What did you do before nursing?

[golson]

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.

[EP, RN]

In college/before, I worked on a farm, did some CSR work, worked at a convenience store, worked for TRS (tranlation for hearing impaired, sorta, over the phone), was a lab assistant, then joined the Army. I went through "combat medic" school, then further school that in addition to training me for my Army job, resulted in an LPN license. I worked nursing floors at an Army hospital in addition to being in a combat support hospital, then started teaching in a hospital by the time I was 23 or 24. After that, I was an Artillery officer and worked mostly with guided missiles, my last job running training and operations for a fires battalion with about 650 people. After that, I was recruited into high end / large project technical sales, did that for a while, then project/service/operations management, and went to NYU for grad school in IT/Management. 12 years after touching my last patient, I reactivated my LPN (LVN in the state I live in now) license with a refresher course, and started working in nursing again this year; I'll finish my 2nd Bachelor's degree, in nursing, through Texas Tech in December of next year. I'll be 37, so I'll make it before 40. Not so confident I'll finish my MSN-FP before then - that'll probably be at 41.

Fellow Red Raider here.

i was a civil engineer, which I hated, so I went back to school and got a master's in biomechanics hoping it would get me a job with a device company. However, my wife and I moved to Michigan in 2010-not a great time to be in the Mitten State- for my wife to go to school. After being unemployed, under employed, and employed in a terrible job for a few years I went back to school. I wish I had gone this route straight out of HS.

[Jaykalkyn, BSN, RN]

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.

[deekie55]

First, in HS I was a Candy Striper and also worked PT in the deli at a grocery store. I got married not too long out of HS but still longed to be a nurse. I worked at K-Mart for several years and worked my way up to a manager and then I left that job and started going to school FT and received an AS in Biochemistry and Life Sciences, preparing myself for either medical school or nursing school and then my spouse got orders to another AF base and I found myself pregnant. That ended the school thing fro a couple of years so I just took a class here and there and then got a job in Civil Service, working my way up from a cashier in the Commissary to the title of Supervisory Computer/ Accounting Technician/Office Manager. My spouse retired from the USAF and then the AFB closed due to BRAC so I went back to school and got my BSN. I chose to work in LTC, a decision I now regret because even though I loved my residents, the culture in LTC isn't good. Not only was I doing MDS's and care plans for 20 patients with multiple severe medical issues, but I was doing med passes, IVs, trach care, wound care, phlebotomy, transcribing doctors orders, scheduling and working 60 hours a week in LTC and another 20 at home on a program called Log Me In to get care plans completed. Oh and the first 6 months I was there I was also cooking breakfast for at least an hour a day for the residents ( can you say Universal Worker?) I was also supervising and trying to work with some of the most hostile nurses in the world. Not sure why they even wanted to be nurses to begin with. I was a great supervisor in Civil Service but working with women ( and a few men) who never wanted to go the extra mile was exhausting. My body and mind are broken. I am 63 years old and not working because I simply cannot find a desk job for nursing at this point. There are days when I think "be careful what you wish for because you might just get it" All that hard work for this broken down body but at least I know I made a difference to 100's of patients. Maybe I should have just taken that transfer to another military installation and retired with a great government pension! In hindsight, I know I still would have become an RN, just in a different field of practice.

[AcuteHD]

I was a stripper...for animals.

[Dogen]

I did the usual stuff when I was in my teens: bus boy, sold cellphones in the mall. In my 20s, when I was finishing my psych degree, I started working in a hospital staffing office because it paid better. After I graduated I worked in two labs doing psychological research on various aspects of human memory, from what makes a song get stuck in your head to how political affiliation alters perception of the meaningfulness of events to an election outcome (winners see their candidate as doing, losers see things as happening to their candidate) to how people remember differently together than they do alone. Best time of my life so far.

... but it didn't pay the bills, so I was still working in the hospital, and had worked my way out of staffing to a night shift float ward clerk, then to a tele tech. I had never considered nursing (I had my sights set on a psych PhD), but my coworkers were amazing people, and I loved them, and the things they did with and for patients... so I went back to school for a nursing degree. And now I've mixed my two degrees into my psych NP degree (circa June of 2016).

[Dogen]

I was a stripper...for animals.

You do everything a stripper for humans does, but more, and you have to know how to dance for every species. It doesn't get the respect it deserves.

