Career move - Marketing to Nursing

[Bess430]

Hi everyone! I am new to this amazing site and curious if I could get some opinions on making a career move into nursing/lpn. I have always read posts on this site, and finally after a couple years, I am ready to seriously contribute and make some moves.

I have a background in marketing, digital marketing to be exact, which I have been successful at over the last 10 years. The problem is that I have always known this wasn't the career for me...sittting in front of a computer hours upon hours every day, helping the rich just get richer while being borderline harassed by clients for some of the smallest things. While I have found success and have moved up over the years, I am feeling more and more stuck in a direction that I didn't necessarily want to go. For me, marketing and business do not come natural to me like peers in my field. It's extremely mentally exhausting to continue this route amd i have always been interested in making people feel good, science, psychology, life, being there for others and genuinely want to best and happiness for eveyone. I am empathetic and a sensitive soul, which does not serve me well in business. I have been researching nursing options for years now, but feel it's time to make a move. I have looked in RN degrees vs LPN. The problem I am faced with is time and money. Because I went to college for marketing I do not have many science classes in my transcript which means o would have to devote a year or two to pre reqs alone, try and hope to get Into nursing school then looking at 2 years out from there (accelerated programs). On the flip side, I could go to a technical college near me for LPN, for 12 months and for about $4k, significantly cheaper and faster compared to nursing school whether it be through a university, community college or private nursing school. I realize the pay gaps betwern RN and LPN, but my goal is not tp be wealthy in terms of money. That doesn't matter to me as much as work life balance and being mentally comfortable in general. I see many posts where people seem to look down upon lpns, or people feel like they are looked down upon. At this point in my life, I am not so worried about titles and money. Additionally, I feel like I may be a bit naive as to what this change would entail. I have never worked in a clinical, hospital, nursing home setting, but have preconceived notions as to what I think it would be like. I understand all jobs have their ups and dpwns, but if I were to choose to be stressed about a marketing strategy vs helping someone in a medical/mental situation, I choose the ladder. I am hoping to find some volunteer work that could give me a better glimpse into what actually goes on in this type of setting. Am I crazy for wanted to make such a drastic move and sacrifice everything I have worked really hard for, although I am completely miserable everyday I go to work? Has anyone else made nursing/LPN a second career choice after being in the business world? If so, how did you ultimately make your decision and how did it impact you, your life and family, was it a positive experience? Were you blindsided by anything? Any regrets? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated and helpful as I work through this.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Hi everyone! I am new to this amazing site and curious if I could get some opinions on making a career move into nursing/lpn. I have always read posts on this site, and finally after a couple years, I am ready to seriously contribute and make some moves.

I have a background in marketing, digital marketing to be exact, which I have been successful at over the last 10 years. The problem is that I have always known this wasn't the career for me...sittting in front of a computer hours upon hours every day, helping the rich just get richer while being borderline harassed by clients for some of the smallest things. While I have found success and have moved up over the years, I am feeling more and more stuck in a direction that I didn't necessarily want to go. For me, marketing and business do not come natural to me like peers in my field. It's extremely mentally exhausting to continue this route amd i have always been interested in making people feel good, science, psychology, life, being there for others and genuinely want to best and happiness for eveyone. I am empathetic and a sensitive soul, which does not serve me well in business. I have been researching nursing options for years now, but feel it's time to make a move. I have looked in RN degrees vs LPN. The problem I am faced with is time and money. Because I went to college for marketing I do not have many science classes in my transcript which means o would have to devote a year or two to pre reqs alone, try and hope to get Into nursing school then looking at 2 years out from there (accelerated programs). On the flip side, I could go to a technical college near me for LPN, for 12 months and for about $4k, significantly cheaper and faster compared to nursing school whether it be through a university, community college or private nursing school. I realize the pay gaps betwern RN and LPN, but my goal is not tp be wealthy in terms of money. That doesn't matter to me as much as work life balance and being mentally comfortable in general. I see many posts where people seem to look down upon lpns, or people feel like they are looked down upon. At this point in my life, I am not so worried about titles and money. Additionally, I feel like I may be a bit naive as to what this change would entail. I have never worked in a clinical, hospital, nursing home setting, but have preconceived notions as to what I think it would be like. I understand all jobs have their ups and dpwns, but if I were to choose to be stressed about a marketing strategy vs helping someone in a medical/mental situation, I choose the ladder. I am hoping to find some volunteer work that could give me a better glimpse into what actually goes on in this type of setting. Am I crazy for wanted to make such a drastic move and sacrifice everything I have worked really hard for, although I am completely miserable everyday I go to work? Has anyone else made nursing/LPN a second career choice after being in the business world? If so, how did you ultimately make your decision and how did it impact you, your life and family, was it a positive experience? Were you blindsided by anything? Any regrets? Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated and helpful as I work through this.

I think you maybe have an idealistic view of nursing that isn't going to hold up under the pressure of a real life nursing job. Perhaps I'm wrong, but volunteering may give you a better look at what you're actually getting into.

You want to make people feel good, and you want a work life balance. Many people actually leave the nursing field because they feel that nursing hours don't allow the work/life balance they prefer. And as far as making people feel good -- that happens rarely. What we do is make people (hopefully) feel less bad, and that's a long way from good.

You say you don't like being harassed by clients over the smallest of things . . . if you've been reading this forum, you'll have read that nurses are harassed frequently by patients and their families about the smallest of things; things over which the nurse has no control. The ice water is too cold, the TV doesn't get the sports channel, the meal sucks, the doctor hasn't been by to see me yet, this blanket is too heavy and this pillow is to flat (or fat). They won't be harassing you over the phone, they'll be right up in your face.

You're not crazy for wanting to make a career move, and I've known several people who successfully transitioned to nursing from business. (I went and got an MBA so I could transition the other direction, then changed my mind before I could do so.) Here's a thread worth reading before you make up your mind.

https://allnurses.com/nursing-career-advice/for-those-considering-653061.html