From mechanic to nurse?

RunBabyRN · Nov 30, 2014

Semper Fi, Marine! Corpsman here. :) Congrats on your upcoming fatherhood!

If you're using your GI Bill, go for your BSN. Look into programs that offer a vet's preference, and find out what the preference is, as it varies. Some places will choose a vet over another equally qualified candidate, others will let you in as long as you meet the minimum requirements. It's worthwhile to do your research!

It will be very challenging to work 10 hour days with an infant and do a nursing program. Nursing program schedules are pretty set, and you will have clinicals whenever your program decides you have them. Have you already completed your prereqs?

Have you applied for disability with the VA? If you are assigned a rating 30% or higher, you'll qualify for vocational rehab, which pays for more than the GIB and extends it for an additional year (or more, if needed).

There is very little of the gender bias that might have existed years ago, at least in the workforce. Depending on your social circle, that can vary. Not nearly as much as you saw in the Corps! There is a male nursing student forum on here that might interest you.

Pay varies greatly by location. I can't speak to nursing salaries or hiring conditions in TX, but there is a whole forum just for that here under the US tab. In general, yes, there are layoffs (saw a lot of them in 2008, for example), and the new grad market sucks right now. Research the job market where you are- make sure to ask about preference for BSNs over ADNs. In saturated markets, it's REALLY tough for ADN nurses. Since you won't be paying the tuition, it's worth doing what it takes to be marketable.

the_mechanic · Nov 30, 2014

I have not done the pre reqs yet. I'm in school for hvacr till June right now. Just doing this school so I can learn a new skill in case I get laid off. I go to class from 830am to 1pm and work 3pm to 2am. I do this Monday thru Thursday with Friday thru Sunday off. And work weekends when needed. I am still going through all the appointments trying to get a disability rating. I will be stopping by the school next week to get the details from them about the pre reqs.

RunBabyRN · Nov 30, 2014

One thing to be aware of with the disability stuff (I meant to mention this above)- if you have a psych diagnosis with a rating over 10% (depression, PTSD, etc), they won't let you choose nursing for your voc rehab. They'll only allow you to pursue certain careers.

Will you be able to cut down your hours at all while in school?

Good luck with the VA- they're a PITA, but the program is worth it (plus the disability stipend for life is nice to receive).

the_mechanic · Nov 30, 2014

I don't think I have anything to worry about the PTSD, depression, or anything. But you never with the va. I won't be able to cut back hours. That's my biggest problem. My wife is afraid of me burning myself out between work and school. I understand her concern but it would be worth it. I'm tired of smelling like jet fuel, oil, and always wondering when they will lay more people off.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2014

Congrats on the new addition coming to your family.

I can't speak for the military. I can speak for nursing. School is pretty regimented. Clinical and class hours are set and you will have to abide by them. Your work schedule will interfere with school. The school will not bend. It might be easy to work around your work hours while doing prereqs but not once you start clinical. Nursing school is pretty consuming but if that is your goal it will be worth it in the end. There is no real gender discrimination in the workplace however there will be patients that may request a female especially in OB.

Be prepaired that you will start out at about $25.00 per hour. BSN seems to be the present preference although I do know of several new nurses that are ADN that got hired in Texas to prestigious facilities. OT is available but not as abundant as it used to be...there is a surplus of nurses right now. Once you finish your first nursing clinical in many states you can get hired as a tech/nurses aid however the pay is about $10.00/hr.

It iwll be difficult with a new born but many have done just fine. It's all about what you really want.

firstinfamily, RN · Nov 30, 2014

Not that I would want to derail your plans, but my husband was an airplane mechanic when we first met, he went into avionics and almost immediately was moved up in the company. What about electronics/computers as they relate to aircraft??? I graduated Nursing College in 1981 when very few men were going into nursing. We had 4 in our class. They were expected to do all the same clinical tasks as the women, which means you would be performing female urinary catheterizations, some slightly invasive procedures on women. Just to make you aware. There are many more men in nursing colleges today and most are very successful. I don't know the male perspective of working mostly with women, I think it depends on your attitude towards women. I find it very helpful to have men in the workforce, they are interesting to exchange their opinions on current nursing events, they seem to have more knowledge/ability to trouble shoot computer systems. I have never had a problem with working with male nurses. There are some thoughts that perhaps the males move up into management faster than their female counterparts. Not sure how true this is. You most likely would get more teasing from your social circle than from other nurses. If you can use your GI bill does that mean you will also have to be in active service at any time if called?? I would definitely go for the BSN as a basic degree. There are shortages, there are lay-offs, new grads are having a difficult time finding jobs this year and have in the recent past. The baby boomer nurses will most likely be working longer than the "researchers" predict, so will be leaving the workforce later than previous generations. There are multiple aspects that impact the demands for nurses. Good Luck, Congrats on the little one!!!

