wait a minute, stop the presses

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I have posted many times that my 30 year old daughter has never had any interest in nursing. She has a degree in Communication, a degree in Information Technology and will shortly have her MBA. All of a sudden she wishes she were a nurse and is showing interest in these one year program for people who already have degrees. What could cause this about face? Is it that I seem happy in my job for the first time in years? Is it new motherhood with all it's attendant nurturing urges? Is it the fact that IT jobs are sort of shaky all over the place? Do the flexible schedules of the nursing profession all of a sudden seem attractive now that she is new mom? She is a Pitt Grad at least in one of her degrees. She probably could get first pick in Pitts new one year program. Don't worry, I have warned her that I have some big reservations about how much clinical experience you could get in one year.(I do not know enough to pass judgement, I just have reservations) If that is not a lesson in NEVER say NEVER.

Specializes in NICU.

Well, it's not *just* IT. My little brother, previously a die-hard finance major, has just announced that he's considering nursing. I know that he feels that life is short and he wants to make it more meaningful- would rather come home after a long day of nursing and know that he helped someone in some small but special way in their time of need rather than drive home in his Lexus and pass a homeless person on the street and think, "I'm doing nothing for the other people on this planet and that disturbs me greatly."

My husband did a similar thing- he left the computer industry and hugely wealthy Fortune 500 company and basically shucked all of his education and experience to go back to college to become a drug/rehabilitation counselor and mentor to adolescents. He's going to be making a pittance when he finishes school, but he doesn't care one whit. Okay, maybe a teensy whit, a whit that's almost not a whit...like a "whi-". :D Or just a "wh-". Life is a trade-off; we have no choice in the matter. The very least we can do is attempt to do something worthwhile, you know?

So it's not just the computer industry- it's work in general, I think. I say more power to her, and thank goodness she realized this when she was 30! Can you imagine her spending her entire adult life in a job that wasn't fulfilling to her? What a waste. People are sick and they need help in whatever form it can be offered to them. Thank goodness there are people out there who are willing to give of themselves to make life a little easier for others- if we all did that perhaps there wouldn't be so much suffering and lonliness to endure. (And by "we" I don't mean "WE", I mean people in general.)

Okay, I'm going to hug a tree now. ;)

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Oramar,

I can understand where she's coming from. I've been in the IT field for about 10 years as a technical writer. I've worked mostly as a contractor, so I've never been in any one place for very long.

The IT field can be good money (while you're making it - all of us in the tech field have seen it collapse over the past few years), and *can* be challenging at times (but that is usually part of what we call "hurry up and wait"), but is rarely fulfilling. I write computer manuals, which help, um, the few people who will ever bother to read them?

Like most people, I wanted a career that was exciting and fullfilling. Let's just say that I was severely disappointed. But I think most people are when they get out in the working world. You hope to go to work with people who are motivated and fun to work with, and really be part of a team that's going somewhere - and you get stuck with people who complain about everything, who are lazy, and who LOVE to take comments and twist them just to stir the s**t. And you find out you're just a number and are pretty expendable. It's very disillusioning.

The thing is, from what I've read, you have the same types of people in nursing, and go through the same disillusionment (i.e., "it ain't like it is in the movies").

Eventually you adapt and learn what to expect and what NOT to expect from the IT field. I've chosen to make a difference elsewhere - that's why I volunteer at the local food bank every Saturday. I FOUND a way to make a difference. I've wondered if I SHOULD expect fulfillment from my career, or if I should just view it as a way to make money and pay my bills, and find fulfillment elsewhere.

I think nursing is more attractive than the IT field because it *appears* to be something that really helps people and makes a difference. It's VERY easy to see the grass as greener, but this site has helped me see the reality in the nursing field, which has been a good education. However, IF nursing IS a good fit for me and is more rewarding than the IT field, I'll give it a try. I'm currently taking pre-requisite courses at the local community college. We'll see how it goes.

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I chose nursing as a career, something I felt I could do the rest of my life, not just a job. It was a "calling" really. Everytime I feel I want to quit, I've had enough of short staffing and all the other hassels, there's a little voice in my head that says I'm going to stay in nursing because I love it so much. With all the corporate meltdowns lately, the layoffs in the dot-coms, I'm reassured that there will always be a need for nurses. My husband works in law enforcement. We felt we would always have jobs because there was always going to be crime and sick people. Other industries come and go over time, but look to the careers that have always been there. I also view nursing as one of the original feminist opportunities. If you look at the history of nursing in this country, nurses were the ones advocating for clean drinking water, sanitation systems, etc. Nurses were the ones going to the projects seeing patients who could not afford a doctor. Nurses were the ones delivering babies in the first hospitals. Only wealthy women could afford to deliver at home with a physician. And go ol' Flo Nightengale was so far ahead of her time--a woman of means becoming a nurse when only nuns and prostitutes were doing the dirty work. Sorry this is so long, but I had a bad day yesterday and needed to remind myself again why I stay in nursing. Good luck to those of you with career changes--I don't think you'll regret the decision.

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Here Here! CheriP

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Cheri P, I hope that a nurse can always count on having a job. Ten years ago I witnessed weeping nurses being led out of the hospitals to be tossed in the street by SECURITY GUARDS no less. I remember a pill cup spining around on a unit dose cart because a nurse had been yanked in the middle of med pass and left go. Like I said, I hope our jobs are safe. You just never know. I know a lot of people experienced the same thing.

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you will be happy to know that nursing informatics is a hot topic and very marketable. Whatever, no knowledge is ever wasted. Good luck.

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