Any Pharmacy technicians?

[Rktennis1]

I've been a tennis pro my whole adult life, and Im done with it. I currently have a decent job in the tennis industry, but its rare and not where I want to live anymore. I was thinking about becoming certified as a pharmacy tech. It probably wont be a forever career, but I have my undergrad in chemistry, so I figured it would be an easy transition, and these jobs are located everywhere. Gives me time to find something else or grad school. I know these jobs over $50k are rare, and Im ok with that.

Anyone ever done it, have any perspective? Thanks.

[slowfox]

I knew a bunch of folks from college who went the pharmacy route. It was considered a *safe* major. As far as I know they all have decent jobs now.

[krz]

Originally Posted by Rktennis1

I've been a tennis pro my whole adult life, and Im done with it. I currently have a decent job in the tennis industry, but its rare and not where I want to live anymore. I was thinking about becoming certified as a pharmacy tech. It probably wont be a forever career, but I have my undergrad in chemistry, so I figured it would be an easy transition, and these jobs are located everywhere. Gives me time to find something else or grad school. I know these jobs over $50k are rare, and Im ok with that.

Anyone ever done it, have any perspective? Thanks.

Chem is the perfect undergrad track for application to PharmD program. As far as I know a tech gets like 10-12/hr.

Your typical PharmD is pulling in 70K-90K first year out. Well worth the 4 year investment.

[LuckyR]

As a chemist myself, I can say you are overqualified for Pharm tech. Aim higher.

[diredesire]

Originally Posted by LuckyR

As a chemist myself, I can say you are overqualified for Pharm tech. Aim higher.

Agree. It's more of a stopgap job on the path to being a Pharmacist, IMO. My GF is currently in that track, from what it sounds like, most techs are doing cashier work in the $12-15/hr time frame -- part time.

[goober]

Originally Posted by LuckyR

As a chemist myself, I can say you are overqualified for Pharm tech. Aim higher.

There are a lot of overqualified people working as pharmacy techs. My wife works with a lot of them. Many have bachelors degrees, some even have medical degrees from foreign countries but are having trouble with medical licensing. There is a lot of tension between pharm techs and pharmacists.

[iradical18]

I agree, I don't know what your goals are for working in the medical field but with an undergrad in Chem you definitely need to aim higher. You can do an LPN program as well and make some more money if you have any interest in Nursing. I believe civilian LPN courses and Pharm tech courses are about the same in length. I'm in an Army program right now and it's a year long.