Guests · Dec 1, 2014

Hello everyone. I am very interested in a career in the nursing field but some questions about the journey to becoming one and also life after becoming a nurse. A little about me first though. I am a 28 year old MALE, currently a helicopter mechanic, and looking for a new career. I am currently expecting my son to be born in a month. Here are things im trying to figure out about a career in nursing.
- Is it better to do a associates or bachelors degree program?
- How hard would it be to go to school full time during the morning, work 10 hours each night while raising a baby?
- Just how much poking fun will there b at me for being a male nurse? (I did five years in the Marines and two deployments to Iraq so I have some pretty thick skin when it comes to being picked/poked on)
- Is the pay competitive and is there overtime?
- Do nurses ever go through lay offs or is a stable job most of the time.
I currently live in texas and will be using my gi bill for school.
Thank you in advance to anyone who takes the time answer any of these questions.

Former 6713 in a CH-53 squadron here.

If you can manage, a BSN is preferred because, in some parts of the country, it's required in order to get hired in the large, acute care settings

Pretty tough... but you're a Marine so you get tough. It really depends on the program. Mine as an accelerated program over 5 semester and it left little time for other pursuits.

Nobody's ever made fun of me for being a nurse. If they did, I'd challenge them to shadow me for one shift in my urban ED to see what a manly job it is... and very lucrative to boot.

The pay question really depends on (a) to what you're comparing it and (b) where you work. At my current employer, our base is just North of 100K with good benefits and, in the case of the ED... ample OT opportunities.

"Ever" is an expansive term which can only be answered by "yes, nurses do get laid off." That said, there are some very stable jobs. Again, it really depends on (a) where you're working and (b) what field you're practicing.

I left an engineering career in my mid-40's to become a nurse. My present job is the first of my adult life in which I have not been looking over my shoulder about potential layoffs.

Guests · Dec 1, 2014

My wife is afraid of me burning myself out between work and school. I understand her concern but it would be worth it.

As I said, you're a Marine... you are tougher than nails and can handle most anything for a time-limited duration.

I'm tired of always wondering when they will lay more people off.

This is what led me to nursing.

My only regret: That I didn't do it in my 20's...

akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P · Dec 1, 2014

If you can manage, a BSN is preferred because, in some parts of the country, it's required in order to get hired in the large, acute care settings
Pretty tough... but you're a Marine so you get tough. It really depends on the program. Mine as an accelerated program over 5 semester and it left little time for other pursuits.
Nobody's ever made fun of me for being a nurse. If they did, I'd challenge them to shadow me for one shift in my urban ED to see what a manly job it is... and very lucrative to boot.
"Ever" is an expansive term which can only be answered by "yes, nurses do get laid off." That said, there are some very stable jobs. Again, it really depends on (a) where you're working and (b) what field you're practicing.
I left an engineering career in my mid-40's to become a nurse. My present job is the first of my adult life in which I have not been looking over my shoulder about potential layoffs.

I have to echo what ♪♫ in my ♥ has said here, among others... The ED that's being referred to is VERY urban and VERY busy. Most of the facilities around my area have a preference for BSN prepared nurses.

As other posters have stated, you have the ability to pick and choose your prerequisite course schedule to a very large degree as those courses are usually offered at varying times and days. Once you begin nursing school itself, their schedule requirements are very, very rigid and offer little to no flexibility. This is partly due to regulations specifying attendance hours and partly due to clinical contracts that effectively lock each program's students to certain days/hours on certain floors at various hospitals. This is done also to ensure that only students from a specific program is on a floor at a given time. Here in my region, we have around 5 programs and about 800 students in the hospitals at any one time and few facilities that are willing to host them.

My suggestion is that while you're doing your prerequisites, try to save up enough to allow you to pay for at least some of your expenses so that you won't have to work as much while you're actually doing nursing school.

PMFB-RN, RN · Dec 1, 2014

I am former army combat medic with the infantry and have had a great career in nursing. As ESME12 mentioned once you start in an actual nursing program you will have to flex the rest of your life around it. The school won't bend.

Go for the BSN. It won't guarentee you a job in a fast paced acute care setting like ICU or ER but it helps and you won't be able to get a job with an ADN in many hospitals.

Don't even give a thought to being teased for being a male RN. I have alwasy worked in trauma, ICUs, ER and ransport and in those thypes of units you will typicaly find around half of the nurses in the unit will be men, many of them vets. Half of the nurses in my depatment (rapid response) are men and all of us are former corpsmen who did time with the marines, or army combat medics. It isn't like it used to be and I never get any teasing AT ALL for being a male RN.

