Academic side job ideas

[research_prof]

Folks,

given the crazy times we live in (9.1% inflation in June, etc.), I feel the need to start a side job to enhance my income. It would be best to find something that is related to academia and could potentially also contribute to my career as an academic. I could easily devote 10 hours per week (even up to 20, if needed).

Any ideas?

[jerseyjay]

What is your field? Is there work in your field for industry or something?

Here are some ideas:
You can teach a course as an adjunct for another university or college. If you can get an introductory course at a time that doesn't interfere with your day job (or an online course) you can make $3000 to $10,000 per semester, depending on the going rate and how many courses you teach.

You can tutor high school or other students, especially if you teach language or STEM.

You can write standardized test questions.

There are of course other part-time jobs that probably have nothing to do with academia.

[Ruralguy]

i thought you just took on a new R1 job? Dont divide your time prior to tenure.

[kaysixteen]

Jerseyjay's ideas have *theoretical* merit, but:

1) adjunct opportunities vary greatly based on where you live and what you teach.   Some places, and some disciplines, well...

2) tutoring is not the easy call you think it is, not in most places, and the income ain't that great, esp if you get your tutor gigs via some middleman tutor service, which will siphon off a lot of the proceeds and do virtually nothing.   it is also true that a) tutoring is not the same as teaching, and the skills are not always the same-- some academics will have great difficulty teaching subpar hs students, many of whom may also be school-resistant, and many are just not at all skilled in the subjects that they are being tutored in (I cannot really emphasize this highly enough, and b) many parents will have extremely unrealistic expectations for just how much, and how quickly, their sprites will improve their perfomance upon being started with a tutor.   Now that I thinks on it, also c) many parents will also be rather flighty when it comes to keeping the schedule of tutoring visits the tutor has arranged with them for, and will expect that they can cancel, at their whim, with no financial obligations to be incurred.

[mamselle]

This has been discussed in the past, either here or on the old forum.

One recurring caveat was to be sure your TT contract allows for any other employment (some don't) and/or doesn't require you to turn in your earnings to the school,*, as having been done on their time,, if you're salaried.

And, as noted above, for untenured folks, your only 'other' job can be getting tenured.

M.

(*Speaker's fees, for example: one person I worked for just waived them because it was too much of a hassle to do the submission and permission paperwork: the school wanted to know where and when he was speaking, etc., because they would, indeed, track whether he was paid, etc.)

[research_prof]

After a lot of outrageous things that have happened at my current university, I have decided to see things under a different light. First of all, I have been in school and thus poor for way too long. I cannot be poor anymore. Second, I am supposed to work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for the university. In reality, I work (at least) twice that much without receiving any overtime pay (despite the fact that my contract says so). To this end, from now on, I will obviously continue working more than 8 hours a day for the university without additional pay, however, 2-3 hours every day have to be devoted to something else that can contribute to my financial goals. If tenure does not happen this way, that's ok. I will leave academia and go to industry that pays significantly more in my field. About letting a university know, I do not see a reason. A university employs me for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Beyond that I believe I am a free person and I can spend my time as I see fit. A university is simply an employer and cannot dictate my life choices. Academia is simply a job as every other job and I will treat it like that from now on.

I would love to do consulting for tech companies, but they do not trust junior faculty that much. They want more seasoned academics. Tutoring might not be for me, since teaching is not my main strength. I was thinking about program evaluation but this option is also uncertain. Any further ideas will be appreciated.

[mamselle]

But the point of the term "salary," vs. "hourly wage," is that a salary pays you to get the job done, however long it takes and however you structure that time.

An hourly wage might stipulate so many hours per so many days, for a total of so many hours per week, month, or year; a salary is distributed in tranches (monthly, or otherwise), but they're not at all constructed the same way.

So, sorry to say, your outrage is misdirected.

When I processed TA teaching hours, those were hourly wage payments, pitiful as they were (they now have a union). When I turned in my boss' monthly sheets (which no-one, ever, did until the accountants were screaming for them as backup so they could close the fiscal year books, because they were immaterial to the actual payments), they were notional, a way of logging very general time distribution trends in various topical areas, notably service, teaching, and research, but they were in no way tied to their pay.

I worked at two different schools, in several intersecting departments, as an EA, those observations held for both and were accepted as standard.

M.

[research_prof]

So, I just checked again in case I was wrong. According to the HR website, I am supposed to work 8 hours a day, 5 days per week even as a salaried employee. The website even shows my hourly rate.

I do not feel my perspective is misguided, but it is rather the perspective that academia is simply a job as all other jobs. Your perspective is "traditional" academia, where people need to treat academia as their entire life purpose. Sorry, I do not want to die young and I do not plan to love something that cannot love me back. At the same time, I do not plan to be poor anymore. If you do not agree with that, that's ok—I will definitely not be offended.

In any case, this post focuses on academic side job ideas. Let's stay on topic.

