Changing Careers

Back in 2019, I decided I was done being an EFL teacher. While I enjoyed being in the classroom and working with students, the reality was that I hated my place of work. The 2017-2018 academic year was the worst year I experienced professionally. I don’t really know how to write about this, but here goes…

Falling out of Love with Work

I’ve had good bosses and bad bosses. My worst boss experiences happened in 2017-2018. I had issues with a boss because I didn’t always say yes to their requests to do extra work outside my job duties. They would insult me and then say they were just joking. Usually, it happened in private, but once they did it in front of my colleagues in a meeting. I got an apology that time, but only because people were present when it happened. They also made comments about me to other colleagues. Another time, I was approached by someone who told me that the boss had sent them to talk to me because the boss was concerned that ‘I seemed off.’ Nothing was off with me, except I was dealing with a boss who didn’t like me because I did not always say yes to every one of their requests.

I also had negative experiences with another boss that year. I was supposed to work during the summer of 2018. A supervisor asked me to be the lead instructor for the course I was assigned to teach. This would involve being in charge of the course’s administrative duties in addition to the usual teaching duties. It didn’t pay any additional money, but I accepted the offer anyway. The scheduling person assured me I would teach the two course sections I was supposed to lead.

After I accepted the lead position, my schedule was changed, and I was assigned to teach a section of a different course I had never taught before. The additional course was an advanced writing course, which also paid less because it involved fewer classroom hours. Even though the course had fewer classroom hours, it was actually a lot more work due to the amount of marking involved. Since I had never taught the course before, it also meant more work again, as I’d need to familiarize myself with the curriculum. I explained all this to the person who changed my schedule, but I was told that because I had taught a course the previous summer, I’d have to take less money this time.

I was furious about this. As luck would have it, I found out about an opening to work at the university’s writing center. I sent my CV and materials to the head of the center and interviewed with them. The interview went well, and I had great feedback from the head of the center. I was told they were interested in getting me as a transfer, but the process may be complicated due to departmental politics.

A week or so after finding out about my new schedule, my father got sepsis. Mom found him behind the house in a bad state and was luckily able to drive him to the emergency room in the next town (50 km away). The doctors admitted him to the hospital and put him on intravenous antibiotics. I informed my boss of the situation and requested they remove me from summer teaching duties.

I had been at home for about a week when I got a message from a colleague that I had won a departmental teaching award. I was surprised because I didn’t think I would get the award after withdrawing from summer classes. The department typically gives the award to two teachers, and this year, they added my name as the ‘third-place’ winner. It should’ve been a professional highlight, but it left me feeling like I fake-won. Letting me know I was 3rd was like saying you don’t deserve this, but we put your name up with the real winners anyway.

I came back from the summer with a real chip on my shoulder. Most people I worked with were unaware of everything that happened during the previous year. Luckily, one of my bad bosses left because the university removed management bonuses from everyone on the leadership team except the HOD. As for the other boss, I never really had to see them or deal with them that much during my teaching duties.

The next time I had to interact with them was during my performance review in the spring of 2019. I decided to discuss my dissatisfaction with how I had been treated by the department’s management in 2018. I kept it professional and stuck to the issues. The conversation was uncomfortable, but I’m glad I stood up for myself. I brought up the scheduling and the comments directed at me that semester. They apologized by telling me their remark was intended as a joke and that they were sorry it did not come across as such. I was not satisfied with the response, but standing up for myself gave me a sense of closure regarding what had happened during the previous year.

After the exams were over that year, RS and I discussed our future in Qatar. We agreed that it was time to search for new opportunities. I applied for a Master’s program based out of Canada to become a math teacher, and we started to save our money. I applied for the program in March 2020, hoping to begin in the spring 2021 semester. We figured that would give us enough time to save money for the program. By this point, the pandemic had shut down the university, and we had to pivot to teaching classes online. RS had also just found out she was pregnant, so it was a hectic time.

At the end of the fall 2019 semester, I had another meeting about the writing center. My transfer didn’t work out after our first interview, but they wanted to try again. Unfortunately, my transfer failed again. Midway through the Winter 2020 semester, COVID-19 shut down the university, and we had to pivot to delivering lessons online.

I enjoyed teaching online. It was a big challenge, but I am proud of my work and the learning environment I created for my students. I used MS OneNote as a digital blackboard to teach lessons and as a repository for learning materials and lecture notes. Student feedback about it was really good as well.

