If not Med School

[sureshs]

This is one of the many benefits of working in healthcare. My wife had ~ 7 years experience working in OB/GYN, decided she wanted off the floors and to go part-time after having our kids. She now works Thursday and Friday (no holidays or weekends) as an advice nurse in an outpatient OB/GYN office, teaches two classes per week, maybe gives an injection or two but mostly time on the phone. She makes $65/hr and is eligible for free healthcare for the entire family, though we're covered under my similar plan. If you live within 2-3 hours of the Bay Area and benefit from their pay scale and the strong healthcare unions, you can do very well. RTs and physical, occupational and speech therapist are always in demand. I know a ton of med/surg and other hospital RNs that make even more (well >$70/hr) and choose to work part-time because they have:
1. union protection
2. free or greatly reduced healthcare

Sounds great. All this harping about "innovation" in other fields is great - till someone finds a more innovative replacement for you.

 

[Anaconda]

Yes IT and software require constant updating of skills and frankly, more intelligence (of the street-smarts kind). Many a dumb guy can make a career in science by carrying out routine experiments once he has crossed the barrier to entry (cramming for the Organic Chemistry final).

I subscribe to the notion that anyone can do anything in academics if they are motivated and hard working enough. I went to the worst school in my city, was very bad at ICT, and now I know a decent amount, got an IT job and have good prospects. I think it's about confidence and not being afraid of something that sounds complex.

 

[sureshs]

^^^ In IT (but not necessarily programming), a high IQ is a must. There is an expectation to be able to do things that others cannot, and in a short time span. All the IT people I have worked with have been much quicker than their peers in other disciplines and have a certain attitude which announces confidence. That sometimes puts people off, but it is a must.

 

[T1000]

didn't read the whole thread only op cuz i'm in a hurry

if you wanna go to med school some schools offer masters programs where you take med school classes. my sister didn't get accepted right away so she did this (drexel) and got offered a spot at drexel med and albany med when she finished. so maybe find something like that

 

[Anaconda]

^^^ In IT (but not necessarily programming), a high IQ is a must. There is an expectation to be able to do things that others cannot, and in a short time span. All the IT people I have worked with have been much quicker than their peers in other disciplines and have a certain attitude which announces confidence. That sometimes puts people off, but it is a must.

Having a high IQ and being able to learn are two completely different things. I wasn't born with IT knowledge from the womb. I picked up a book. I read it. I learned from it. Anyone can learn anything IMO. I'm not smart, I've done some absolute stupid things to my body, my bank account etc I was not an elite academic due to not going to a good school, not paying attention in class, yet I'd say I'm doing pretty well,and am still young.




IT however, especially in security, requires very good maths and physics skills, especially if you're going to study quantum cryptorgaphy, FDM, ODTM, STDM, Pbox/sbox, sonet, fibre technologies, - which I will admit quantum cryptography was truly difficult. However these are things only an experienced person in IT would learn about to progress his/her career.





I've never understood why people think you need to be smart to be good at IT. IT is really respected for some reason. It's no different to maths or Physics, actually Physics might be the hardest down to being the most boring (for me anyway) For the OP, if you're interested in IT, by a windows server book, learn about the open directory, admin tools, get a book from Tanenbaum, for networking, and get a few programming books, and then go from there. Maybe do a degree, get some work experience, then go into a specific field. I'd suggest security due to my bias and will be a big hit in the future.

 

[Sir Percival Blakeney]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4seubKdRs4

 

[sureshs]

I've never understood why people think you need to be smart to be good at IT. IT is really respected for some reason. It's no different to maths or Physics,

Oh it is very different. It requires an ability to think quickly and respond. You need to be a "power user." If you type ls like everybody else, it ain't going to work. You need to be using the most productive scripts or quickly write your own. When my IT guys come along for some performance tuning, I can barely understand what commands he issues, because they are all power commands.