Pros
This was my first way of telecommuting to work. I was a new mom and needed more income in a bad way. I was able to work without having to pay for commuting costs, new wardrobe, and all the other expenses of having a job. Most of the students I connected with were good to work with, and I felt fulfilled to be able to help them with their work.
Kontras
I could only get midnight to 3am shifts for most of the time I worked there. They were having technical difficulties and that made me lose connection. I didn't get paid for the time their equipment was not working properly even though I was spending my time trying to reconnect. The rules were getting more difficult for the tutors as I was leaving there. Tutors are not allow to tell the student that the time is up for a session, but some students wouldn't accept that I had to end the session at a certain time. I would get in trouble if the session lasted too long and get in trouble if I told the student we are out of time. I had one mentor for almost 2 years, and she was great. I got a new one and this mentor said I wasn't catching everything. I helped students with their essays...I would have had to rewrite it for them in order to make it perfect. I would point out examples of stuff they need to fix but part of the learning process is to find the rest of the mistakes themselves. If I point out all of them, they will never learn to do it. The point system for how a tutor can progress through the system is also flawed. They gave students the opportunity to rate the tutor at the end of the session but not a mandatory step. The students that were happy with my help usually didn't take the survey. The ones that weren't said I was horrible, and I couldn't get out of the probationary tutor status for an extra month because of it. The reason the students were upset was because they selected the wrong kind of tutor, and I wasn't able to help them in the subject matter they needed help in. Because of their mistake, I made a $1 less per hour for a whole month of shifts, and if I didn't achieve tutor level 1 status in a certain time, I would have been fired.