Comparable jobs to RNs (salary wise)

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Hey everyone. I was just curious. Are there any jobs out there that one could do that would make approixmately the same amount of money for the SAME amount of education. I think that's the kicker. RNs only require a 2 year degree and some make close to $40 dollars an hour to start out (like me). I have friend's with Master's degree and they're working at Target just to get by. So, Can you think of any field that's comparable?

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Specializes in Psych, LTC, M/S, Supervisor, MRDD,.

I've often pondered this myself. I dont think its possible. I know my sister is finishing up with her masters in education and will be teaching. Thats a freakin 5-6 year degree and she is going to be making less then I do. I work in a small rural area and only make around 26/hr with the shift diff but she's only going to make around 15/hr if you break the salary down to hourly. I just never could figure out the reason ppl would go to school and make peanuts. We are a spoiled profession at times especially when it comes to salary. I made more then her as an LPN with 1 year of school.

I guess if u got an Associates degree and were an awesome realestate agent or administrative assistant in a fortune 500 company or could sell BMW's like mad you might make what a nurse makes. I know a lot of GM and auto company union type employees have little to no education and were making $20/hr with great benefits before the economy went south.

I can't see nurses having the withstand too much economic change. There will always be sick, elderly, mentally ill, etc for us to help. The only thing I can think of that would lower our wage is socialized healthcare. I think if that goes through (which I'm all for) our wages might drop 25-30%!! But we would not be paying healthcare insurance premiums any longer or copays or high drug costs.....so I think it would even out.

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Specializes in Acute Care.
Hey everyone. I was just curious. Are there any jobs out there that one could do that would make approixmately the same amount of money for the SAME amount of education. I think that's the kicker. RNs only require a 2 year degree and some make close to $40 dollars an hour to start out (like me). I have friend's with Master's degree and they're working at Target just to get by. So, Can you think of any field that's comparable?

$40 an hour? Lol . Where?!

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Southern California. Just shy of $40 an hour. Actually, I make more than $40 an hour with shift differential, but around $35 without it. So my average is around $40. We're a union hospital so that has a lot to do with it. AND, it's an "inner city" hospital so we have a lot of spanish speaking, drug seeking patients. It sort of balances out.

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hey everyone. i was just curious. are there any jobs out there that one could do that would make approixmately the same amount of money for the same amount of education. i think that's the kicker. rns only require a 2 year degree and some make close to $40 dollars an hour to start out (like me). i have friend's with master's degree and they're working at target just to get by. so, can you think of any field that's comparable?

^^there's a level of choice involved in that - they could probably get jobs in areas like teaching, govt., or join the military, etc., and make decent money.

the community college system in my state pretty much only offers degrees and certs in demand fields so you can take any of them and be qualified to earn wages similar to nursing.

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Specializes in Psych, LTC, M/S, Supervisor, MRDD,.

I'm loading up truck and movin to Beverly Hills!!! lol:bugeyes:

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Specializes in Medical-surgical.

Doing a quick cost-of-living adjustment from L.A. to Florida takes $80K to $47K; call it $26/hr straight time. In FLA, the good (not necessarily the best, just the good) bartenders can make what a starting RN makes, just not as reliably. In information technologies, IT pros, many of whom are only high school grads with a few years of experience can make $55K easily. It can quickly go over $85K (that's over $150K in Cali-dollars) if they're any good and willing to travel during the week. It gets higher quickly with experience and certification. This doesn't even account for the sales people and sales engineers that can make a whole lot more right off the bat. Again, many IT people have only professional certifications after high school; many have come out of the military. A lot of folks think nursing pays exceptionally well. It's okay, but not exceptional. I'm thinking the folks getting into nursing for the "great pay" are going to be disappointed. There's more money to be made more easily. So if you're just in it for the money, think about what you really value - the money or the work. It reminds me of engineering in the 80's and 90's. A lot of students enrolled in engineering school and then changed their major to business when they figured out engineering "wasn't their thing" or that starting salary wasn't their highest priority after all.

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I know that firefighters in some parts of California make as much as 75k a year starting, with no degree.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

ultrasound techs do well and radiology techs make close to what nurses make fresh out of school. actually us techs make more.

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Specializes in med/surg, ER, camp nursing.

believe it or not, plumbers and electricians don't do so bad either.

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Specializes in Emergency Room.
believe it or not, plumbers and electricians don't do so bad either.

your right. electricians can make base salary of 40/hr or more with benefits.

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Specializes in SICU/CVICU.
Doing a quick cost-of-living adjustment from L.A. to Florida takes $80K to $47K; call it $26/hr straight time. In FLA, the good (not necessarily the best, just the good) bartenders can make what a starting RN makes, just not as reliably. In information technologies, IT pros, many of whom are only high school grads with a few years of experience can make $55K easily. It can quickly go over $85K (that's over $150K in Cali-dollars) if they're any good and willing to travel during the week. It gets higher quickly with experience and certification. This doesn't even account for the sales people and sales engineers that can make a whole lot more right off the bat. Again, many IT people have only professional certifications after high school; many have come out of the military. A lot of folks think nursing pays exceptionally well. It's okay, but not exceptional. I'm thinking the folks getting into nursing for the "great pay" are going to be disappointed. There's more money to be made more easily. So if you're just in it for the money, think about what you really value - the money or the work. It reminds me of engineering in the 80's and 90's. A lot of students enrolled in engineering school and then changed their major to business when they figured out engineering "wasn't their thing" or that starting salary wasn't their highest priority after all.

This is true, I made about the same (if not more) bartending and working 20 hours a week.

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