Once the semester was finished, RS and I enjoyed a relaxing summer despite the pandemic. We went on a couple of road trips to do pregnancy photoshoots. I also spent a lot of time reading books on parenting in anticipation of the big day when our baby would arrive.

The Road from Teaching to Tutoring

When the Fall 2020 semester started, I put in my notice that I would not be renewing my contract. I contacted the writing center to let them know that I was not renewing my contract and would be leaving at the end of the academic year. The head of the center called me, and we talked about my decision to leave. The center was still interested in me, but I would have to interview for the job again. RS and I discussed it and decided I should proceed with the interview. If I didn’t like the job, I could still always resign and have the Master’s program as an option. During the interview, most of the questions were familiar to me from my previous interview. In addition to the usual questions, they also want to know why I was leaving the old department. I was diplomatic in my answer, discussing a need for change after 15 years of teaching. They decided to go ahead with recruiting me.

This is where things got interesting. I don’t know for sure why my previous transfer attempts fell through, but I was told unofficially by a well-connected colleague that my own management generally doesn’t support having their employees transfer to other departments. My new application process didn’t go smoothly. The application was initially rejected because the university considered me a non-renewing employee. I emailed my boss to request my resignation be rescinded so the application could proceed. My boss didn’t reply to the email. Instead, they verbally informed me they would not rescind my resignation. Afterward, my boss told me they would have supported my desire to transfer to the other department if I had directly requested a transfer from them. I didn’t believe this, as my previous transfer application went nowhere for years.

I told the head of the writing center that my department refused my request to rescind my resignation. We discussed my options. Eventually, I emailed the dean of my department with the request and cc’d my boss on the email. This time, my boss replied with an email requesting that I come to their office. I came to their office, and my boss told me they were going out for lunch and would meet me when they returned. After over 3 hours, I gave up waiting and emailed them to let them know that I had waited for them but could no longer wait, so I went home. I came back the next day, and my boss told me we could speak when they finished doing their prayers. This time, I waited about 45 minutes before my boss finally returned. The meeting was quick; my boss asked me to print, date and sign my request to rescind my resignation for the department to approve it.

I wasn’t pleased about my boss making me come to their office and wait like that, considering they could have just emailed me those instructions. Not only was this during the pandemic when I was teaching from home, but my wife had also given birth to our daughter a few weeks before. I had even kept teaching my courses even though I was supposed to be on leave. The entire experience only confirmed to me that leaving was the right choice.

After the semester break, my boss told me I would be transferring in January but that they wouldn’t sign my transfer application form until my office was emptied out, so I spent the afternoon packing everything and moving it into my neighbour’s office. When I returned to the office, my boss directed me to go to our department’s director (my boss’s boss), who told me to come back the next day. When I returned, the director said I wouldn’t be transferred until the end of the academic year when my contract with the department expired. I moved all my things back into my office. By this point, I didn’t care about this stuff as I looked at it as further validation of why I was leaving the department.

So, I taught another semester. RS became pregnant with our second child in March. I was excited by this news, though I worried about the stress on RS with two pregnancies so close together. My boss had one last surprise for me before I left the department: my performance review. It wasn’t a disaster, but I felt the score should have been higher. I had given up leave time and created a ton of content for my courses, such as digital notebooks, lecture notes, videos, and practice quizzes. I also created, organized and managed the materials repository for all the other teachers in the different sections of my course. I knew teachers who got higher scores that did far less than me.

My boss refused to show me the breakdown for my grade the first time I asked. They claimed they didn’t have access to it at that time. They asked me to check back later. After two weeks and 2 more requests, I was finally shown a detailed breakdown of my grade. I disagreed with how I was marked. My boss told me I could appeal it by going to the vice president’s office. I decided to leave it be. Not getting a higher grade meant a lower pay increase, about $50/month.

When the semester finished, the department signed my transfer form, and I moved into my new office. I also learned that my boss had been demoted. Karma.

I spent the summer doing courses for my Master’s. My wife and I decided it would be wise to start the teaching program to keep our options open in case I didn’t like the new job. I really enjoyed my courses and had a straight-A report card. I took a hiatus from the program to continue working in Qatar. If I didn’t like the new job, I could resume my studies the following year.

