Change of Career

funnysht on 02/05/2019 - 18:32
Last edited 02/05/2019 - 18:44

Hey guys
I'm a nurse and performed pretty poorly to the point i got in an argument with a patient (drug intoxicated patient etc) and got fired as well as probably going to get my nursing licence suspended etc. Im 30 and spent prob around 8 years in nursing so Ive made sort of enough (to cope anyway for the next few years)-no wife/children no mortgage.

Now I am thinking of changing my career (also as i prob will have difficulty getting a nursing job and i hate i anyway).
I've always been good at maths (3u, 4u) and physics, never did much computing but have some interest- so I was thinking of something in computing/statistics. I haven't been exposed to economics or finance but did a bit of forex and financnial planning course and enjoyed reading about them. I also like reading about the law.

I don't mind going back to uni for 4-5 years to do so. Part of me thinks i'm too old but thinking about it mathematically (i'v worked for roughly 10 years, have another potentially 40 years to work) so I might as well do something i'm fond of.

What i'm passionate about is probably astrophysics/astronomy but clearly given the lack of jobs in Aust i'm probably going to stay away from this one unless if someone can tell me a way to go through uni and get a job working for NASA etc.
The other area is perhaps programming/statistics or statistics/finance or economics or maths/finance and keep astronomy as a hobby. The other option is data analyst, law juris but I hate public speaking (can do it if must). I prefer a job that I can work from home some days or go to office but work primarily by myself- i'm okay with giving presentations etc when needed.

Guess my key questions are what ppl's thoughts are about how employable at my age (i'd be around 35 when i graduate) will be, any particular other careers that a hospital/nursing background may be of use, After 5 years I hope to find new referees etc however would future employees look back this far (5 years) to find out i was fired etc. And if anyone had any thoughts about these occupations/others. Thanks :)

edit: my main worry about programming are jobs going offshore and there are so much stuff to learn, i heard focusing on on c and pyhtton are probably the best way. Also if anyone works as these professions let me know how the industry is looking !

Education & Work

Comments

  • pao2x on 02/05/2019 - 18:48
    +3

    Interested in how you got fired for arguing with a druggie.

    Law, telehealth etc. Private ambulance?

    Good luck on finding your interest,35 years shouldn’t be much of a problem

    • funnysht on 02/05/2019 - 18:51
      +1

      thanks, yeah I went off, and the patient's family are ppl of power sadly oh well.
      I do regret though planning to change careers because i would be wasting a lot of my skills..i guess in the end it's my life and what is life for but not to learn?

      • pao2x on 02/05/2019 - 18:54
        +1

        Not really sure but without knowing much of the details that doesn’t sound like a deregistration offence

      • [Deactivated] on 02/05/2019 - 19:17
        +4

        If arguing with patients, being a smartass, or being bluntly direct with patients and/or family is a deregistration offence, I'd probably receive a death sentence.

        • funnysht on 02/05/2019 - 19:18

          haha it depends on your industry…are you in healthcare though? also dereg is different from suspension. but i anyway i think it's time to move to a diff careers

          • [Deactivated] on 02/05/2019 - 19:19
            +1

            @funnysht: Yup.

            I am a lot more mellow as I'm in private now. The unabridged version worked in public.

        • AdosHouse on 02/05/2019 - 19:23

          Those are all my regular conversation styles with idiot customers.

          Working in a pub in a low socio-economic area, even I get surprised with what I have said to a-holes in the past.

          I guess I'll stand next to you in the firing line

          • magic8ballgag on 03/05/2019 - 09:38

            @AdosHouse: There's a bit of a difference between having a go at someone that is having their health monitored and managed by you, and serving someone pots of beer after they've have a average day at work.

  • chumlee on 02/05/2019 - 18:54
    +3

    Go into pharma sales for a try. Pays well & they take a lot of people with nursing background

    • funnysht on 02/05/2019 - 18:59

      hmm they would probably reject me based on my work history ah?

      • chumlee on 02/05/2019 - 19:25
        +2

        Just put forward a couple of good referees and see what happens

  • thatonethere on 02/05/2019 - 18:57
    +1

    Get in touch with your union asap.

    • funnysht on 02/05/2019 - 18:58

      nah it's okay i was thinking about changing careers anyway . thanks

      • magikz on 02/05/2019 - 19:09
        +8

        Even if you want to change careers, you should do it for the unfair dismissal claim.

        • [Deactivated] on 02/05/2019 - 19:18
          +4

          How do you know it's unfair dismissal? Not all dismissals are unfair.

