I love everything about the job except the pay. Part of me feels like the pay is fair considering you don't have to be a certified teacher but being that I am I often feel grossly under-compensated. It takes a LOT of hours to make a living and you will need a super charged social battery.

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My dream job

tutor (Former Employee) - Webb City, MO - June 16, 2022

A typical day at work - frustratingWhat I learned - Cambly deceives both students and tutors.Management - cluelessworkplace culture - no communication or support for tutorshardest part of job - working your tail off only to see your rating drop and for criminally low payenjoyable part of job - helping the rare callers who are really serious about learning English

Pros

flexible schedule

Cons

everything else

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Cambly insights

Based on 261 survey responses

What people like

Clear sense of purpose
Ability to learn new things
Time and location flexibility

Areas for improvement

Fair pay for job
Support from manager
Supportive environment

Bad Pay, Bad System

Tutor (Current Employee) - Remote - June 5, 2022

I think the worst part of Cambly is the system itself. Priority Hours are atrocious. They have random people calling in with long numbers and no profile picture. It makes you not comfortable to answer the call without any information about the student. They expect you to answer those calls or you will be released from Priority Hour, even if you're waiting on a reservation. I think there should be some leniency in that. The pay itself could be so much better. They should be able to offer raises to teachers who have been on the platform a long time, have had no infractions, and are very well-liked by the students. I do like that my schedule is always booked. So if you're struggling with bookings on one ESL website, you could try this one to fill the slots in your schedule.I also like meeting new people from around the world and helping with their English. My biggest issues are the pay and their faulty system. That's all.

Pros

Flexible, Easy

Cons

Bad pay, Can't choose students

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Everything I ever wanted in an online company

Online Tutor (Former Employee) - Kimball, SD - May 2, 2022

All my life I had been looking an online company with low pay, incompetent management, and a worthless and unfair rating system. I'm glad to say I found all that and more with Cambly! In a typical day at work you can meet a caller who displays his genitalia on camera, someone else who can barely speak English but expects you to make him fluent in one 30-minute class, and another person who only answers "yes" and "no" to every question. What diversity! The management does a great job of advertising to prospective tutors that all they have to do is have conversations with non-native speakers while advertising to prospective students that all tutors are highly qualified professionals who will fulfill all your English-learning needs for 17 cents per minute of pay. Cambly's "lessons" are particularly awful. Deceitful, dishonest, and despicable -- that sums up Cambly.

Pros

you get paid every Monday

Cons

everything else

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Fun and easy job, bad pay

English Tutor (Current Employee) - Remote - April 28, 2022

Great meeting students from around the world. There are students with a wide range of Enligsh levels. However, most students are simply looking to practice English with a native.

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The pay structure is worse than it sounds

Tutor (Current Employee) - Remote - April 23, 2022

The biggest thing to know is that the pay is per *minute taught*. That means that unless you're getting reservations, it's really easy to be online for an hour and only make $5-7 since there are gaps between students. During a priority hour, you have to be in a Cambly-approved environment (they do spot check, in my experience) and be attentive enough to accept any call that comes your way. There is no excuse not to pay tutors for that full hour, even if it means offering fewer guaranteed shifts. There are occasional bonuses (an extra $1-3 per shift), but you have to reserve those shifts early and often teach them back-to-back with no more than a 5 minute break (unpaid) per hour. During peak hours, which are when they offer the bonuses, this can be extremely draining. For comparison, when I tutored in a real center, we took 15 minutes in between students to prepare progress reports and decompress. There is also an expectation that you will work with brand new beginners or children if they reserve with you. This is a terrible system for both tutors and students, as unless you have received formal training, you probably can't give these populations an effective lesson. Sticking beginners in a video call with a native speaker is frustrating for both parties.If you don't have TEFL, or if you need to fill gaps in a more regular tutoring schedule, this is an ok gig. Otherwise, you'd be much better off going almost anywhere else where you can set your own rate. Cambly is saturated enough that I do not think the rates will increase any time soon.The only real pros are the flexibility -

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Ehhh

Tutor (Current Employee) - Remote - April 5, 2022

Being a tutor has its days. Some days are very long and draining. Others are fun & the time flies by. The pay could be better but it just depends on where you live & how hard you work.

