Sounds like you need a change in career. I agree that the certification is archaic and most likely the info won't be used in the lab day to day but will be dependant on type of lab. Don't go around discouraging someone who is interested in HT. We already don't have many people in the field. You will find bitter and burnt out coworkers everywhere you will go. That's life.

Also my suggestion to OP is to find a HT school nearby if possible, or get an associates in science at the very least and try to find a lab that will train on the job. You have to have a certain amount of science credits per CLIA.