What’s the Recipe for Success as an Adjunct Instructor?

I’ll ask the controversial question: What’s the recipe for success as an adjunct instructor?

Do you have a plan for being successful as an adjunct instructor? I know I certainly didn’t when I first started out, I was in my early twenties, just going with the flow and not thinking too much about it. I’m sure many adjuncts have had a similar journey, but then you grow up and realize maybe you should have come up with a plan somewhere along the way.

First, what’s your definition of success as an adjunct instructor?

It might take some time to figure this out, and you might go back and forth about it for years (I know I did), but once you truly know what you want, that’s when the magic starts to happen.

Here’s what I think:

I think a recipe for success as an adjunct instructor is when you’ve found the right balance between free time, worthwhile pay (whatever that is for you), and the least amount of stress possible.

Once I started teaching online quite a few years ago, my goal was to be a six-figure adjunct because it just seemed really cool. Eventually I got very very close, but I ended up leaving my newest position on good terms (Covid had just started, my kids’ school was cancelled, my supervisor was beyond understanding and told me to come back whenever I wanted). You see, I quickly realized that the time I was dedicating to this new position at a new school wasn’t worth the pay to me- I just felt it in my gut that it was all wrong, and while the decision to leave kept me up at night (I was so close to that six-figures goal!), as soon as I left I felt incredibly relieved and I’ve never once regretted it.

Turns out, my perfect pay is pretty average- about the same as any full-time professor, and the perfect workweek for me is 20-25 hours (for me, it was a shock to the system to start working 30 hours a week when I’d added that new school, and I could feel burnout coming for me fast- definitely not worth it to sacrifice my overall job teaching online just to hit that arbitrary income goal of six-figures).

All in all, my recipe for success as an adjunct is to work smart, be flexible, do whatever you can to avoid burnout, and have a backup plan (whether that plan is a few colleagues at other schools who could get you a class when needed, a worthwhile side hustle, or an exit strategy when you feel things have run their course).

You have to really know what you want from your job and your life, and it can take some time to figure out.  

Recently I’ve come up with my own 10-year adjunct/life success plan and it feels really great to have one (important note here- you definitely have to get creative, but it can be done). It’s personal, so it will be different for everyone, but it involves a couple of side hustles that are working well so far, eventually working at fewer schools, and potentially teaching more face-to-face classes again- maybe one day I’ll even go for that full-time position.

I honestly don’t know that I’ll ever fully retire, teaching is really such a special thing for me. But my eventual plan is to be back on campus in front of students and teaching a lot less from behind my computer. Right now I can’t get enough of sitting in my office grading papers while listening to jazz music (what can I say, I’m a simple creature), but one day I know this will change, and I want to have a plan for when that day comes.

So give it some thought. What’s your definition of success, personally? What’s your recipe for success in the adjunct world? And lastly, take some time to come up with your own 10-year plan as an adjunct.

Happy teaching, living, and planning.