Adjunct Professor: Side Hustle or Professional Career?

Question: Is adjunct professoring a career or a side hustle?

My best guess: An adjunct professor position is a professional side hustle.

Adjunct professoring was my first job out of college. I had no idea what I was doing (across the board). I made some missteps those first semesters as I was trying to figure out my professional career.

But what I struggled with that first semester was making ends meet and staying on top of my work. That’s when I noticed something. All my colleagues were at least 20 years older than me, and all of them were married with children. A small minority were single and in their 20s like me.

I proceeded to do some digging.

The part of the job I didn’t understand (and something I’m sure you have learned by now) is that adjunct professors can’t teach more than ten credit hours, our contract only lasts for one semester at a time, and we can’t get a promotion.

We can’t teach more than two classes. And we need special permission to teach more classes. At my community college, we don’t sign our contracts until the Wednesday before the semester starts. Not exactly steady live-off-of income.

We can’t be promoted, neither can we get a raise. If a full-time professor moves on, the…