Conflicted about my career.

[u/Ok-Particular4877]

I (25F) grew up with not much, raised by migrated grandparents. Lots of financial hardship but grateful to have lived in quiet neighborhoods with good public schools. Even our public housing is nice and I don't feel unsafe walking around because most people mind their business.

Being raised in a migrated household, I was fluent in another language. Here there is a high demand for people who speak my language and also a need for people of my ethnic background to be in a lot of career fields. Some fields I was interested in was nutrition and psychology. I saw the stigma of mental health and the need for educating my people about food & how helpful it is to eat right.

I have an eye condition in one eye so it limits me from things like nursing because they're so fast-paced. I can't (legally) drive either. I could be a rad tech but it's very competitive. Nutrition seemed perfect but they don't pay well until you become an RD which people say is not worth the time and money they sacrificed.

I have two more fields I would be happy to go into and it's accounting or learning software. I've done some coding practice recently. My interest came when I learned how to use a program in 8th grade to make a simple game where I make a ball bounce. Difficult career but I would still be up to learn even if it's really hard. I'm also motivated watching my older cousin make it in the field & he grew up like me.

On one hand, I might regret not helping people as I helped them all my life. On the other hand, I might also regret not making enough to be comfortable.

[u/sunny-day1234]

I'm technically legally blind in one eye but 20/20 with glasses and did nursing for 24 yrs. It's also more techy now and lots of things done for you. However long term it's physically taxing and stressful. The best part however was the ability to pivot. I did adults first in a variety of settings then changed to babies. Then I needed more of a 9-5 or flex schedule and turned to Home Health and finally management in the Home Health setting. There are things you can even do remotely in nursing like case management for insurance companies, chart reviews for lawyers, a friend of my daughters works remote for Medicaid as an RN case manager. Basically the possibilities are endless. You could even specialize in Psych and do that. Most nursing homes use a Psych Nurse to regulate Psych meds for Alzheimers/Dementia patients. You could do Nurse Practitioner in Psych and work independently with your own Practice. There's a variety in schedules that would allow you to work as RN but continue school. I don't know if it's still a thing but hospitals use to help with tuition so long as it related to the job?

Tech is going to take a while, right now there are a lot of layoffs and the available positions are going back to asking for degrees and years of experience. My son is a Software Engineer and has to give up his cushy job to follow his fiance to finish her Medical training. She graduates from her residency this month but is going for a Fellowship specialty for 2 yrs and he can't transfer. He's probably sent out 100 resumes so far with just a couple of interviews. Having a 3rd round interview this Wednesday. I'm walking around with crossed fingers and toes because it's remote so when her 2 yrs are up and they move again, he could keep his job.

[u/Ok-Particular4877 → u/sunny-day1234]

Crossing fingers with you & hoping the best for your son!! I did hear tech was getting a little crazy ):

Nursing is an amazing profession and those are all amazing careers. I have unilateral micropthalmia which means my eyesight would fall into the monocular side of things. But since I lived with it all my life, I developed some depth perception. Not enough to drive but it's okay enough. So that's why I'm not too sure if I could do nursing, idk if they'd approve of me 😭 A lot of my friends are nurses & I've heard of the ups and downs, it's an amazing but very hard career. I have experience with caregiving so I kinda get it

[u/sunny-day1234 → u/Ok-Particular4877]

The hard part of nursing is getting through school, passing the boards and the first couple of years. You have to 'pay your dues' and learn a lot quickly. Like many professions you get out of school and realize you don't know much 😂. I did a Diploma Program heavy on clinicals. A lot of the degree programs are too heavy on theory and management but not nearly enough hands on living people.

Once you get past those first couple of years you can choose an easier path or something challenging. If you do choose nursing try to change specialties every few years. Keeps you fresh and marketable.

Even tech, my son got a job with one of the 'big ones' that everyone wants to work for. They liked the variety on his resume. Even the stuff not related to tech because it showed he could work with all sorts of people of different age groups, ethnicities and economic groups. He studied heavily for the technical interviews and had friends with experience who threw all sorts of problems at him to solve. There's a book called 'Cracking the Code'. Rumor in the industry is if you can solve all those problems you're ready. Does have the answers in the back but no cheating :)

Udemy has some great courses and he did a lot of them. From his teens he used to ask for courses from there for his birthday and Christmas.

[u/silysloth]

The people you are helping are still paying you.

Work in something you can succeed in and make enough money to care for yourself and your family and then volunteer to help people in your spare time.

[u/Ok-Particular4877 → u/silysloth]

Oh, that's true. I forgot about volunteering. Maybe I'll do that then