Pros
I got to dive in the world of elementary education after school. I had no prior experience coming in straight from college and boy was my world turned upside down lol. My site supervisor did a fabulous job with my development to become an effective and charismatic teacher. I learned to lead the kids I worked with. I learned to develop their trust. I got to put my knowledge to the test about child development. I was one of the few male teachers and I took advantage of that in how I worked with the kids. Doing clubs based on interests was amazing! DRDPs were a pain but to me only because the parents didn’t take it too seriously which was annoying. I think parents underestimate the ability of teachers to assess. I was then able to show the ropes to new teachers as well which was great. The staff at the center I worked at was wonderful. A lot of us stayed at the center for years so turnover wasn’t a big thing for the center until 2013-14 when basically the entire staff I knew including myself left. You have the opportunity to work at other centers and getting to know the culture of that center which I thought was great. You periodically get a chance to meet with staff at all centers in your region. I was in San Jose do this took place at corporate. Upper management to me was great. I got to meet the president and the cfo and other folks. I thought Benefits were great. I’ve also got taken care of when I had a work related injury. Overall, if you’re interested in this line of work, then definitely start out at CDC.
Cons
So the wages weren’t great. Being straight out of college I was offered 15.00/hr which is really manageable on your own but I was still with my parents. So assuming if you didn’t have a degree and you met the minimum you’d probably be paid less. Master teachers were paid a little more maybe starting at 18.00/hr. Site supervisors I know of were in the 40ks and up. I only received one raise throughout my career and I was there for over 3 years. Reason was at the time was a freeze on that so yeah I only got a 27 cent raise which was garbage. You’re not guaranteed 40 hours do based on center needs. During summer camp, you have to go to other centers to get your hours. That’s because enrollment has a lot to do with it. Didn’t mind that but that’s a con for others So when CDC was going through their revamp stages, only certain centers got the updated workspace. I’ve worked at enough centers to see the difference. Not sure how it is now. Our center didn’t go through the process at the time but I heard it sort of did. You’ll see equipment from like the 90s. You can see the drama like with every workplace. Nothing too crazy.