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You pick your hours you takes your chances

Tutor (Current Employee) - Olympia, WA - March 15, 2022

Camby is an open ended tutoring and conversation platform. Students think you are a teacher but your official title is Tutor. Don't work here for the fortune in gold as it permanently pays .17 cents an hour per student taught. They offer time bonuses and certain incentives. They pay once a week. Some of the students are interesting. Some are not. From across the globe students range from two minute student gigglers to arrogant elites from other countries that would throw you in a dungeon sooner than look at you. This is not the job in which you get your retirement and a gold Watch after thirty years of faithful service. Basic and baseless drudgery contract work with moments that shine. Zero benefits package.

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I love making a difference in someone's life.

Online ESL Tutor (Current Employee) - Remote - March 4, 2022

The pay is low and the technical problems can be frustrating. However, you have flexibility. You can work when you want. You get to speak from people all over the world. You truly make a difference.

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Awful, low pay

Tutor (Former Employee) - Remote - March 1, 2022

Awful, low pay. Avoid. This platform is only good for someone new to teaching or in between jobs. Do not expect fair pay. Do not expect to be treated fairly. Expect adult men from other countries to send you creepy messages. If you teach on Cambly Kids, beware that they do not care about you. They will fire you for the slightest mistake or for no reason at all. If you want to be a cookie-cutter teacher then it's the perfect platform for you. Good Luck.

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Pretty darn good, save for the pay. The pay is ok. If it was great. I would stay and build a nest ;)

Private Tutor (Current Employee) - Online - February 21, 2022

Incredible student base. The students are eager to learn English and very respectful in general. The pay is $10 hourly for Cambly 18+ and $12 hourly for CamblyKids. The bookings are consistent (if you are a good, conscientious teacher). There is also a "Super Tutor" tier which has requirements like establishing/ Maintaining a 4.9-star rating and doing some one-off promo vids. Support is good. The worst thing is internet glitches/ drops during a class. All in all, I give it a 3.6 star-rating. If the pay was $3-5 more an hour I would give it a 4.89, nearly Super-tutor rating ;)

Pros

Make your own schedule.

Cons

Internet challenges/ call drops.

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Stay away if you can

English Tutor (Current Employee) - San Antonio, TX - February 17, 2022

This platform is only good for someone new to teaching or in between jobs. Do not expect fair pay. Do not expect to be treated fairly. Expect adult men from other countries to send you creepy messages. If you teach on Cambly Kids, beware that they do not care about you. They will fire you for the slightest mistake or for no reason at all. If you want to be a cookie-cutter teacher then it's the perfect platform for you. Good Luck.

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Absolutely Terrible Place to Work

Tutor (Current Employee) - Remote - February 12, 2022

Cambly advertises itself to teachers as a place to teach conversational English, but advertises to students as an all-inclusive English learning experience with tailored lessons. They then charge students through the nose, and pay teachers absolute pennies. There is no job security, even for highly rated and long-term employees, and no way of ever making more than the pittance they pay you at start, even if you perform well. This company is an absolute wart on the face of the education industry, and both teachers and students deserve better.

Pros

Flexible scheduling

Cons

Low pay with no chance of advancement, poor communication

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I like meeting people from around the world

Tutor (Current Employee) - Remote - January 26, 2022

If you're a patient person then this job can be fun. I like having conversations with people around the world. The pay is low and students will cancel, so then the low pay is made worse.

Pros

Work from home and set your own hours. You get to meet a lot of people.

Cons

Pay. No support from the company

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You can set your own hours, block inappropriate students, and not accept reservations if you don't want to.

Camby Kids tutor (Current Employee) - online - January 21, 2022

You can set your own hours, block inappropriate students, and not accept reservations if you don't want to. There is no punitive attitude if you have to cancel a class or two, just make sure it isn't last minute, otherwise, you will get put on "regulars only" for a week-- which isn't really a problem.

Pros

Set your own schedule, don't have to teach students you don't wish to teach, can block inappropriate students, no punitive cancellation policy

Cons

Pay is low

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An ESL gig job with far more negatives than positives

Tutor/Mentor (Former Employee) - online - January 18, 2022

The tutors who do best with this job are those who know the least about teaching. The rude, arrogant students, clueless management, and atrocious pay will run off a true professional.

