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Discussion

Computer Software Developer to Nurse, IT/Nurse Shortage Myth?

hello all,

when i initially went to college i started out pre-med. my freshman year of college i loaded up on science classes - did alright (b's and c's, physics, bio, chem, ochem). my priorities at the time were more about exploring my new found freedom as a young adult than studying hard. a decision i've regretted deeply since!

i met with an academic advisor at the end of my freshman year who told me that b's and c's had pretty much destroyed any chance i had at going to medical school. computer science was booming - so like a lot of people i went into the profession thinking that i had limited myself to it and it was my only chance to still make a decent living (or a business major, which was even less appealing to me). i considered nursing, i had a roommate who was in the same boat i was who even tried to talk me into it - but i didn't listen to her. i let members of my family who worked in healthcare admin talk me out of it and into computer science/math.

the remainder of the time in college i did well, so my gpa is 3.4, but my core science gpa is hovering around 2.8.

of course, by the time i finished my bs degree in 2003, the job market for computer professionals had dropped off considerably, and even now outsourcing and hb-1 work visas continue to keep salaries stagnant. i currently work for a fortune 500 company making 60k a year, which is decent, but the work is not fulfilling and i live in constant fear of being laid off when they find a way to replace me with even cheaper foreign labor. not to mention, it seems to suffer from a lot of the same perils as nursing.

we're treated like donkeys. we are salaried employees so we get no overtime pay. we supposedly have a standard 40 hour work week, but frequently get called on holidays, weekends, and evenings to fix broken systems. we also get minimal or no training, and the stuff they teach in a typical cs course in college doesn't even come close to giving you the tools you need to be a successful developer or it professional in the real world. you are just thrown into it and expected to immediately start producing if you can even find an entry level position at all.

not to mention, we run with skeleton crews, have no time to be proactive or write quality software - we are lucky to meet our ridiculous deadlines with anything that even comes close to an acceptable piece of software. when you're told to write an application, given vague (or flat out wrong!) requirements about what it is even that the application is supposed to actually do, and then told to do it in two weeks when to do it well would take at least ten, of course you have no choice but to cut corners just to get it done.

this leads to putting bad software out into production environments, which then in turn just leads to you getting called at 3 am by a condescending/abusive user who doesn't understand why the software sucks so bad and blames you. not to mention the loss of pride in your work from being forced to produce junk so some business manager can list it as an achievement on his annual review. they're not the ones who have to deal with the fall out - the it people are. i could go on, but this isn't allcomputerprofessionals.com, so i'll save it for that bb.

lately i have been entertaining the idea of going back to school to get a second degree bsn. i was thinking i'd probably need to retake some core science courses to show that i can do well in them, and a few prerequisites that i don't currently have. i believe that i would be much happier as a nurse. i've always been drawn to the healthcare occupations and i'm convinced that the work would feel significantly more meaningful than what i am doing now. i understand that the working conditions themselves may not be an improvement over it, but all things being equal at least i'd feel like i was doing something i believed in.

my fear is that the supposed "nurse shortage" is a myth, an illusion, created by someone with an agenda, just like the great "it professional shortage" was. it will take me at least two years to get the prerequisites completed, and then to (assuming i get accepted) complete an accelerated 2nd degree program. after reading this forum, it seems to me that a lot of people have had the same idea i have - to enter nursing as a second career. i don't buy into the propaganda that opportunities will be limitless and plentiful with so many people seemingly rushing into the profession all at once. it just seems all to reminiscent of what was going on in it back in the late 90's. not to mention, i already hear the whispers of opening up the border to bring in cheap, foreign born/educated nurses.

for those of you entering the profession as a new graduate, and also those who are experienced and who have been through the cyclical nature of nursing, how much longer do you think the hiring boom will last? once it comes to an end, do you expect your existing salaries and jobs to be cut, or will they sustain through the dry spells, with just new hiring being cut back?

i really don't want to work very hard to make the change only to find that i am in the same position (or worse, considering more student loan debt) than i am now.

advise please!

Featured Replies

I cannot advise anyone of anything, but I'm an engineer looking at different paths to supplement my commodity trading in the future. And maybe someone you are not addressing to, so you can quit reading now if so.

From what I can see, nursing is the one of the, if not 'the' last great middle-class hopes in USA jobs. There is starting to be an effort in influx Chinese nurses into the system, so it may not last long. But there is such a diversity in nursing, opportunities seem there if you are willing to work and fight for your opportunity. Good thing learning English is not overnight for illiterate Chinese 'qualified' nurses.

