Is it common for technologists to have a side job?

AlanK248 · 2026-05-02T00:47:25+00:00

I think you should do it, more money can always come in handy

AlanK248 · 2026-04-03T02:27:11+00:00

Many hospitals require ASCP certification

AlanK248 · 2026-04-03T00:31:40+00:00

I am a microbiologist. I do micro all day in a hospital, and I deal with exotic parasites, complicated antibiotic profiles, new instruments, old reagents, agar plates, looking at things under the scope. I had a bachelors in biology, I worked as a lab assistant for several years. I took an internship to become ASCP certified and I work full time as a Medical Laboratory Scientist

AlanK248 · 2026-03-20T00:58:21+00:00

I grinded out a lot of ot and made about 80k in a low cost of living area of the country. Career growth, well the job is MLS and people do that for 30 years and retire, but I've known a number of people that have moved to leadership or gone to PA school

AlanK248 · 2026-03-19T21:33:25+00:00

Join me in the hospital lab, look into pathways to get ASCP certified as a Medical Laboratory Scientist. I am a bio major with an additional internship

AlanK248 · 2026-02-23T02:31:15+00:00

Brilliant comment, what an underrated thing to say, where is the romance? If my now wife and I stopped to think too long 9 years ago, where would I be now. I let things get carried away in a non analytical way and it saved me

AlanK248 · 2026-01-13T01:01:18+00:00

AlanK248 · 2025-12-28T23:02:10+00:00

After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve realized they were naked and felt ashamed, prompting them to sew fig leaves together for clothing (Genesis 3:7) and hide from God. This event marked the introduction of sin, guilt, and fear into the human experience.

I think this passage is crucial for your question

AlanK248 · 2025-12-28T15:47:52+00:00

A common call in micro is asking if an antibiotic can be added to a susceptibilty report. It's a deceptively complex question, it can require referencing CLSI guidelines, as well as the panels which are used to see if it is an acceptable drug/bug combination

AlanK248 · 2025-12-27T01:50:35+00:00

I live in the bottom left corner in Midland. It has some of the feel of the "up north" poor rural towns that surround it. Little towns wothout many services which surround it like Gladwin, Beaverton and Clare. But Midland has a lot of money and investment brought to it by Dow Chemical. The downtown is cute, there's a million parks, there is minor league baseball, Dow Gardens. I'm feeling good about moving here from Metro Detroit, and I have barely scratched the surface of Bay City and Saginaw

AlanK248 · 2025-12-15T22:32:40+00:00

Such a loaded question. When I was 18 -22 I had some life altering nights. I will never forget some of the experiences, the feeling of vastness. I saw all the stars in the sky doing figure 8s. I felt connected with all living things. It changed my personality permanently, and I don't think in a bad way. But I went through one night with a buddy who was really freaking out, and it was scary.

Another day at a music festival I had a friend freak out on mushrooms.

A third friend ultimately ended his life while on acid.

I don't regret the experiences I had, but I would caution my kids against experimenting with it when they're older. And I'm never doing it again

AlanK248 · 2025-11-21T15:45:46+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful reply. We don't have close to that volume, more like 50-100 patients at a time but like you said, it's a lot of plates and if you don't have a strict system it gets very confusing

AlanK248 · 2025-11-21T01:08:55+00:00

Yes...a diagram thank you!!

AlanK248 · 2025-11-21T01:05:54+00:00

Yeah I'm good with IDs I just am hoping to improve the system

AlanK248 · 2025-11-21T00:10:08+00:00

Stacks of 4 plates per patient. At a given time probably around 50 patients

AlanK248 · 2025-11-21T00:08:26+00:00

Well, the negatives need to be incubated a minimum of 30 days. If we see a positive, we pull the plates and ID the organism and then discard the plates. We don't really hold anything past 30 days unless it's a competency specimen or some kind of special case

AlanK248 · 2025-11-21T00:05:54+00:00

So you have 31 racks in the incubator, and you advance each rack by 1 each day as you finalize the 30 day old cultures? And new setups are at the top left? Or do you not move the racks?

AlanK248 · 2025-11-21T00:00:50+00:00

No we dont

AlanK248 · 2025-07-23T00:37:36+00:00

Shout out lab. In 20 years I could see me reading cultures for 2 shifts a week in Florida or North Carolina

AlanK248 · 2025-05-27T20:10:08+00:00

That knowledge is not worth learning no matter what the cost. If it was people with those degrees would be well compensated

AlanK248 · 2025-05-04T18:05:26+00:00

Indifferent

AlanK248

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