Pros

flexible hours

Cons

everything else

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Generally Draining, Total Waste of Time

Online Tutor (Current Employee) - Remote - January 18, 2022

Most of the students are interesting, engaged, and a genuine pleasure to talk to...but this is still the most draining tutoring gig I've ever had. There's no actual curriculum to speak of and I think that would make the calls more structured and less stressful for tutors like me.(There are some slides/"lessons" in their library but I'm not sure how effective they are as most of my students just opt for open conversation. Delightful but, depending on English proficiency, exhausting.)But at the end of the day, the pay makes Cambly not worth the effort unless you're an extroverted anglophone expat living some place where $10.20 an hour makes you a high roller...and even that's not a guarantee.As a new tutor, when I was booking priority hours, the pay was low but you could at least count on about $10 which, depending on how many PHs you accumulate, adds up to maybe a few of your bills being paid a week. But now, it seems like I have no more access to PHs and, in that case, you might sit for an hour and only make about $5 or $6. It's essentially call center work but often minimum wage...or unpaid. (Cambly touts their "flexible" hours but it's more inconsistent than flexible. You can choose when to sit Visible to take calls but there aren't always calls to take)

Pros

Choose your own schedule

Cons

Low pay Inconsistent hours

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Many of the students are nice, but everything else...

Tutor (Current Employee) - online - January 8, 2022

Some of the students are nice to work with, but many are rude, arrogant, and hard to teach. More than a few have unreasonable expectations of learning English quickly without having to make any effort themselves. At the same time, management is unresponsive and clueless, while pay is criminally low and the rating system is ludicrous.

Pros

A few decent students

Cons

Everything else

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Not recommended for serious and professional teachers!

Tutor (Current Employee) - online - January 8, 2022

It is not really a teaching job. You are just supposed to have conversations with students. These conversations, while occasionally enjoyable, are more often rather otiose. You're supposed to be able to choose between adults and children to be your students, but children sometimes contact you and lie about their age.In a real language school, there is a placement exam and a set curriculum, one for children and at least one other for more mature learners. It is my third job. I am a professional educator and I am seeking alternatives for the few free hours that I have available during the week.

Pros

If you have a free hour and like meeting strangers online for a chat, you can earn several dollars an hour.

Cons

Your pay is less than minimum wage, the lack of a student placement test, students' unrealistic learning expectations, students' last-minute lesson cancellations, an egregious and ludicrous teacher rating system, no teacher qualifications required, and no guarantee of minimum hours.

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Cambly is the job I always wanted

Tutor (Former Employee) - online - December 30, 2021

For years I had always looked for an online English job where management was clueless, tutors were disrespected, most students were arrogant and rude, the ratings system was ridiculous, and pay was criminally low. Then I found all that and more at Cambly!

Pros

somewhat flexible status

Cons

everything else

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Fun job with lots of flexibility

Super Tutor (Current Employee) - Pittsburgh, PA - December 21, 2021

If you are a people person and outgoing, this job is perfect! I can work at ANY hour of the day no matter where I am. This is important for me because I love to travel. As long as I have a quite place with good internet connection I can work. The most enjoyable part of this job is the students I get to meet. For the most part they are respectable and they want to learn English. (They are paying for their subscriptions and don't want to waste their investment.) We laugh, sing songs, play games. Some students want to follow a lesson plan so we do. Others want to practice conversation skills so we do. I have many regular students. Some I see 5 days a week. Others I see only a few times a week. It took about 1 month to start getting my schedule filled with bookings. That 1 month was rough, I'm not gonna lie, but I was optimistic and picked up whatever priority hours I could. I am so glad I didn't give up because I love this job! I choose to work on average about 25-30 hours a week. I have worked as many as 40 hours and as little as 0 hours. (It's super flexible) My schedule is FULL every week. I am able to do what I love while traveling the world and earning enough money to pay my bills! I have worked for this company 3 years! They are honest and the tech team is great! They respond quickly to any concerns you have. And if there is a mistake the company made, they quickly fix it and reimburse you. I really enjoy working for Cambly and I recommend it to all of my friends!