Hello everyone. I'm trying to figure out my career life and I am kinda, sorta lost. I'm currently 29 years old and unemployed. I was laid off a few months ago. I worked for a company for 9 years in the accounts receivable department. I liked it for the most part although not something I would want to do all my life simply because it was so centered specifically on one task (accounts receivable).
So I've been thinking these past couple months about my career, or lack thereof. I think I have my interests down to just 2. Nursing and Accounting.
I've wrote out some pro's and con's of each and would love any advice you can offer.
Accounting Pros:
-I could get a decent paying job with only 2 years of college, a great paying job with 4.
-I've always wanted to own my own company. With accounting I could have a bookkeeping/accounting/tax service company.
-My fiance(soon to be husband) could be involved in that business.
-I love doing stuff on the computer. With this career choice I would be on the computer alot.
-If I had my own company, I could choose to work only 4 days and different hours instead of the dreadful 5 days and 8-4 or 9-5 mundaneness.
Accounting Cons:
-I find it dreadful to get up to an alarm clock in the morning. With this career choice it would likely mean a Monday-Friday alarm clock wake up.
-Have to get dressed up every day.
-4 year degree required to make great money.
Nursing Pros:
-There are a ton of possibilites with Nursing. Lots of career paths.
-Little schooling needed. 2 years to become a registered nurse.
-Schedule flexibility. Could work 3 days a week on 12 hour shifts. Would not have to wake up to an alarm clock everyday.
-Wear scrubs. No dressing up.
Nursing Cons:
-No chance of every having my own company.
-Fiance could not be involved.
-Work nights and weekends and holidays.
I think the biggest things for me are the working holidays, weekends. My fiance and I are trying to have a baby, so I want to be there for everything. Also a big factor for me is getting up to an alarm clock everyday. I am not a morning person and in my last job I called out quite frequently because I could not get up. Now that I have been unemployed, I get up at a decent hour, probably 1/2 hour later than I used to at my previous job.. but it's not to an alarm clock going off. (if that makes any sense).
Ok so those are basically the pro's and con's of the things I think are important in my decision. Thank you to anyone who could help.
Accounting and nursing are two very different jobs. You can take a CNA course for a better idea of what nursing is (yes you will have to do all those yucky tasks as an RN, and more). You'll be able to make a more informed decision after the 6 weeks, and have a jump on nursing school if you choose to go there.
No matter what time the alarm clock rings, it's still painful.
Thank you for all the replies. I'm still confused but your replies were great.
When I said "little" schooling, I meant time-wise. I do understand that nursing school is very challenging.
Also, As far as getting upi n the morning, well I think I confused you all about that as well. The thing I hate is getting up Monday to Friday at 6am(for example), every day, every week, every month. I would totally love odd hours. I used to get up on monday mornings and the first thing I thought about is how I have to do this 4 more times and it was totally unmotivating.
Anyway, I'm still not sure what to do but thank you all.
I am curious about what made you consider nursing as a career path? Like others have mentioned, your pro/con list is mostly the more superficial things like dress, schedule etc. It would probably help to advise you if we knew how you feel about the deeper issues...are you strongly motivated to help others, do you feel like in order to be happy at work you need to be making a difference to others. Why are you driven to this helping profession?
I am not questioning your motivations, just clarifying. FWIW, I made a similar pro/con list when I was choosing between law school (with a $30,000 scholarship) and nursing school (with $30,000+ in debt). Wearing scrubs to work versus suits was definitely on my list too :) I chose nursing because at the end of the day, I am more satisfied personally if I can know that I helped someone's quality of life, even if in a small way. Turning off a computer and putting away the paperwork just did not do that for me.
As far as schooling, I would advise you to research this much more. The associate's degree nursing programs may be 2 years (although it takes much longer for many people), but you have to take many prerequisites that can take another year or two, if not longer. There is also the matter of getting into nursing school. Many people, especially in the 2 year programs, are wait-listed or unable to get in for years. If a shorter education is one of your requirements, I would think your 2 year accounting degree would fit the bill better than nursing. In any event, please research the particular programs that interest you and speak to an advisor at the schools you are interested in attending.
My natural clock seems to run on 3-11 shift, so I feel ya on the alarm clock. I like doing 3 twelve-hour shifts, so I work nights. Some definite cons, there, but at this point I like my crew on nights enough that I've passed up chances for days. (3X12 on days would mean i could sleep in until, say, 0800 on my days off, and still have the whole day ahead of me. As it is, I feel like I waste my first day off sleeping. But a lot of nurses I know on days are so tired on their first day off that they don't do much with it, anyway.)
I agree with others in thinking you probably need a better idea what nursing is about before commiting yourself to at least 2 years of school--very few ADNs graduate in less than 3, for one thing. Entry into ADN programs is extremely competitive, so you almost have to have some of the pre-reqs done to get in.
