I’m very much in the minority here. But I was able to do it. I worked inner-city for my first job and simultaneously loved and hated every bit of it. No one knows what it’s like until you actually do it and to be typecast just because your situation is difficult is one of the biggest knocks against our field. I know for a fact that my job experience in that inner city school prepared me for literally ANYTHING I could experience in my gig today—-lots of people never get that.
That aside, I quit that gig and went to grad school full time. It was NOT easy and I sacrificed a lot but I also worked really hard to show my work ethic and network with directors. My job now is in a better district with so much more support and it honestly saved my teaching career—or at least, extended it. I’m now in year 6 at this campus and while it’s not perfect suburbia, it’s still better than before.