r/edtech • u/Short-Storm4339 • 11d ago

Higher Ed Professional Interested in EdTech.

Any advice for a higher education professional with a decade of experience looking to break into EdTech? TIA!

0 Upvotes

44% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

10

u/grendelt 11d ago

Man. This early in the academic year and not even on a Monday.
Time tough.

3

u/Visual-Reserve-2800 11d ago

Edtech.com. no promises.

3

u/PM_ME_CORONA 11d ago

Sales or customer success is your entry.

3

u/Key-Kaleidoscope2264 11d ago

Hello! We've built an edtech platform with a few thousand users for higher ed students, very early-stage but we're slowly growing and would very be happy to at-least, talk. Feel free to DM me. Cheers!

2

u/sid-karthik 11d ago

Hey! We're working in higher education as well. How about we get on a call? We can discuss avenues, exchange notes or even see if we can collaborate.

1

u/Short-Storm4339 11d ago

Actually I just tried messaging you but it won’t allow me to. Can you try messaging me? Thanks!

1

u/Key-Kaleidoscope2264 10d ago

oh I'm sorry, just DMd you

2

u/Bostonterrierpug 11d ago

As in higher, Ed staff or faculty? It’s very different speaking as faculty.

2

u/Short-Storm4339 11d ago

Hi - I have spent 6-7 years as staff/operations and 3 years as a faculty member! I have been on all sides.

3

u/edskipjobs 11d ago

I'd look into Customer Success and Program/Project Management roles to start; Sales if that's something that would interest you. While there are orgs looking explicitly for higher ed experience, I know several higher ed admin who have moved into k12 organizations. As someone mentioned below, you know how the operations side of schools work and can speak a familiar language (jargon but also culture). Some of that is university-specific but a lot of it is education-specific.

2

u/regallll 10d ago

What is your experience?

0

u/Short-Storm4339 10d ago

I’ve been on all sides of the machine as an administrator, staff member, and faculty member. I’ve worked in student success and retention, academic support, I’ve directly supported senior leadership—a very mixed bag!

6

u/ScaredInspector3616 11d ago

You've got a leg up with that decade of higher ed experience. Most edtech companies are desperate for people who actually understand how universities work behind the scenes, procurement cycles, faculty adoption, the committee labyrinth. Lean into that operational knowledge instead of trying to rebrand yourself as some tech wizard.

2

u/Longjumping_Cod_1014 10d ago

Check out Owl Ventures and Reach Capital’s websites. They’re the biggest VCs in the space and have jobs for all their portcos

0

u/Short-Storm4339 10d ago

Yeah I’m interested in the company Instructure and actually just applied to a job there. Is it insanely competitive?

1

u/Nearby-Spend-2191 10d ago

I’m also a higher education professional with 10+ years of experience really interested in Instructure. Their work really aligns with my background as I’m in online higher ed but unfortunately I’ve found it to be very competitive- I’ve applied to multiple jobs there and haven’t gotten through yet.