After 13 years as a programmer, I'm about to start classes to become a nurse. There's just too many good reasons as to why this is what I want to do (more time with family, getting to help people on a daily basis...). Only negative is salary (my pay will get cut about 50% at the beginning), but my wife plans to join me in this, so that covers that.
My decision's made up, so don't mind answering, but let me ask you a question: For anyone who made a career change like this, was it worth it to you? Is there anything you would have done differently?
Looking forward to getting started - I haven't had drive like this in a long time.
I too wanted to be an EMT, but the hours are crazy, the jobs are scarce in this area - the jobs that are there don't pay that great - and I kind of fell into a CNA program locally that was only 4 weeks, I'm now working in a nursing home, hopefully will be in a hospital by this time next year after 1 year of CNA experience. I am also working on getting the prerequisites out of the way for the RN-BSN at Regis University in Denver. It's nice because Regis doesn't do waiting lists, they just select people competitively from a pool of applications.
I totally know what you mean about the IT attitude of "you're either with us or against us"...
A few years back I took a "break" from IT desktop support/telecom analyst to work in Human Resources (wanted to expand my skillset). It was the BEST career move I could make. I stayed with the same company (an insurance company) and even in the same location. I worked for one of the finest managers I had ever met, learned much (probably too much) :) about human nature, and seriously developed my people/speaking/facilitating skills with the number of staff we have and all the training we did.
My IT collegues were HORRIFIED at my decision to leave.
Evidently IT is the "end all" for all careers humans are capable of. My co-workers could not fathom why I would EVER want to do anything other than IT!! I got some support, but mostly shock and dismay. "You're leaving IT...?" Yep...and learned more in a year in HR than 6 years in Systems.
Of course the Outsource train rolled through our building, and we sourced all our HR. But what a good year it was, so back to IT (but in a different department).
After 4 Reductions in Force, dodging the bullet each time, our company has finally been purchased by another ins company. Don't think I'll be dodging this time, and I DON'T WANT TO.
I want to be a nurse, and do something meaningful with the rest of my life. 10 years of corporate have shown me enough greed/politics/backstabbing to last a lifetime. I am taking pre-reqs in the Spring, then hopefully CNA in the summer, then LPN at the local CC in the fall. My wife has been wonderful in her support, and thankfully the kids love Top Ramen, since that's probably what we'll be eating for 3 years...
I am 50 years old and tomorrow is my last day of LVN school. I failed out of high school at 16, at 17 I went into the army (infantry), four years later went to work in the oil patch as a roughneck four years. Studied on my own for a couple months to qualify to attend electronic tech school in the Coast Guard and spent 16 more years in the military(including 3 years teaching radar repair to techs)
When I retired out, I started an electronic repair company for a few years which allowed me to take a couple years off to think about my mid-life crisis.
In the end, I took some classes at the local college, I finish LVN school 23 hours from now and start LVN to BSN in January(provided I dont fail the lvn NCLEX in December!) I am absolutely hooked on nursing!! I have very few regrets in life but I regret not doing this when I was 18.
It provides the reward of helping other people, a certain amount of independence while being part of a team, and the reward of responsibility met. Also, in Northern Calif, the pay is not so shabby.
I was a cop for six years and got hurt on the job!AFter two surgerys and two years of O.T. I thought I would be able to go back to the streets. Well long story short I am in nursing school now and although I would of went back to police work if I had a choice Nursing school has been great. I am looking forward to my new career. (they are actully very similar)
Specializes in Mostly: Occup Health; ER; Informatics.
I was in similar shoes once. My advice, in addition to that of other replies to your thread, is to go do some volunteering first while you hold your current job. It can get you the hands-on helping opportunity, the feel-good-about-helping feelings you want, and the pay and benefits (and respect and other intangibles) you now have.
For me, it acted as a good multi-year test-drive of a potential new career. I volunteered in several settings to learn more about healthcare, and learned a ton about the careers and myself.
If that works out, consider a next step: getting a part-time nurse-aide or medical-assistant job. It will let you test-drive being truly hands-on in a paid position, which is different than volunteering. Again, you can keep your day job while you test the waters.
