What did you do before nursing?

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I've met more than a few people that have made or are pursuing nursing as a second career. What did you do before? What are the ups and downs in comparison?

I'm not a nurse yet, but since I'm the OP, I'll go first. After being a fast food worker, a pizza cook, and a warehouse worker for Best Buy, I was an intel analyst in the Army, serving everywhere from infantry battalions all the way up to division headquarters. Later, I was a targeting analyst for an established defense firm, and later still for a an upstart company that took the contract from my original bosses. 10 years down the road and seven countries later, I'm knocking out the rest of my pre-reqs before I begin nursing school in January.

1 year of RN school to go. I have worked in retail, telemarketing, CNA in several different places, security for concerts (I REALLY LOVED this job, just not enough hours), waitress, whatever I could do to help support the family. I now work part-time in retail until I finish my dream of becoming an RN>

Large font. Are you visually impaired? LOL.

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Hey! 31 years in the Canoe Club myself! I did a 8 year stint as a contractor in the antiterrorism field afterwards. I am in my third semester of four at Keiser University. I will go for my BSN after. Thank you for your service, shipmate!

I'm on my 4th year as an Intel contractor as well after 10 years in the Navy. Glad to see I'm not the only one making the switch!:)

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Specializes in Cardiology.

Nursing was my fourth career. I taught middle school for a year out of a Liberal Arts BA, then went to school to be an echo tech. I did that for about five years before burning out on the call. Then I took a few programming classes and got a job with a medical dot-com doing content design. When that folded in 2001, I chose nursing over software and started a BSN program at 33.

Nursing school was the hardest 2.5 years of my life. None of the above, not even five years of hospital experience, prepared me for even the first week. It was a life-altering experience for a thirtysomething know it all, and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

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Specializes in Peds, Neuro, Orthopedics.

Another former school teacher here. I hated the low pay, unpaid weekends spent grading and planning, being expected to kiss the rears of unreasonable parents, raises based on test scores and getting blamed for apathetic kids who chose not to learn. I wanted to be a teacher, not an enabler, but charter schools took over my town and we had to be customer service oriented so we didn't lose our kiddos and, therefore, jobs. Public education is such a mess and I could go on and on...

I'm hoping to get into school nursing/summer camp nursing because I miss kids and the school environment, even though that means a low salary and crazy parents again. Hopefully the politicians won't decide to pay nurses based on meeting health benchmarks, like they did to teachers. Many school nurse job postings want 3 years experience, so I'm currently putting in my time at the bedside. :crying2:

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Worked as a waitress and bartender. Fine if your young and beautiful, but as I approached 40, I needed a more stable career. Became an LPN at age 38 and an RN at 43. I love it. I wish I had done it sooner.

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First job was at Chuck e cheese in high school..yes I was chuck. Lol which sucked because I'm 5 foot one and the suit is built for a 6'5 male . I decided I need to go to college then ha. Completed a CNA program senior year of hs.

I then worked as wedding photographer,jc penny family photographer, ULTA,cocktail waitress at a club,other waitressing jobs..and of course a CNA for about 5yrs.Got married to the Army (oops I mean my husband[emoji8]) at 20 then graduated nursing school at 24. Looking to continue on once we find out where we're going.

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I worked at the local college library for 4.9 years. Never got my 5 year pin because I left the college a couple of weeks before my "official" 5 year mark. No big deal, really, just seemed rather petty. Anyway, completed the one-year LPN program nearby, worked in that hospital for a couple of months before a hospital-wide layoff took place, so I was out the door. Went to a closer hospital where I worked on Peds for close to a year and then to the Peds office where I worked for 14 years. Another 10 years at a general surgeon's office/general practice made those years fly by. Lastly, I worked briefly in both Behavioral Health and Wound Care. By then, I noticed extreme burn-out, so I'm basically retired. My state license is still in effect, but I'm not sure I'll renew it next time around....time will tell! :)

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I knew I wanted to be an accountant in high school so I rode that idea all the way through undergrad, even though by my junior year I knew I should have picked nursing. So 17 years, a husband, and three kids later I am into my 4th and final semester of nursing school. I will graduate in December at the age of 42.

I graduated with an AA, BA in Journalism and MA in PR/Advertising. I honestly never had a life-long dream to be a nurse. I feel like nursing has become an interest of mine over the years as I sit in a cube in a corporate environment. It has gotten tiresome to be confined and sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day. The work is not rewarding and it's just overall kind of boring. I feel like I want something that involves working with the public and being on my feet, constantly witnessing new situations and learning from each unique situation. Now the hard pill to swallow is that I need to spend the next 2 years taking 1 class at a time to finish my pre-reqs and then take off 2 years of work to finish a BSN, all w/ having two little kiddos and a hubby, house and adult responsibilities. :(

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I was editor of a weekly newspaper and my husband and I owned a theater.

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Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
First job was at Chuck e cheese in high school..yes I was chuck. Lol which sucked because I'm 5 foot one and the suit is built for a 6'5 male . I decided I need to go to college then ha. Completed a CNA program senior year of hs.

I then worked as wedding photographer,jc penny family photographer, ULTA,cocktail waitress at a club,other waitressing jobs..and of course a CNA for about 5yrs.Got married to the Army (oops I mean my husband[emoji8]) at 20 then graduated nursing school at 24. Looking to continue on once we find out where we're going.

THIS is exactly what is so awsome about nursing relitive to the other health professions. This diversity of backgrounds is our strength. It is this diversity that allows nurses to relate to our patients so easily and quickly develop theraputic relationships. we should not throw it away in the name of degree inflation.

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I did field wildlife biology and computer vegetation analysis. Some cartography too.

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