Quitting 74K RN job for a 30K vet tech job? Advice please! - Page 4

i am probably in the minority but i don't feel it is my responsibility to support my kids for every hair brained scheme they can think of.

I'm the last person to criticize taking a pay cut to change to a career you love. I'm leaving computer programming in a lucrative niche and will be taking a pay cut of about 40% to be an RN.

However. I have a career plan that involves advanced practice so it's definitely upwardly mobile. And while I'm used to making a lot more, I have looked very carefully at my budget and once I pay off my credit cards doing this job, I'll be able to live comfortably on an RN salary.

You're talking about a pay cut of almost 60%, into a career without a lot of options either laterally or vertically.

I'm with the majority here. One of the great things about nursing is that there are a LOT of different kinds of nursing. Look into some other options, maybe even consult a career counselor to help you suss out something you will enjoy and already have the skillsets for. And get help with the anxiety, pronto.

Good luck!

"I always think about going the vet tech route, but, yes, the salary is deplorable. Especially for the two-year, and usually very expensive degree/certification route. Honestly, I grew up around a lot of vets and they personally think that going to a two year vet program is just plain dumb - they wonder why anyone would go into debt to end up making $12-15/hour. While I am sure that you can learn a lot of valuable and necessary information in such a program, A LOT lot of vets will hire and train "the right candidate" without such a certification. For example, I would say about 1/4 of my nursing school class once worked as vet techs, and none of them went to a fancy program - their vets just liked them, hired them, and trained them. One such classmates even worked at a world-class veternary surgical center (she's now an OR nurse)."

Fancy, that's funny. And I don't think $15,000 for a two year degree is so very expensive, I made double that my first year out of school.

And, yes, many vets will hire vet assistants off of the streets with just a high school diploma and you will be able to perform many of the vet tech duties, but you will never be allowed to use the vet tech title, you will always be unsafe as you will only know how you were told to do something, not why it is done and the many things that can go wrong and the many ways to fix them. No more than a CNA can expect to safely perform an RN's job. They may be able to "mimic" the job performance, but that's it. You will never be payed a vet tech's salary, ask them and they will laugh in your face. Also, a vet clinic is required by law to have atleast on vet tech on staff, most cannot afford more than that, and when the state comes to inspect, they will say it is the vet tech that performs all of the skills. Technically this is a law, but it is very rarely regulated, which is one of the reasons I got out of the field. It is so unsafe and the vets do it because they are cheap. Why hire someone who is educated and skilled, and carries the pricetag of such, when you can take some chump off the street, pay them minimum wage and have them do all the work, and the chump takes the crappy wage and all the work because they think it makes them special.

I never met a vet who thought my degree was worthless, as vet techs are an integral part of the team. And the salary you list is for first year new grads working in very small vet clinics, certainly not the end all for vet tech salaries.

And I seriously doubt that 1/4 of your class are vet techs...they may have worked in a vet clinic, but that doesn't make them vet techs by a long shot. The reason I can take a guess at this is because vet techs are very rare...as a matter of fact, it was rare for me to have a peer to work with me in the vet field (but definately did happen) and I have never run into one outside of work in over ten years....we are a rare breed.

There is a four year degree, but I have never met anyone with it, don't expect a vet to pay you more for having it as they can barely afford 2yr degree techs, and if you did get one, it would probably be for a university or research position, but there are other degree's and certificates you can use for those fields that would be more specific to what you will be doing.

"If you are in a large city with teaching hospitals and research facilities, the upward mobility as a VT that another poster spoke of MAY exist for you (although we never had first assists in OR, it was just those of us who knew what we were doing in there)."

It is not a specialized training or certificate such as with first assist in human nursing, it is someone who is a vet tech that is good at what they do and is well trusted by the veterinarian. I thought it would be easier to understand if I used the first assist title, versus saying the one who gets to scrub in and put their hands in the guts. I was often the "first assist", because I new exactly what my vet was doing and new what he/she would need and would have it done or the instrument in their hand before they could open their mouths to ask for it...this made things run very smoothly, which vets appreciate.



"There are many wonderful things about being a vet tech. I quit after more than a decade due to burn out, and there is a great deal of burnout in the field. Great people to work with, heartwarming stories as well as sad. That said, unless you work in a very sheltered environment, you'll see things that will keep you up at night."

This sounds no different than human nursing, except once you hit burnout, you try to convince yourself that you have to stay in the field for the money, or because you have run up too many bills trying to live the high life, or are too in debt from student loans.

