GTKY - Reason for Workplace

jackie_dunny

Why did you decide to do the work you are doing now?

jackie_dunny

I had a job in my degree (theatre but it was theatre sales so not quite the same) and I kept having to convince myself that I was happy there. I ended up in a really bad depression and had such bad anxiety that I couldn’t even leave the house anymore (not just because of the job but it definitely became a trigger). The people were really lovely at first but then suddenly COVID hit and they started treating my AWFULLY and it was quite obvious they were treating me this way because of my mental illness. They ended up accidentally slipping up and admitting they were treating me differently because of my mental health and I was like uhhhh that’s discrimination? So they paid me a hefty sum to leave the company and not sue (which would’ve been way too much of a hassle especially still dealing with my health). Technically I’m not allowed to even talk about why I left and if any future employers ask why, I have to say “I’m not allowed to discuss it” but I usually just say mutual resignation or something along those lines

anyway I obviously needed a job and this was during the middle of covid so jobs were hard to come by. The only jobs available pretty much were in care. It was never something I wanted to make a career out of it but was something I’ve always wanted to try and experience. So I became a carer! But the company was AWFUL! There wasn’t a single thing about the job that I liked except the patients. I left so I didn’t end up screwing up my mental health again and thought “you know, I actually like being in care but I want to make sure I work for a decent company” so I only applied for NHS jobs. When my current job (medical laboratory assistant) came up, I thought I wouldn’t be qualified enough with no prior science background but obviously I ended up getting the job and I LOVE it! 

jenniferjoy37

Currently, I’m an MRI tech. 

When I was 16, I had a series of medical issues. I would vomit for 12 hours (on the hour, every hour for 30 mins from midnight until noon) and this was unexplainable. It would usually happen once or twice a month. While we were on vacation… It didn’t matter. One morning, I was in the shower after an episode and I ended up passing out. I brought down the towel rack and woke up naked on the floor with my head against the door. No idea how long I was out for. I called my dad and he took me to the ER. 

While at the ER, I had a ton of tests done.. but my favorite was an Upper GI. The radiologist (or RPA) let me watch my live XR as I was swallowing barium. It was the coolest thing ever! I also had a contrasted CT exam (which makes you feel like you’ve peed the table) and it was horrifying! When you’re 16, you never want to be embarrassed, and man, I thought I peed on that guys table. I felt horrible. 

ETA: I found out what my issue was at 18… I’m intolerant to pork. My body will not digest pork products any longer, so it stays in my stomach and I puke it up. Once I stopped eating pork, my vomiting episodes stopped as well. But I do miss bacon. 

Fast forward to college. I have zero clue what I want to do, but I’m a psychology major because I love people. I took a Neuropsych Disorders class and they showed tons of PET scans and FMRI’s and just scans of the brain. It was then that I decided I wanted to do MRI. But I had to get there somehow. 

I graduated, then went and looked up radiology schools. The only way to get into MRI school at the time was to do on the job training after becoming an XR tech. So I went to school for an X-RAY tech. I got rejected both times I applied (but someone dropped out at the last minute and I was able to get in on my second attempt.) I did 2 years of school, found a job, did OTJ training, and here we are! 

I love helping people and calming them down for their scans. I think my background in psychology really helps. 

sonoshark88

I’m an ultrasound tech

I’ve always been interested in medical imaging. It always seemed cool to me.  I was leaning towards xray for a long time and then had a couple ultrasounds for different reasons and ended up liking it better.  At the time I didn’t realize how much you can do with ultrasound, I always thought it was just babies.  When I first started school I thought I wanted to work for a maternal fetal medicine office or something similar but once I started scanning I liked everything else better.  I work in a hospital and get to see such a good variety of things.  I love it, I love helping people and piecing together symptoms with what I see while I scan to figure out what the diagnosis is.  And I get to scan myself on a daily basis, so that’s cool too 😂

This was a career change for me, I worked as a dental assistant for 6 years prior and I liked it, but I still always thought about ultrasound so I went back to school.  My son was 6w old when I found out I had been accepted into the program 😳 it was a crazy couple years but I’m so glad I did it.  Legit changed my whole life in so many ways!

sthlm_21

I wanted to get into biomedical research as a teenager, as I was interested in the human body, but was had no interest in med school. I came abroad to get my masters. It’s been super hard to land a job as a migrant. As I wear the head scarf, nobody was willing to even interview me, though I had always been doing some sort of unpaid internship and gaining experience in fine technology. As my husband was doing his PhD, I was kinda stuck with him. I landed a job before I got pregnant with my first. Horrible manager. Threatened to expose me to radioactive material everyday. I reported him, but the administration trivialized me and did not take him into account. They instead pushed me to resign, which I eventually did for my sanity. 

