I’ve been asked if I teach woodworking at least a dozen times since I’ve started my woodworking business.

Teaching is an area that I always enjoyed in all my prior roles, whether a week long paid class for consultants on how to use Oracle’s Warehouse Management System, leading a variety of skills-based spreadsheet & analytics classes for peers at Microsoft, or teaching fellow finance team members very niche domain-specific knowledge around datacenter cost structure at Google. I enjoyed this aspect so much that as I left my tech role in late 2016, one possible future I contemplated was teaching or lecturing, perhaps math, business analytics or programming.

So I had always wished I could say “yes” to the woodworking instruction inquiries, but unfortunately, my workshop has never been set up for students - primarily due to safety (and related, liability) reasons, but also just out of a lack of space. When there’s some project going on, there’s barely enough space for me to move in the shop, let alone one or several students.

So I am grateful to have stumbled across MakerNexus, a maker space in Sunnyvale, at which I’ve been developing curriculum and teaching now for nearly two years. MakerNexus was formed in 2019, out of the ashes of the now-defunct TechShop, and they’ve grown from their initial 7000 sq ft home to their current 28,000 sq ft location that has a substantial metal shop (both hot and cold), 3d printing, electronics, fabrics, laser cutting, and of course, a wood shop, … as well as a variety of specialized tools in other domains.

I teach - along with a handful of other instructors - several introductory classes about how to use the wood shop safely. Though YouTube is also a great source of instructional videos, it’s hard to beat getting hands on with the tools, and being able to interact and ask questions of an instructor and peers.

In addition to the intro safety classes, Maker Nexus has a variety of workshops focused on developing more in-depth skills or leaving with a completed project like a cutting board or a wood pen. I’ve added to the curriculum here with a picture frame class, where I cover a number of common woodworking joints and related topics, leaving students with the skills to make beautiful frames for friends and family.

And I’ve also developed curriculum for a growing set of classes in the “right to repair” movement, albeit my classes are more focused on home repair: basic sink and toilet repair, drywall patching, and a pair of classes on home electrical, all targeted towards the weekend warrior home owner (or renter) who wants to get hands-on, but just needs a little more guidance before getting started.

An image from my "basic home electrical repair” class

For all my San Francisco Bay Area readers, check out MakerNexus classes! You do not need to be a member to take their classes, though membership gives a discount on the classes and also - depending on the membership level - gets you access to some or all of the tools and project workspaces. But there are maker spaces in just about every major city, with a variety of different costs and business models; find your own local resource and try something new!

Beyond being a shameless plug for my classes and MakerNexus, this post is about my personal journey and finding and expanding on what brings me joy. So in that vein, I’m grateful for coming across MakerNexus’ instructor recruitment post (on Craigslist!) a few years ago, which has allowed me to return to a role that I’ve enjoyed, in a domain I love … without all the headaches of a full time job at an educational institution!

And at the end of nearly every class, I feel reinvigorated with all the enthusiasm and energy my students brought to class as they embark on their own creative journeys. That tells me I’m doing this right for myself, and hopefully, the students feel similarly empowered to continue on with their own projects.