[mamselle]

Well, I was. Your new school still may not allow that. Before you start brainstorming, you need to check.

I know there was a reference in the old forum to someone getting fired for working elsewhere for pay.

It's not about attitudes, it's about rules.

No-one wants to wreck your fun, but no-one wants to see you get hurt, either.

M.

[Puget]

So, I just checked again in case I was wrong. According to the HR website, I am supposed to work 8 hours a day, 5 days per week even as a salaried employee. The website even shows my hourly rate.

I do not feel my perspective is misguided, but it is rather the perspective that academia is simply a job as all other jobs. Your perspective is "traditional" academia, where people need to treat academia as their entire life purpose. Sorry, I do not want to die young and I do not plan to love something that cannot love me back. At the same time, I do not plan to be poor anymore. If you do not agree with that, that's ok—I will definitely not be offended.

In any case, this post focuses on academic side job ideas. Let's stay on topic.

Unless you want to be fired/non-renewed, you do need to check the faculty handbook for the rules on outside employment. Usually some limited outside employment is allowed (equivalent to one day per week often), but it has to be disclosed to avoid conflicts of interest and intellectual property issues. Often teaching elsewhere is not permitted while on contract (i.e., if you are on a 9 month contract, you may be able to teach elsewhere in the summer, but not during the academic year).If you are on a 9 month contract and don't receive summer pay, you are probably free to do what you please during the summer. However, if you have summer salary on a grant, that's a different matter, as you've committed full effort to the grant for the month(s) it covers.

Overall, it sounds like you might be happier in industry-- why haven't you gone ahead and taken that step, since you could earn more for fewer hours?

[jerseyjay]

Jerseyjay's ideas have *theoretical* merit, but:

1) adjunct opportunities vary greatly based on where you live and what you teach.   Some places, and some disciplines, well...

2) tutoring is not the easy call you think it is, not in most places, and the income ain't that great, esp if you get your tutor gigs via some middleman tutor service, which will siphon off a lot of the proceeds and do virtually nothing.   it is also true that a) tutoring is not the same as teaching, and the skills are not always the same-- some academics will have great difficulty teaching subpar hs students, many of whom may also be school-resistant, and many are just not at all skilled in the subjects that they are being tutored in (I cannot really emphasize this highly enough, and b) many parents will have extremely unrealistic expectations for just how much, and how quickly, their sprites will improve their perfomance upon being started with a tutor.   Now that I thinks on it, also c) many parents will also be rather flighty when it comes to keeping the schedule of tutoring visits the tutor has arranged with them for, and will expect that they can cancel, at their whim, with no financial obligations to be incurred.

All these are good points, and I think it depends almost entirely on a) what area you teach and b) what area you live.

I am a historian who lives in a major metropolitan area. For a decade I have been teaching an online course for a community college an hour away. This has brought in between $5000 and $20,000 yearly (each course is about $5000 and I have taught as many as two courses per semester = 4 courses a year = $20,000). Given the crash in community college enrollments in my area, this has dried up. So I emailed the R1 a couple miles from my house and got a job teaching an intro level course. Of course, not everybody lives in an area where there are probably 100 colleges or universities in a 60 mile radius. And pay rates for adjuncts are much lower outside of the Northeast, e.g., in the South.

I have never done tutoring, but people I know in STEM or languages have. I have taken language classes with grad students making money on the side.

Whether this can all be fitted in with getting tenure--that's another question.

[downer]

If you are in Jersey, then you might want to look into a way to tutor rich high school kids in rich parts of NJ or Manhattan. It takes a while to get a reputation. People start out with agencies and then start working independently once they get enough of a base. It is lucrative for some. Of course, tutoring rich kids has its own issues.

[Parasaurolophus]

After a lot of outrageous things that have happened at my current university

At your new university? Already? Didn't you only just accept your new contract?

I would love to do consulting for tech companies, but they do not trust junior faculty that much. They want more seasoned academics.

There's your answer, then. Make this a long-term goal and do everything you can to season yourself in their eyes, including not getting fired for breaching the terms of your contract pertaining to outside employment.

[arcturus]

Do not dismiss the possible legal problems people have raised here. For example, I am required to fill out a conflict of interest form each year which asks about outside employment (including teaching, side businesses, royalties, etc).  It is not clear whether my University would claim a percentage of these earnings, but lying on such a form is a fireable offense.

If you do not want an academic lifestyle, including earning less than those in industry, then do not be an academic. Particularly if you say that you do not like teaching. Why make economic sacrifices to be employed in a job that includes a major activity that you do not like to do?

[research_prof]

So I have a colleague who is flipping houses over the weekend. Why this activity needs to be reported to the university and why would the university claim any of the profits? It is totally unrelated to what he does for the university and has no impact or conflict with the nature of his work.

Guys, a university simply employs you. It does not own you or your life.