New Beginnings

Moving to the writing center was a great decision, and I greatly enjoyed the work. However, one issue with my employer still had to be sorted out, the accommodations. Housing had been an issue since RS and I got married. I was living in a beautiful one-bedroom apartment when my wife and I got married. After the marriage, we were told we could have a two-bedroom unit in Lusail. It was the same type of unit I had turned down in 2017. RS and I discussed it and decided our one-bedroom place was fine. It was in a nicer neighbourhood, and though smaller, it was far better than the two-bedroom unit. We looked into upgrading again when my wife was pregnant with my daughter. Still, Housing refused to do anything with our move request until after my daughter was born. When they finally offered a place, it was a two-bedroom unit in the same building we had already turned down twice. We decided to stay put. By this point, I had already resigned from my department and was dealing with the transfer process. Now that my transfer was complete, I was enjoying my new university job. So we decided that if we could sort out our living arrangements, we’d stay in Qatar.

Housing Issues

Our housing situation had been on the back burner because we were dealing with the transfer and possible expatriation from Qatar. But now we needed something bigger for our growing family because we were looking to stay in Qatar for the long term. The Housing department at the university took months to respond to our requests. And when they finally did, the places they showed us were shockingly bad. One place was poorly maintained and in the middle of a construction zone. The other was overrun with cockroaches because rotten food had been left open in the kitchen for about 5 months before I even saw the place. Things came to a head after my first semester working at my new job. Our second daughter was born prematurely over the semester break. I informed the housing dept that there would now be four of us in a one-bedroom apartment and that my mother-in-law was coming to help with our daughter, meaning there would be five of us. I finished a very tense conversation by telling them that if my Housing wasn’t sorted out, my first conversation with my boss when I returned to work would be about my future at the university.

I didn’t hear anything from the housing dept, so I spoke with my boss upon returning to work. I told them my daughter had been born, and we were still in the one-bedroom apartment. I also told them that my wife and I were ready to leave Qatar over the whole situation. Ultimately, I had to write a report to the university’s vice president’s office to make a formal complaint about the university’s housing department. I submitted the report in late January and didn’t hear any feedback on it. We were offered a nice place in March, but we’d have to buy all our appliances. The housing department offered an appliance allowance to cover those costs, but it wasn’t enough to pay for everything. It would also take another 3 months to see the money, meaning we’d need to buy the appliances on our credit card or stay in the apartment for another 3 months until the allowance was deposited in our account. RS and I decided enough was enough. We would work through one more year and rejoin the teaching program in the fall of 2023 if I couldn’t find another job sooner. As luck would have it, an unexpected opportunity was around the corner.

Saying Goodbye to Qatar

I was working one day in late May 2023 when I got a message from someone in the KSA I knew who was working in the oil and gas industry. The company was looking for an editor, and they thought I might be a good fit for the job. I sent my resume to their contact and got a call the next day. I was speaking with a Canadian, in fact, another Newfie. They were one of the team leads for the department that was recruiting me, and they wanted to get a better idea of who I was and how I worked. Our conversation was informal, but we got along right away. They told me the other team lead would talk to me as well to see about scheduling a formal interview. I got the call the next day and had another pleasant conversation. A formal interview was scheduled for the next day. That interview went well, and they told me they were going to recommend me for the job! They also told me to wait to submit my notice until my employment visa was processed to be on the safe side.

The offer letter came in early August, days before the start of the Fall 2022 semester! Getting a resident visa to work in the KSA requires medical tests, legal attestations of the medical tests and legal attestations of educational documents. It’s a long but worthwhile process. I got all my tests and attestations sorted by late September. By mid-October, I had a shiny new Visa permitting me to work in the KSA! I had to submit a short notice to my boss, who was very disappointed to hear the news. I’d be leaving Qatar for the KSA on November 20, the same day that the World Cup was to start. On my last day of work, my colleagues had a surprise going away party for me. I thought we were having a semester wrap-up meeting, and instead, it was my colleagues wishing me the best on my new adventure. It was very emotional because I really enjoyed working there, and I wasn’t just leaving a job; I was leaving students I had gotten to know and friends I had worked with for years.

Final Thoughts & My New Life

My second stint in Qatar lasted from August 2015 to November 2023, just over eight years. This post was hard to write because it focused on many negative experiences. Generally, I prefer to write about the good things, and there were plenty of good things that happened because I went to Qatar.  I finished my MA, got out of debt, made good friends, got married, and have been blessed with 2 beautiful children.

I’m no longer teaching. I work a standard 40-hour week I enjoy my new job and being around the people I work with. It’s easily the best place I’ve ever worked at. Beyond enjoying the work itself, I’m home for lunch with my family each day, and my work stays at the office when the day is finished, allowing me to enjoy being a husband and a dad. Life is good.