[target98765]

I worked as a kennel assistant in high school (loved all that animal interaction) then worked in retail. After high school I went right to community college for a year long surgical technologist program; I hated it because I was horribly bullied by the hospital staff where I did clinicals. I wanted to quit, but my parents wouldn't let me. I got a job as a surgical tech, worked that and after a few years I went to the same community college for nursing. I worked full time aND went to school evenings and weekends. Again, I hated it, but kept going. Graduated and got a floor job, hated it. And I must admit I am not happy. I would love to leave!!

[Nurse Malone]

I'm currently a nursing student, but have been an LPN for about four years. Before that I was a Case Manager reviewing health records for military members being medically retired or separated from the military. Before that I was a Medical Records Clerk and later a Medical Records Administrator. Before that I was a Medical Assistant for two years, prior to that I owned my own daycare and before that I was a Hospital Corpsman in the Navy for eight years. Prior to that I worked fast food and retail for a year after high school.

The pros/cons - people all the time, customer service, data entry, TRAVEL (at somebody else's expense), admin/paperwork. Because I enjoyed the jobs I've held I really didn't have many "cons" except for the duty days on the weekends and holidays periodically. All of them have taught me in one way or another about having patience when dealing with both pleasant and rude people. Does that make it any easier to deal with them - NO, but we do it anyway, right? I love nursing and the patient care, I don't like repetition too much, it absolutely bores me to pieces so I'm hoping to work Med/Surge or ER once I graduate. I'm 43 years old and feel like I'm behind time, but the military, life and family came first. I plan on going further in my studies and become a FNP in order to have more "one on one time" with my patients. I also want to look into Case Management, focusing on those patients who may have financial/transportation/family issues that may prevent them from following whatever discharge instructions given to them by me or their doctors.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I started out working at a movie theater, moved up the ranks there (thought I was hot stuff when I got offered $8.25/hr for an assistant manager position), and left when some horrible stuff went down. Did a part-time thing as an accounting clerk briefly - didn't work out because I hate calling people and my number one job responsibility was tracking people down to get invoices for billing. Awful stuff. So I found a job at a hotel as a night auditor.

I was in school this whole time - had like eight different majors, finally graduated with a BA in Psych and then realized I'd have to get a master's or Ph.D to really use it. I was working the same dang hotel job I was before I graduated, and I was angry about that, so I went to nursing school so I could actually make more money than I was making working at the hotel. I briefly worked at a dry cleaner while I was in nursing school when the hotel job wasn't flexible enough to accommodate my clinical hours, and then quit that the next semester when the dry cleaner wasn't flexible enough either. I was unemployed for one semester, then picked up an internship and continued working as a CNA after my junior year.

I do like being a nurse, but I also think I may be the unhappiest I have ever been in my whole life. My job is really stressful, and I'm just in a funny situation where I make a lot more money than everyone else I know and I can't do anything with it. All those days off are awesome, but I have no one to spend them with. I'm an introvert and don't make new friends easily. All of my friends and my SO are broke so unless I want to do things by myself, I don't get to do anything. People are starting to refuse to let me pay for things because of pride reasons.

So, I either spend four days a week staring at a wall alone, or I work a lot of overtime in a very high stress environment. Either way, I spend a lot of time being unhappy. When I'm at work I'm unhappy that I'm stressed, and when I'm at home I'm a little upset I'm binge watching something on Netflix instead of doing something productive. If I was less stressed out at my job, I think I may be happier, but I'm not willing to take the pay cut for a lower stress job, so... if purgatory exists, I kind of think this stage in my life is what it would feel like.

[medicalforonevoice]

I had a business career then made a decision to become a Nurse later in life. I was a single mother of (2) and chose a business degree in the 70's. At that time the money was good! In midlife my mother had early onset Alzheimer's disease and I felt the calling, knowing that Geriatrics and Dementia patients were the sparkle in my eye and the love in my heart. Understanding business helped tremendously. I understood about why policies were in place not only for the Patients but also for the business. I'm now on my 3rd career as a Nurse Advocate and also advocate for our Geriatric population. I'm a pre-baby boomer, looking at what is ahead for me and others when evaluating healthcare. Bravo to you golden for seeing the need and wanting to be a Nurse. We Need You!

[medicalforonevoice]

Calivianya, the beast at times is what makes us the saddest. When we are in the catch 22, it's hard to see the forest for the trees. There are wonderful support groups, with people who have gone thru the same. A new view can help! Keep your head above water girl, and keep swimming to the shore, and BREATH! Good people with wonderful suggestions here also, sort of a colaboration of Nurses, Students, etc., from all walks of life. You are the one who will make your own decisions, but getting a different look may open a new door. Good Luck!

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

I went to college and worked at a gas station.

I like nursing better. I guess it's not a second career though..