Secret lives of Bay Area part-time profs: Here's why they work at Safeway, live out of cars

San Fracisco Chronicle ^ | Monday, February 5, 2018 | Ted Andersen

[nickcarraway]

A vice chancellor and a part-time college professor walk into a bar. They have a drink and start talking about work. Both have tough jobs and hectic schedules. Both have Ph.Ds and both are public servants.

But when it comes to pay, the joke is on the part-time teacher.

The part-time professor earns about $30,000 annually and pays for health benefits while the vice chancellor makes a six-figure salary with full benefits.

Earning more than $70 per hour, it appears part-time college instructors are well paid. But this rate is misleading because only classroom hours are counted, not actual time spent on prep, grading and district administrative work.

The result is a two-tier system with little upward mobility for those at the bottom. Far from the comfort of an ivory tower, the world of academia has led many Bay Area part-time college instructors into secret lives of hardship.

[wally_bert]

Pro photography isn’t what it used to be.

Smart phones, really good DSLR rigs, and the time of the wun destroying the economy did a number on that line of work.

I sometimes put in for Thumbtack gigs. Mostly I send video to stock galleries.

[sparklite2]

All three of my professors teach part time and work full time in the subjects they teach.

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That’s the best kind. One of my accounting professors, if that’s the right word, worked full time as an accountant. He’d open the course text and say, “You don’t need to learn this, and this, and this.” Just the useful stuff, ma’am.

[Democrat_media]

how a about a fixer uppper?

How would I go about searching for that on zillow ?

[sparklite2]

I got out of the photo processing industry in 2000, as it was collapsing around me. It’s a shame to lose all the technical knowledge, but there probably were tricks of the trade in making buggy whips, too.

[SauronOfMordor]

It’s too expensive for working people to live there, yet I would bet there are plenty of welfare recipients living in subsidized housing there.

[mom4melody]

The Photography professor works video production for a media firm. He’s not a field free lance photographer.

I’m taking the class because I have this rad DSLR that I have no idea how to use.

[wally_bert]

I have a GH4 that I maybe have used a quarter of it’s capability. It makes some great 4k.

Last year I got a go pro hero 5 and have been impressed with it.

Soon, I hope to get a macro for the GH4. Some of what few good selling clips came from macros.

I miss the job of video production. The politics and comical salary, not so much.

[wally_bert]

A really great pro that I could only ever hope to be like got his rather good business during the time of the wun.

Great down to earth guy who showed me some stuff too. I was never going to compete.

I asked him why he didn’t do video. He had the big buck Canon cameras. His answer was that he really understand video that well.

[jalisco555]

Adjunct faculty usually have another full-time job.

Depends on the subject. The adjunct teaching photography or real estate probably has a full-time job. For the adjunct teaching Spanish or Philosophy teaching is the full-time job.

[AppyPappy]

I know an English/Art adjunct and she is an aide at a middle school. Many of them teach at night now.

[Chode]

let me get this straight, said loser professor spent eight years getting a phd and SAW how the game is played for eight years, and never saw this coming...

[Augie]

Them who can’t... teach.

[ctdonath2]

Good question. I tend to focus on empty lots, intending to put up whatever from scratch.

I suppose you’d specify the characteristics of the fixer-upper you’re looking for: lot size, home size, room count, etc - and then search on an area + max price low enough that what remains are mostly fixer-uppers.

If your goal is saving money, you’ll have to expend more effort to find the deals. I have to wade thru lots of “auction” (mansions starting at $1000) and typos (postage-stamp lot marked as 500 acres) and deceptive descriptions (”turnkey ready” burned-out husk) to find what I want. There’s some hysterical opportunities to be found, like the 1-acre property in downtown Atlanta for $1 ... buy first, THEN you’re allowed to look inside. But amid all that variation, I do see gems for great prices; they don’t last long.