Unsure about career

I always thought I wanted to work with animation and whatnot for movies/games, but just before leaving high school I lost interest and never thought hard about what I wanted to do other than that. After dishwashing for a couple restaurants and working as a laborer for about a year before being laid off I finally want to figure out where to go from here.

I'm currently on EI and can get some training paid for. Also, since my dad is native I have status and apparently they can pay for certain schools, or at least pay for some of it. Basically I've been looking into jobs where what I do is worthwhile, are in relative high demand, and pay decently. Not exactly narrowing it down too much, but I'm looking into becoming something in the medical field; such as a registered nurse or pharmacist.

RN is what I'm most interested in as of now, but I've been hearing a lot of horror stories. I'm a male, for one, which doesn't really matter I guess, though "nurse" sounds exclusively feminine I must admit. :P

Can anyone give general advice for choosing a career and possibly some advice about being and/or becoming a registered nurse?

You can go to career counseling centers (colleges usually have an office for that stuff) and take a long test (~hour as I recall) and the scoring will give you a breakdown of stuff you'd be good at and stuff you may enjoy based on your answers.

if you really don't want us to know who you are, you shouldn't leave so many autobiographical hints in your "anonymous" post, eh?

male nurses are typically gay and hot, but i'm sure there's a big enough tent for any male who wants to emasculate himself to take up the noble profession. (i'm kidding, i'm kidding... that's not flaming but rather light-hearted banter i assure you.)

anyway, i've known my share of nurses, and this is the one thing you'll hear from many of them: you should have a love for nursing if you're going to survive in it. don't get me wrong, the pay is not bad. however, it's probably not enough considering what you have to deal with and there is relatively little recognition for the efforts you put in.

Okay, for one, you don't want to be a nurse, you want to be a Physician's Assistant. I mean, unless you enjoy cleaning up old people who shit themselves all day.

itt sycld discovers he wants to be a nurse.

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Originally Posted by Atmosfear

Okay, for one, you don't want to be a nurse, you want to be a Physician's Assistant. I mean, unless you enjoy cleaning up old people who shit themselves all day.

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another way to state what i said.

on the other hand, the minimum you need to be an RN is a ginormous two year's worth of education to get an associate's degree, whereas you need a master's equivalent to be a physician's assistant. now if you don't think you can tolerate 6 whole unthinkable years of education beca*FLAMING OMITTED*

just something else to consider.

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Originally Posted by simonj

itt sycld discovers he wants to be a nurse.

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nah.

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/8...clinic2007.jpg

...maybe...

OP here.

I enjoy that picture in a totally heterosexual way. True story. But really, I'm not sure what I want to do. Nurse seemed like the best buck for the time needed to become one, but truth be told I don't really like people too much as a whole. Old people especially, so maybe that's not the best career choice, heh.

I actually had just come back from one of those career things before I posted and apparently all signs point to something in the skilled sciences. Something in the medical field would still be interesting though, but just exactly what is the issue. Heh, this coming from a former dishwasher/laborer. I have no illusions of becoming a brain surgeon, don't get me wrong, but some sort of technician or something would be something to consider I guess.

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Originally Posted by Anonymous

OP here.

I enjoy that picture in a totally heterosexual way. True story. But really, I'm not sure what I want to do. Nurse seemed like the best buck for the time needed to become one, but truth be told I don't really like people too much as a whole. Old people especially, so maybe that's not the best career choice, heh.

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first of all, the OP was NOT who i thought he was.

at any rate, income per time spent to get a degree should not be the primary factor in your decision. even if you spend 6 years to get the requisite education for your career, you're going to work at a minimum 5 times as long in your career and most likely longer than that. 2 to 6 years of your life is nothing compared to 30 to 40 years.

the primary factors in your decision should be what pays well and what you can tolerate doing. length of education should only be a factor if you're REALLY strapped for cash and can't afford anything more than, say, an associate's degree, even with all the grants, funds, and loans available to you.

You could always join the military. Travel the world, kill foreign people.

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Originally Posted by Mad Pino Rage

You could always join the military. Travel the world, kill foreign people.

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um, excuse me... that is a COMPLETE slander of the military.

...he means kill foreign people that aren't white.

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Originally Posted by sycld

um, excuse me... that is a COMPLETE slander of the military.

...he means kill foreign people that aren't white.

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itt sycld forgets all about 'friendly fire'.

Believe me, you've killed lots of white people.

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Originally Posted by simonj

itt sycld forgets all about 'friendly fire'.

Believe me, you've killed lots of white people.

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though i know what you're saying,

if I've killed lots of white people,

it wasn't friendly fire.


actually, forget about race here. i'm an equal-opportunity misanthrope.

I just want to say that there is no such thing as race. It's ethnicity.