        • [Deactivated] on 02/05/2019 - 19:59
          +1

          …and not all claims are successful.

  • magikz on 02/05/2019 - 19:12
    +1

    For someone mathematically minded, I think you would do well in data science.

    I'm personally a self taught professional developer and have been doing it for about 3 years now. I do web development, and it's mostly about tooling and staying organised, not really anything mathematical. Opportunities are amazing. I get headhunted by recruiters all the time and I'm already working full time. Expect entry level jobs to be a bit crappy like say int eh $50-60k mark but year on year you ramp up your salary way faster than most of the work my friends are in.

    • funnysht on 02/05/2019 - 19:18

      i was thinking about data science. A degree in statistics/maths and computer science were my thoughts? I find a lot of people don't like statistic, but places i look i.e. whirlpool just say there's just too many grads

      edit would a stats/comp science or maths/comp science be better for data analyst?

      • fishball on 02/05/2019 - 19:35

        Data science is the new fad but really it is a rehash of the old stuff branded as a new thing (ML/AI/SQL/R/Python/stats etc). There are so many post graduate data science folk entering the work force in the next year or so and continuing after that, it is a very saturated market with very little demand.

        Also, many companies don't know what data science is and they also don't have any use for it. There are some jobs on seek however most end up being boring data analysis jobs that pay alright but you don't do any actual data science.

        Source: worked with a data science guy for a year doing non data science stuff in finance

        • funnysht on 02/05/2019 - 19:55

          i see…my thought was to do computing science and either stats or maths. that way there are many other jobs i assume than data science jobs

      • Donaldhump on 03/05/2019 - 07:30

        Look at MSCN course at USA, it’s comm supported and online. Pretty poor quality lecturers but a master degree costing 18k is good value

  • [Deactivated] on 02/05/2019 - 20:02
    +4

    Give up the NASA dream right now. :p The quality of applications they get is insane.

  • Masterpupil on 02/05/2019 - 21:54

    What about some kind of engineering? It pays well if you are willing to work in interesting/remote locations. Can be quite varied. My brother in law is an engineer and seems to really love it, but has to be away from home a lot. Make huge cash (is very experienced).

  • s10blaster on 02/05/2019 - 21:54
    +1

    30 is definitely not too old to go back to Uni for a career change. Three of my family members went back to Uni and did a second degree totally different to their original degree in their early 30's and are doing well and enjoying their new careers. Good luck with your future endeavours!

  • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 02/05/2019 - 22:34

    30 is definitely not old. I'm doing a second degree and heaps of people are in their 30s studying my uni course.

    • funnysht on 02/05/2019 - 23:44

      whats the second degree?

  • marka on 02/05/2019 - 23:02

    The federal government has recently been looking into building a space industry in Australia. I think it's very long term goal at the moment however, there appears to be a rejuvenation into the space tech.

    See https://www.industry.gov.au/strategies-for-the-future/austra…

  • Youfah Mizzum on 03/05/2019 - 09:12
    +1

    Firstly, 30 isn't old. Plenty of people around who completely change careers in their mid 30s and 40s.

    Being somewhat mathematically inclined, you could do a maths degree. My son has just completed a 3 year maths degree, got really good marks & there's heaps of jobs out there for maths dudes. Being also in the medical profession can also count towards a maths/medical career. As an example one of the jobs my son stumbled was studying the statistical probability of epidemic spreading or some kind of med/stats thingo ( didn't take too much notice when he was explaining it to me).

    Anyway, the degree is only 3 years and plenty of jobs in varying fields for maths people.

    • funnysht on 03/05/2019 - 09:45

      thanks, i guess computing science/maths (statistics) is 4 years…i thought stats will require programming etc so hence the comp science part..

  • Geoffw on 03/05/2019 - 09:52
    +1

    Possibly something more like business analysis? Your health background could be a real plus (with probably a lot of work going into developing medical and health systems), and you won't have the outsourcing problems that programming has.

    There are business analysis courses out there.

    • funnysht on 03/05/2019 - 10:13

      I thoughy you could still go into health areas with a stats degree. Whats the difference in terms of degree for business analyst and data analyst

      • Geoffw on 03/05/2019 - 15:10

        My apologies, I've been out of the area for some years. I guess I'm thinking in broad terms, it could be systems analysis, data analysis, or even finance analysis. Just something in the IT related field where you can leverage your existing knowledge in order to work with computer systems. There are probably even startups who might be glad of several hours per week in exchange for equity.

        I'm an old programmer- well, ex-programmer who loved the work but who can't work in that area any more.

        • funnysht on 03/05/2019 - 15:39

          thanks.

