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So what's "security" today? You need to keep on top of trends in your chosen field for your whole career, and not rest on your laurels. You need to be a constant life-long learner. You need to always have an up to date resume, and know what's out there in the way of employment in your field. And you need to be flexible: if your "specialties" are going out of favor, you need to reinvent yourself. Saying "this is what I've done in the past and I'm really good at it" isn't enough today. This is not only true in my first career, software engineering, but is also true in my second career, clinical counseling where things like virtual therapy, avatar therapy, life coaching, and telecounseling are growing in popularity and starting to appear on some counseling job listings.
Right. It's a careerlong struggle to stay relevant.
Even for doctors. Yes, they can get jobs everywhere, but their jobs are difficult.
A friend of mine is a Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA). Less school than an MD or DO, and she's making damn near $200K a year.
Yes...but that profession also require a tremendous amount of dedication. And you have to go the steps to get there. It's nothing you become just like that. OP is not looking for that much school/debt. Unless the OP is looking for a 200k income, a high paying job is all relative. But a Masters or Phd is not necessary to make good money.
x-ray tech. In some areas they are begging for them....
It's tough to get into x-ray programs though. I looked into it, but the wait lists were pretty brutal. Best shot locally was Kaiser which is expensive, about $28,000/year. You need a 3.5 GPA to even apply in the pre-reqs (basically anatomy/physiology), something like 40 hours shadowing which you'll need to spend six months to a year volunteering at a hospital to get, then acceptance rate is 15-20%. Having a 4.0, good letters of recommendations, more volunteer hours is basically who gets in. The junior colleges are all on lottery systems. Generally wait a year or two to get on the lottery lists and then 5-10% chance of getting in. They're not merit-based like Kaisers program. Might be better elsewhere where there's not so much demand. Graduate, spend a year or two working per diem night shifts and then come out to California. The limitation is really clinical rotations so if you get licensed without a lot of clinical hours and have no experience you're not going to get a job out here.
I'd probably go PT/OT, but then PT/OT you really need a master's degree nowadays.
My best advice to you is to figure out how much you value $ in the early running.
Personally, $ doesn't mean that much to me. Making 45K for the rest of my life? I'd figure out a way to make it work out. I don't travel that much. Enjoying my work and doing something for this world means more to me.
As you can tell, 80% of the advice here is geared towards making as high of a salary as possible.
Personally my biggest life regret is not doing something that has more enjoyment or meaning. It's really not even close.
For me, a higher salary would not solve that problem.
But other people can compartmentalize it.
You need figure out which type of person you are ASAP and then pick a direction.
I was talking to my manager back in my research computer scientist days 30+ years ago about where we were in our lives. I had an MS in computer science, and she had a PhD. She drove a BMW, lived in a great house, and on weekends she and her husband would drive to their vacation home on the coast and spend their time sailing.
She reflected that she and her husband were no happier than when they were graduate students driving a beater car, living in student housing, and going camping on the Blue Ridge. Life isn't about money, and when you're reflecting on your life on your deathbed you're not going to be saying to yourself, I sure wish I'd made more money.
"… What about the main thing in life, all its riddles? If you want, I'll spell it out for you right now. Do not pursue what is illusionary - property and position: all that is gained at the expense of your nerves decade after decade, and is confiscated in one fell night. Live with a steady superiority over life - don't be afraid of misfortune, and do not yearn for happiness; it is, after all, all the same: the bitter doesn't last forever, and the sweet never fills the cup to overflowing. It is enough if you don't freeze in the cold and if thirst and hunger don't claw at your insides. If your back isn't broken, if your feet can walk, if both arms can bend, if both eyes can see, if both ears hear, then whom should you envy? And why? Our envy of others devours us most of all. Rub your eyes and purify your heart - and prize above all else in the world those who love you and who wish you well. Do not hurt them or scold them, and never part from any of them in anger; after all, you simply do not know: it may be your last act before your arrest, and that will be how you are imprinted on their memory..."
It's tough to get into x-ray programs though. I looked into it, but the wait lists were pretty brutal. Best shot locally was Kaiser which is expensive, about $28,000/year. You need a 3.5 GPA to even apply in the pre-reqs (basically anatomy/physiology), something like 40 hours shadowing which you'll need to spend six months to a year volunteering at a hospital to get, then acceptance rate is 15-20%. Having a 4.0, good letters of recommendations, more volunteer hours is basically who gets in. The junior colleges are all on lottery systems. Generally wait a year or two to get on the lottery lists and then 5-10% chance of getting in. They're not merit-based like Kaisers program. Might be better elsewhere where there's not so much demand. Graduate, spend a year or two working per diem night shifts and then come out to California. The limitation is really clinical rotations so if you get licensed without a lot of clinical hours and have no experience you're not going to get a job out here.
I'd probably go PT/OT, but then PT/OT you really need a master's degree nowadays.
I paid 9k going through a 2 year community college. 3.6 gpa..in Chicago there are several schools that offers it.
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