I was looking for a job when covid was starting and had such low hopes, that I was planning to give up being in the research field. When I landed my current job, I was not super excited, as I thought they were having me because it was hard to find educated talent and would fire me at the end of the trial period. But the manager really wanted to help me, and gave me more space to develop and express myself and did not dismiss my opinion/discussions like the previous people I worked with. My current job is a step down for my experience. But having understanding superiors, is the first time for me and that wins over everything else. 

chartput

When I was in high school and college I knew I wanted to be a doctor and at the time and even through medical school, I thought I wanted to be an OB. I was really fascinated by the miracle of creating life (ironic that I ended up with infertility and am truly experiencing the miracle of life and science.) When I got into my last two years of medical school when you really start rotating through the different specialities, I just loved everything so much, I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. Finally a surgeon I was working with suggested family medicine if I loved doing everything, because in family medicine you get to do a little bit of everything. You can do minor surgeries if you go to the right residency and practice in a smaller town, you can deliver babies and do c sections, you can then see the mom throughout her pregnancy, then the baby as they grow up into adulthood. You can continue to see the mom beyond pregnancy, her mom and even her mom. I just love the "family" aspect of it and getting to know my patient's and know everything that is going on with them and the frequent contact you can have (it might be some of my control issues too lol.) 
I have done a lot of different things with family medicine since being done with residency, now I'm more in the elderly population/medicare and while the politics of medicine can get mundane and run you ragged, the (mostly) appreciation you get from patient's when you help them and just listen to them is worth it to me.

gingerale87

I am amazed at how many of you are in the medical field... very cool.

I went through lots of different college programs (pre-law, psychology, art, etc) before I picked a specialized Associates as a Veterinary Technician. Before I could finish anything, I finished my military contract which included 2 deployments.  That probably fed into why I never finished a degree and kept changing my path... I would come back with different interests.

Anyway, finished and started working at a day practice which allowed me to get super comfortable with my skills.  Then I was recruited to an emergency practice in Alaska and expanded on my knowledge there.  Eventually, I was looking for something new.  I had always stayed away from shelter medicine because it always seemed so depressing... especially in St. Louis.  The euthanasia rates are so high where I was from.  

So I dipped my toe in but didn't fully quit the emergency practice in case I hated it but 5 years later I still love my job.  I love that I can be an advocate for the animals even when the best choice for them is a tough choice.  Luckily, we are somewhat rare in that we have a staff veterinarian so that really allows us to do alot more medically than many of the other shelters in the state.  Just recently we did a leg amputation on a 6m husky puppy who came to us from another shelter 4hrs away.  It can be tough but the happy outcomes over shadow the tough cases. I'm sure eventually I'll get burnt out and then maybe I'll join one of you in the human field!!

Marz1pan

I studied Anthropology in undergrad and planned to use it for journalism or foreign service but I honestly had no idea, I just really liked learning about people and how our culture affects all the ways we approach the world. I ended up joining the AmeriCorps after school and was placed in FEMAcorps working with Emergency Management agencies. It turns out organized emergency preparedness and response is perfect for me. I naturally look at worst case scenarios and ease my anxiety by making a plan. 

I turned my focus to sustaining business through disaster, after seeing how important economic recovery was to the recovery of all people after a disaster and started working in Business Resiliency (the planning for how to keep business operations going even when you lose essential resources). I got my masters, worked for a large University for a couple of years and then on a whim applied for my current position.

I love the work and my company but I don't love Texas which I moved to for this job. So come the end of our COVID response and this pregnancy I will likely look to move back home. 

eggsandwich2019

I'm a college professor 

Growing up, I thought I would end up joining the foreign service (my dad was a diplomat) because I loved the overseas lifestyle. But when I graduated from college with a dual major in art history and French, my dad encouraged me to "try the art history thing." So I bummed around abroad for a couple of years teaching English, which gave me a nice break from academia and to think about my options, then decided that I should use my skills in Chinese (I grew up speaking/reading Mandarin) and go into east asian art history - also because it's a niche field so I thought it might be easier to get a job after my PhD. I did an MA in the UK and the started in a PhD program in the US. I ended up with a job offer right as I was finishing up (I got the phone call offering me the job as I was on my way to my dissertation defense) and here I am in a small liberal arts school in the midwest. It's a great school, my H was able to get a teaching position at the same place, and it's perfect for raising small children. I never thought I would end up in a small town but it's totally great in many ways. My path has been smoother than it has been for most, and I'm grateful for that.  

sliztee

@eggsandwich2019 Oh man, I bet you absolutely SLAYED that dissertation after getting that phone call! That is an awesome story, and it sounds like you had some really great experiences to lead you where you are today.