I strongly suggest that after nursing school you try ot get into a nurse residency program for new grads going directly into ICU. It is usually a good fit for more aggressive type males.

There have been some lay off among nurses that I have read about. No hospital anywhere near me (upper midwest) has ever laid anyone off. I have alwasy been able to get all the OT I wanted, _IF_ I was willing to go wherever they needed me. The more skills you have the more options you have for where to work. Becuase of my skill set I can pretty much work in any unit in the hopsital except L&D and NICU. If I call the nursing supervisor and say I want OT and am willing to go anywhere I will get OT. Some unit in the hospital is always short, even if mine isn't.

Oppertunities for OT will be very linited for the first year or so, and pretty much limited to your home unit. But as your skills and confidence grow the oppertunities will expand. Never miss a chance to learn things and to work in other units.

IMO ICU is by far the best fit for a man in your position. In ICU you will learns skills that are transferable to many other types of units. Plust it's a stepping stone to many of the best jobs in nursing like mine, full time rapid response, critical care transport, PACU, CRNA, cath lab, and many others.

At the risk of offending my fellow ER RNs, I view ER as a dead end job. It's fine if ER is all you ever want to do but the skills there are very specialized and not as transferable as ICU skills. For example in my hospital ICU nurses who want to be cross trained to ER go through a week of training / orientation. ER nurses who want to transfer to ICU are trained just as if they are med-surg nurses transfering and go through the whole 9 month residency program, except the first month of hospital orientation.

Our hospital has a large critical care transport unit consisting of two helicopters and 18 ground mobile intensive care units (ambulances). Each is staffed with a three person team consisting of critical care RN (team leader), paramedic, and EMT driver / pilot. That is one one heck of a fun job and 75% of the transport RNs are men in our unit, mostly veterans.

I don't know much about nursing in Texas but to give you and idea about the lifestyle. I live in a rural area of the upper midwest, and drive to work in a large city, as well as maintaing a part time job in a more local hospital. I work six 12 hour sifts a pay period (two weeks) at my main rapid response job, and one scheduled 12 hour shift a pay period at my part time job. My main job pays me over $130k/year WITHOUT doing OT. Every pay period I am scheduled for 7 days on / 7 days off, or for 5 on, 5 off, 2 on, 2 off. Would be 6 on, 8 off if I didn't have two jobs. Because I work 12 hour shifts I have a lot of days off. I also get 5 weeks a year vacation (plus 2.5 weeks of sick time), have decent benifits a generous 403B (like 401K) matching and a pension I don't contribute to.

The best hospitals to work for IMO are larger, publicaly owned, non Magnet hospitals with a union. I avoid religious affiliated hospitals, Magnet hospitals, for profit hospitals, and non-union hospitals. However as a new grad you should try for a job in the highest acuiety hospital that will hire you in the highest acuiety unti you can get to build your experince and skills. Once you have your skills locked in and a reputation as a hard worker and competent RN you can write your own ticket.

I am trying to give you an idea of what a career as an RN can be like. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! The main problem you will face, and one that didn't exsist when I became an RN, is the shortage of jobs. You may have to take what you can get and bide your time. When I became an RN a new grad could pretty much get a job in any kind of unit they wanted and take their pick of hospitals. I got fired from my first nursing job (for fighting with a surgical resident) on Thursday and was working again on Monday. Heck I got a $5K relocation bonus AND a $5K signing bonus as a new grad with an ADN. Those were the days!

fitz the viking · Dec 1, 2014

I wont lie to you but nurse training is more than a full time job. Basically write 3 years off living breathing and eating nursing. but it isnt forever and you will get so much out of it. yes you get your time off and will have time away from the course but you will find yourself reading and absorbin constantly. But if you start down this path and its for you then it wont be a chore.

Money, there is loads out there you just have to work hard for it. there is always overtime and it makes a huge difference to the wages even the odd shift.

Job security. the higher up you go the more your job can be put at risk but in reality the nurses on the shop floor are safe. There will always be poorly people.

I was a mechanic before i came to nursing and now i look at it as a mechanic for the body. Bits that go wrong, diagnosing, understanding how stuff works, preventative maintanace it all relates. you may know nothing about the body now but you will have the right mindset to get the information you need. ( i hope that makes sense)

Try to get some experience in healthcare if your unsure, volunteer, unqualified (health care assistant) so you know that its for you before taking the plunge in a 3 year course.

go for it. thats all i can say. its great.