For anyone coming from the IT world, nursing's first two years (after school) are far worse than the worst project or "Luser" users or bug-filled POC you've ever supported. You might find it a shock to your system... But with two years' experience, you can think about informatics or some other specialty that suits you. Most of the time now, I feel like "I am helping people" or "making a difference in someone's life". I must say it is a different feeling than the pure joy of compiling without errors and passing every whitebox/blackbox test. My thought is that nursing is more satisfaction of helping others while programming and engineering are more joy of pure design. Just choose your jollies wisely, as nursing pays less per actual hour spent doing it than most programming/engineering.
This topic has been a huge inspiration to me. I am almost 59 years old and currently in my second semester of pre-reqs for the nursing program. My current employer will soon be closing its doors. I have been an automotive product designer for 34 years with this company. I could probably have an opportunity to relocate but the corporate world has worn be down. Like many of you, I'm looking forward to a career change after many years. However, I have to say that I've had many doubts about this change because of my age. The job opportunites in health care and the chance to help other people have kept me going. After starting my second semester in Anatomy, I get more excited about this field all the time. It will be a pay cut for me too but I think it will be worth it. Hearing all of your experiences helps a lot too.
Best of luck to ALL looking to change careers to "something more rewarding".
Although with IT, it doesn't take much to be "more rewarding".
Question for the guys: I start CNA class in a week, and was wondering if (as a guy) you are 'sought after' more in certain situations because of your gender. I know a previous poster claimed a steady flow of clients in home healthcare...
(Yes, in a twisted turn of fate, I plan on leveraging my gender to compete in a field where I am quite outnumbered by women):)
Update: I'm still (surprisingly) employed, as the company that purchased us still can't figure out how our staffing should work. I keep telling my wife that if they can just wait to lay me off until I get my CNA certification, that would be sweet!! They've outsourced all our previous duties, so essentially I'm study my nursing pre-reqs, and scout places to volunteer/gain experience after I get my CNA (and trying to seriously fly under the corporate radar).
Kudos to you Switchin'...I know so many in the corporate world who have essentially Retired In Place (RIP) around age 60...be proud.
After 13 years as a programmer, I'm about to start classes to become a nurse. There's just too many good reasons as to why this is what I want to do (more time with family, getting to help people on a daily basis...). Only negative is salary (my pay will get cut about 50% at the beginning), but my wife plans to join me in this, so that covers that.
My decision's made up, so don't mind answering, but let me ask you a question: For anyone who made a career change like this, was it worth it to you? Is there anything you would have done differently?
Looking forward to getting started - I haven't had drive like this in a long time.
I made the same decision about four years ago. Was working IT for a large corporation and decided to do something more people oriented. Was it worth it? Hmm... tough to say.
A few things I was not aware of before I entered nursing school:
Professional behavior of nurses and other health care staff is in some ways worse than people in IT(yes, even factoring in the weird linux admin with anime posters in his cubicle).
The amount of work a nurse does, especially the physical aspects of moving/turning comatose/disabled patients every 20 mins for 12 hours. I'm a young, relatively strong man and this is still taxing.
Nursing is not recession proof.
As for the male nurse factor - I had a difficult L&D clinical rotation, but other than that no benefits or disadvantages in my opinion.
I worked on an assembly line for 12 years. I took the educational buyout and am now 2 semesters away from my BSN. It is hard for my wife and son, but they are both supportive. I don't look back. It was easily the best decision I have ever made outside of having my little boy.
I worked several different careers, Army Officer, Teacher and sales before working as a nursing assistant. I earned my RN at age 45. Ten years later, I enjoy what I do. Nursing allows me to combine the best part of every job. Nursing may not be the right career for everyone but I'm really glad I made the switch.
There are definitely similarities in IT & nursing. If you've ever done tech support you're already aware that you cannot overestimate the lack of knowledge in your customer base. While we don't exactly have PEBCAK (problem exists between chair and keyboard) issues, you will encounter many 1d10t errors on the part of your customer base in nursing. And a lot of those relate to the "WEBMD practitioner" in the pt's family.
And if you enjoyed debugging programs, you're gonna love pumps.
Welcome to the club. Grab a chair and pop open a frosty one.
Derek1975
52 Posts
I too wanted to be an EMT, but the hours are crazy, the jobs are scarce in this area - the jobs that are there don't pay that great - and I kind of fell into a CNA program locally that was only 4 weeks, I'm now working in a nursing home, hopefully will be in a hospital by this time next year after 1 year of CNA experience. I am also working on getting the prerequisites out of the way for the RN-BSN at Regis University in Denver. It's nice because Regis doesn't do waiting lists, they just select people competitively from a pool of applications.