My strategy will be hold several disciplines for fixed income while trading commodities, including: Security Guard, possible RN, Industrial Systems Engineering consultant, and/or any other opportunity along the way. This cleansing of America and the world financial systems happens every 70 years between global deppressions. We have another few decades of hard times to go, so the more disciplines you know, the better you will be gainfully employed in a job you like and can contribute to as well.

Just note the diversity of RN specialties under many posters signatures here. Some have mastered over a half dozen disciplines/environments to futher their opportunities of staying employed and further their chances of advancement in the future (which is staying the same income levels without going down in pay for most other industries).

Its not just a job, its survival and one of those win-win jobs you can easily rationalize you are helping the human race. But eating food and not being a street person does have some intrinsic value in itself, despite what some do-gooder web-ghosts post.

:monkeydance:

:monkeydance: :monkeydance:

:monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance:

Nursing has some the exact same issues you brought up in IT. Unreasonable demands. Not enough time or staff to do the kind of quality of job you want. There wouldn't be such a nursing shortage if the working conditions weren't as frustrating and stressful as they are. The more popular nursing jobs (with higher job satisfaction, regular M-F hours, etc) are much more difficult to get into.

There's definitely weekend and night hours as well as holiday work! And many places will be constantly asking you to come in on your days off to cover if staffing is stretched. That means more pay, but it's tiring and you need to know your own limits.

On the other hand, with most nursing jobs, when you're off, you're off. No bringing work home with you! The patients stay put in the hospital.

Though your mind may still be there - especially the first year, which tends to be a bit of a tour of duty, trial-by-fire, feeling not fully competent and can be incredibly stressful and hard for loved ones to understand (c'mon, you finally finished school, now you can relax and have a life! - not!!!)

So if you want to be a nurse, go for it!!! But if your main issue is the working conditions, you might want to consider forgoing school for now and instead put your efforts into finding a job with skills you already have in a more supportive and satisfying environment. For example, maybe you can look for an IT job in a health care company...

I have a degree in programming. I am about to be a new grad. I can say this.....

I feel better working for people who need me rather than being at the mercy of some IT director who is like a Lumberg (office space).

I think we will find the same staffing issues....but the opportunity to make a difference is there. Also the likelihood of getting laid off on a dime is less. Or replaced by a workforce outside the U.S. Getting a replacement job is more likely.

Plus the human body....it stays the same....and wait....what I mean is there are new developments but the fundamentals are all there. And I would rather study the human body and its psyche.....deal with those variabilities than pour my heart into a software that will be outdated and dead either on arrival or 3 - 5 years down the road.

Nothing wrong with IT....I just like nursing better. :yeah:

Here in my part of Northern California, there is NO NURSING SHORTAGE at all, at least in the acute care hospitals. There are relatively few job postings for any shift. From what I read, many new grads are facing difficulties in finding work, any work. Most of the postings that you see are for part-time positions.

It looks to be pretty competitive out there. On the other hand, being a little more mature and coming out of another industry will make you unique. The hospitals around here are struggling to design and implement electronic records and I'm told that computer-literate nurses are more in demand.

I don't know what to tell you except that at the age of 43 I have left a career in engineering and gone into nursing so I guess I think it's good move.

Don't kid yourself about the purported shortage, though -- be ready to compete for jobs.

  • Experts

Wow! You're right; IT sounds just like nursing! At least you have realistic expectations about what you would be getting into ... :)

There have been a number of recent threads here about the so-called nursing "shortage" that you could review if you're looking for more info and opinions.

When I was in nursing school, there wasn't a job to be found. By our second year, we were getting anxious about being able to get work upon graduation. The shortage hit about a year after we got out and doesn't look like its about to abate anytime soon. All the nursing programs are running at a 2-3 year wait to get in. The problem is not enough instructors to get all the people through the system.

There are a lot of agency and travel nurses filling in the holes till staff can be hired/trained.

Guess the shortage depends on where you live.

I can tell you that, with your background, a year of clinical will get you into a clinical IT spot.

I'm an LPN, working on the RN, who was a programmer whose job was outsourced after the Y2K code changes were in and working - a year after 9/11. Anyway, I worked LTC for a year, 5 weeks in med/surg, and got hired on at the local hospital here. We're rural, so the qualified people are limited, but they almost wet themselves with delight after seeing my resume.

You'll be gold. Everyone's going to electronic health records and they haven't the people with clinical and systems backgrounds to do it.

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