Nursing school is brutal. It is possible to have a life and go to nursing school. Well, that depends on how you define life. My cells metabolized the entire time I was in school. I also had a part-time job, which I neglected. My family consisted on my Dad, who can take care of himself, and my cats, who can take care of themselves. But I neglected them, too. I ate most of my meals in my car on the way to classes or clinicals, so I gained 20 pounds. I slept, on average, maybe 4 hours a night. But that's on average. I usually got my full eight on Friday nights, and sometimes Saturdays. 2-3 on nights before school was not uncommon.
When I graduated and started working, one of my classmates remarked, "Hey, remember when we thought nursing school was hard?" First year as a working nurse makes school look cake. Second year is no picnic, either. I've been at it 4.5 years, now, and no longer puke before going to work, so I guess that means I'm comfortable. I never miss lunch at work. If I don't feed the machine, it shuts down. But when I go out with friends/family to a nice restaurant, I've finished my meal before the others have buttered their bread. Nurses eat like wolves. I also pee when I need too. One of the neat things about the sympathetic nervous system is that during times when you are in "fight or flight" mode, your excretory system goes on hold. So when I say I felt like peeing myself during the most recent patient crisis, it's not entirely true. I didn't really feel like peeing myself until things were more under control. During the blind panic phase, I didn't really feel like anything, because I was in an altered state of consciousness. But don't worry, these sorts of emergencies don't happen every night. Well, not in my department. Some units, they're par for the course.
Mind you, you don't get to my present level of composure in a crisis overnight. For the first year or so, the "flight" reflex is really strong, so what you most want to do is hide in the med room and cry. It takes a lot of conscious effort and/or some experience to get to the point that you're more likely to "fight."
But, when things settle down and your patient is stable/dead/in the ICU, you have to be able to turn off the fight mode, because you can't smack the patient who then calls out to say, "I'm still waiting for my ice water..."
Mind you, the stuff I've described, so far, is the fun part. Then you get to chart everything, which is every bit as glamorous and fulfilling as accounting.
Hmm!! the way u compared A/c vs Nsg was funny and in my opinion was not correct. I worked as an A/c in Seattle for 5 yrs. I have a Master in A/c degree. But i didn't like it due to the same reasons as urs. Always doing the same every day. Then i moved to CA and went into nsg career. Oh boy, it is much harder than i thought. I was an A student in A/c but in Nsg.. Very very hard. So, first of all, Nsg is not a joke. U have to have a passion to help people. If u think about money and businesses only. Nsg is not ur type. U will miss the compassion touch with helpless patients. So far, i felt that nsg is very challenging (only if not worrying too much about money) and satisfying (thinking that i did something valuable with my life). Again, this is just my opinion.
I am more satisfied personally if I can know that I helped someone's quality of life, even if in a small way.
Good luck!
Amen! If helping other people didnt even make it on your list of nursing pros i dunno if its a good career choice. Im no RN but just in my experience as a CNA and in clinicals is you sacrifice alot for your patients and if you cant take satisfaction from helping someone you'll feel abused get burnt out or become a bitter nurse.
The things you've listed off address superficial aspects of both jobs. You have to look deeper. Just because you hate mornings and getting dressed up for work ... you can't decide your career path on that these things.
I have one question: "do you like working with people who are sick or injured?" Because regardless of where we work in nursing this is what we do, we help people when the need
it the most.
There are too many people who enter into nursing for the wrong reasons - don't be one of them. What happens is eventually they come to hate their job and then take it out on their patients and coworkers-- everyone reading this here and who has be a nurse for more then 5 mins knows what I am talking about.
In my humble opinion (and I been doing this 20+ years) what makes a good if not great nurse are the following:
The ability to CARE (in other words you actually give a darn about another's welfare);
You also have to be COMPASSIONATE, and be reasonably INTELLIGENT (lots of science, technology, and some math). These are the things that separate nursing from other
health care professions such as medical, radiology, etc ...
Now I'm not saying you can be Florence Nightingale every shift you work (and we've
all had patients push the limits of our ability to care or be compassionate), but really the good nurses embody these three traits the majority of the time.
So if you like helping others then go talk to the folks at the local nursing programs
because we need good nurses! BTW just because the program is 2-3 years doesn't mean you'll get in right away. Many programs have at least a one year waiting list to get in.
As many have said, in order to be happy as a nurse you truly have to love what you do. I am still in school (3 more months!), however I work as a tech in an ICU. It is hard, it is stressful, and many times heartbreaking. Despite this, if I can do at least one thing for a patient that makes their day a little easier, then I can go home with a sense of fulfillment that sitting in front of a computer all day could never give me (granted I hate math, learning drug calculations was difficult for me at first). On the other hand take my roommate who is an accounting major. She loves the work, it is like a puzzle for her. My advice is take just a minute and think about the job itself (not the pay, not the hours, but the job itself). What would you be happier doing? I hope your decision goes well!
Getting through 2 years of school sounds easy but then when it's just the program itself and not the prereqs. that takes about 2 years it's still not so bad, but then when you put nursing in front of school it might be another story.....
Sparrowhawk
664 Posts
My alarm went off at 4:00 am sharp this morning, gotta be at work at five thirty. You will have to use an alarm...trust me.