I’m all for discussing salaries as you can tell by this post. When I was a teacher, I would tell my peers and community members my salary if the conversation ever came up, and I would tell them the exact number. First, the information was publicly available (if you know where to look; see side story). Second, it would prompt an immediate internal judgment from them like “Damn, that’s not much.” Yeah, teachers are underpaid. Water is wet.

Side story: Every year, the question came up from students: “Mr. Banh, how much do you make?” I’d just tell them with a smile, “You can look it up on the internet.” It was my way of helping my students use their available resources while not explicitly withholding the information from them.

Obviously, no one is a teacher for the money. I’ve never met a single teacher who did it for the money or thought they were paid enough. HA. I just laughed to myself while imagining that. I think it’s fair to assume that if you’re considering a career change outside of teaching that money is probably one of the main issues.

My Salary Then

My salary was $48,500 when I left teaching after my fourth year. I taught in Wauwatosa, WI, and lived in Waukesha, WI. It wasn’t bad for a single adult without children, but I don’t see how you could raise a family with that. If (that’s a BIG IF) there was a way for money to change my decision, that number would’ve had to be at least $60,000. There’s no way any school district could give a salary increase like that, so really there’s nothing my school district could’ve done to keep me, and I also don’t blame them for not being able to. Bernie Sanders wants to set a starting salary for teachers at no less than $60,000, among many other items, under his Reinvest in Public Education plan. I voted for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 and 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries.

My Salary Now

I moved to Chicago, IL, in the late summer after I finished teaching summer school in Wauwatosa. After I looked up the average salary of an instructional designer in Chicago (Glassdoor: $60,080 as of today’s publish date) and factored in an expected increase in cost of living expenses, I determined that I would not accept an offer below $55,000.

Eventually I received and signed an offer of $55,000 to be a Jr. Instructional Designer at a marketing communications company. The original offer was $50,000, but I explained my rationale and negotiated with the recruiter, who thankfully got the approval of the required stakeholders. I was pretty happy with this for awhile. Being a HS math teacher, I naturally wondered “How long would it have taken me to make this salary if I was still a teacher?” I calculated that answer to be about 7 more years. Crazy.

After a year and a half with my salary of $55,000, I became discontent with it. Before I say more, let me acknowledge this: I’m very privileged to say that money has never been a life or death issue in my life, and it’s not my goal in life to acquire as much money as I can– I just want to be paid what I’m worth.

By serendipity, another recruiter reached out to me and within three weeks, I received and signed an offer of $75,000 to be a Senior Specialist, Digital Learning at a management consulting company. I did the math again. It would have taken me about 22 more years a teacher to make my salary now. Fucking crazy. I’m definitely paid what I’m worth now, and I’m definitely earning my keep here.

There you have it. I made $48,500 when I left teaching after my fourth year. I made $55,000 in my first job as an instructional designer. I make $75,000 now.

Bonus Content: How I Calculated the Math

The context: My salary was $48,500 back then. I got a 2% raise from my school district every year. My salary is $75,000 now.

The question: How many years would it take for me to go from $48,500 to $75,000 if I got a 2% raise every year?

The solution: Use an exponential equation y = (a) (b)^x where y is the current salary, a is the starting salary and b is the raise written as percent increase. Then solve for x which represents the time in years.