"Petstopeople made a statement that "When you leave nursing your license does not just disappear" This is true, BUT with a caveat. Once you stop having any kind of recent experience, you become about as hire-able as a new Graduate Nurse, possibly less hire-able."

She could always work PRN to keep up her skills and make a little extra money.

Work PRN as an RN for extra money? How about work as an RN and work part-time at a vet's office for extra money?

I know of few people that can realistically live off of $15 an hr. Working in a vet's office probably won't offer insurance and since she is now 26 she will not be able to go back on her parents insurance. They most likely will not offer any type of retirement program. Try paying living expense, a car payment, and have "entertainment" money while making $15 an hour.

In my area a vet tech starts at $10 an hour and will make about $12 after a two years. Most of the techs at my vets office are school age girls or older women that are married, a secondary income.

I mentioned that she could work in a vets office as an assistant for extra money, or volunteer, in my other post. I didn't see any reason to have to repeat myself.

If you know of few people who can realistically live off of $15 an hr, then I doubt you would believe that my husband, myself and our children live quite well off of less than that. The only issue would be that we do not have insurance, which is a big concern. We rent a beautiful farm and pay our rent up 6 months at a time, own two modest cars (no payments, actually own), we keep our bills at a minimum, pay our cell phones by the month (no contracts), we can enjoy eating out occasionally and enjoy ourselves, and can afford to buy what we need, certainly no Gucci bags, but we are happy. Course, we will be even more happy when I am making 20 plus an hour when I graduate.

True, you will rarely find an old vet tech, or even one in their 40's. They move on to other careers (such as me moving over to nursing), retire on their husbands salaries, move up to management and so on...I mentioned reasons I myself did not stay on as a vet tech, in my other post.

I have never heard of a vet tech making 10/hr....ever, even as a new grad....unless maybe you live out in the middle of no where. I lived in a modest city, nothing super. Vet techs do not make a lot of money, but come on. The biggest drawback is not the low salary (compared to some), but in the complete lack of employment benefits (as I also mentioned in my other post) such as paid vacation, paid sick days, and the biggie, insurance.

My son's fiance` looked into going to vet tech school while working on getting her catering business off the ground. She talked to three diff local vet offices and found out that they all start new grad techs out at $10. One lady she spoke with said her daughter now makes $12 after two years on the job. I guess it all depends on where you are located. The original OP stating she makes 74K as an RN is high compared to here. If you break that down that is over $35 an hour on a 40 hour week. I imagine she lives in a pretty high cost of living area. If that is so, and she will have to move back home because and she cannot afford to live there on the $15 an hour she would make as a tech I wonder if the $15 is based on the high cost of living area. If so I would imagine the pay will be less where her parents live.

In my youth, I would have said QUIT! RUN! But now I am older, wiser, yes more cautious, so I say this:
Go ahead NOW and live on 15.00 an hour. You say you cannot in your expenisve area, but make changes that allow you to suffer a smaller, dingier, scarier apartment, car, etc...

Become a pet-sitter part time or something animal-related. Maybe it will have the side benefit of reducing the stress of your job.

THEN, sock away the cash and then when you make the final move away from RN, you will possibly be able to become the owner of some type of animal "place" be it clinic, or whatever. (Start small and be the owner.) I have owned several of my own companies, and I highly recommend it.
BUT you need cash and mentoring and you need to be in an area that needs your services.

Making plans now before you quit will empower you to think more clearly before you give up a job most folks are drooling for... (I once closed a buisiness making 120K per year--- and as I say, I am older and think differently about things now.)

Good luck with whatever you do! It is no crime to have several careers before you are through.

Hey, it's great you have a dream as a vet tech. Like others have already said, if I were you, I'd go to school to be a vet tech while I was still working. Also, psych isn't "easier", it's just different. Before you forsake nursing, try something else! There are so many different areas! I hate psych, and if I was working psych I would probably sound the same as you. Maybe that's just not your niche. And I'm not gonna say your crazy for quitting a job like that, but I'm sure now that you make that kind of money, your accustomed to it. Not that your materialistic or anything (I can't say that I don't know you :-)), but I remember struggling for gas money to put in my car, working as a nursing assistant and struggling to pay my way through nursing school. I certainly don't want to do that again. Being broke isn't fun. And once you aren't broke anymore, some people tend to forget that. So if were you, I would try to get a different job first, and maybe volunteer at a vet office to see if you like it. Sometimes we idolize careers, then realize they are nothing like you thought it would be.