The Burnout

After 15 years in the classroom, Maria Santos loved teaching but hated what the job had become. Endless administrative tasks, growing class sizes, and a salary that hadn’t kept pace with inflation had worn her down.

“I was spending more time on paperwork than with students,” she recalls. “And I kept hearing about AI tutors and adaptive learning platforms. I wondered if there was a place for someone like me in that world.”

The Discovery

During a summer break, Maria took an online course in instructional design out of curiosity. That’s when she discovered a gap she was uniquely qualified to fill.

“EdTech companies had brilliant engineers but often terrible pedagogy,” she explains. “They could build amazing platforms but didn’t understand how learning actually works. They needed people like me.”

The Transition

Maria spent eight months building new skills while still teaching:

  • Completed a certificate in Learning Experience Design
  • Built a portfolio by redesigning lesson plans using AI tools
  • Started a blog about AI in education that gained a following
  • Networked with EdTech professionals on LinkedIn

Her breakthrough came when an EdTech startup reached out after reading her blog. They were struggling to create engaging content for their AI tutor and needed someone who understood both education and emerging technology.

The New Role

As a Curriculum Designer, Maria now:

  • Designs learning pathways for AI-powered educational platforms
  • Creates content that serves thousands of students simultaneously
  • Trains AI models to provide better feedback to learners
  • Consults with product teams on pedagogical best practices

“I still teach—just at a scale I never imagined,” she says. “A lesson I design might help 10,000 students learn. That kind of impact was impossible in a single classroom.”

The Results

  • 50% salary increase compared to teaching
  • Remote work flexibility she never had before
  • Direct impact on thousands of learners globally
  • Creative fulfillment from designing learning experiences
  • Better work-life balance with no grading at midnight

Lessons for Educators

1. Your Teaching Skills Are Transferable

“Understanding how people learn is rare and valuable. Tech companies need it desperately.”

2. Document Everything

“I started sharing my teaching experiments online. That portfolio became my ticket to EdTech.”

3. Learn the Language

“I learned terms like ‘learning objectives,’ ‘spaced repetition,’ and ‘adaptive assessment.’ Suddenly, I could talk to engineers and product managers as an equal.”

Looking Forward

Maria believes more teachers should consider similar pivots—not just for themselves, but for the future of education.

“We need educators in the rooms where AI learning tools are being built,” she insists. “Without us, these tools will be designed by people who’ve never seen a student struggle to understand a concept.”

She smiles: “My classroom got a lot bigger. And honestly? The impact feels even more meaningful.”