  • doc dogg on 03/05/2019 - 10:18
    +2

    With a nursing background you could get into the health information side of things fairly easily. I've worked with a couple of ex-nurses who did a Master of Health Information Management and now analyse State/territory hospitals data and write reports on it all. See https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports-data/health-welfare-services… for an example of some of the reports.

  • funnysht on 03/05/2019 - 13:20

    Anyone with who is doing quantitative finance analyst?

    comp science/maths and master of finance

    • funnysht on 03/05/2019 - 15:39

      to be honest i dont really know what i want to do- i know it is in the area of charts, maths and looking at problems/ analyse relationships and work in an office. I do like learning about how financial markets work, but i dont know anything about economics except for what i learnt from "forex for dummies".

  • 2048addict on 03/05/2019 - 16:05

    You can definitely leverage your career prospects with nursing! I can think of 3 excellent post-grad options which combine health with maths (stats) or physics and will take you 2-3 years to complete and you will easily find work here and overseas.

    1. Master of Biostatistics (3 years)
    2. Masters of Public Health (1.5 years)
    3. Masters of Medical Imaging (1.5 years)
    • funnysht on 03/05/2019 - 16:29

      master of biostatics does sound interesting- i guess i can home learn R and python etc needed. Or is it better to do a maths/stats degree instead?
      looking on jora.com seems like there are only a few biostatstician jobs, whilst the others are mostly asking for data analysts.

      • 2048addict on 04/05/2019 - 16:42

        Have a look at the Biostatistics Collaboration of Australia for participating universities in your local neck of the woods. You would certainly learn R which is popular because its open as well as SPSS and SAS. Each one has it's pluses and minuses, but trust me the software is not the main challenge! The course teaches you how to apply stat knowledge to model data and interpret results meaningfully and to be able to design and help others build their study design and analysis plan.

        Jobs are offered in Government health departments, Unis, Research Institutes, Clinical Research Organisations and Big Pharma ($$$). Biostatisticians are always in demand and a starting salary would be >$95k. Don't expect jobs to be advertised at the same rate as nursing for example, just keep in mind the pool of applicants is going to be very small.

        It's the kind of job where you work with smart people who greatly value your time and expertise, and also a job which you can work from home easily, or from the beach if you don't mind glare.

        There's always opportunity to consult part-time or full-time, just setup abn and make some bonus money working on interesting projects at whatever odd hours suit you.

        In NSW the government offers 4-6 traineeships each year where you get paid to study (i.e. all uni costs) and work at the same time, I think salary is $80k-$90k for 3 years, brilliant if you can get accepted.

        Having a clinical background is an absolute bonus and a mathematical aptitude is mandatory, otherwise it's the lack of maths tends to trip people up and they bail out.

        Also, changing career is quite normal and no age is too old to change careers. The main thing is that you find something you like doing and you do that until you don't feel like doing it any more then you find something else. I would try not to worry about references, there's always a solution!

        Good luck mate!

        • funnysht on 04/05/2019 - 18:09

          thanks for that long thought out post, it did really lift me up. Biostatics does sound interesting and I'll prob learn R, SPSS, and SAS. My concern would be if i do this how to get good referees , but i guess i'll see…

        • funnysht on 16/07/2019 - 09:30

          PM'ed you thanks

  • figjamone on 03/05/2019 - 21:43

    Like computing try this.
    https://digitalmarketingmentors.com/Nathancunningham/?pg=ond….
    Yes I know what your thinking I can here you screen from here but try it won’t kill you.

  • Geekomatic on 04/05/2019 - 02:05

    CS and/or Computer Systems Engineering (better).

    Super-keen?

    Whatever courses lead you to Data Scientist

  • Cynicaloflife on 18/05/2019 - 23:02

    I have some experience with this. If you interested in having a chat please message me. But in essence your health degree/exp will be redundant. If you do disclose your health degree, you will definitely be at a disadvantage. Age is also a disadvantage unfortunately.

    I would go with Software Engineering/Maths. This would take 4-5 years but give you the broadest spectrum of jobs from finance to Software Development/Data Science roles. Just to give an example, I finished a CS course and interviewed for pure dev roles and prestigious finance companies this year both being polar opposites.

    +ve majority of the large organisations offer flexible working arrangements.

  • justwaitingforamate on 15/07/2019 - 16:25

    Id leverage your current skills and go for a master's in epidemiology. I saw some well payed federal scholarships for them a couple of weeks ago so they must be in demand.

    https://www.anu.edu.au/study/scholarships/find-a-scholarship…

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