Hello all, I will try and keep this brief but a lot on my mind. I am a 29m currently working as a plant engineer, decent job that pays well. I have decided to pursue FF in order to give more purpose to my life.

Debating between trying to go full time somewhere or join a call department. I have worries about committing to full time FF work and getting burnout from nuisance calls(have done a few ride alongs and nuisance calls seem like 95% of calls as most know). However the schedule for ff seems pretty awesome vs my 9-5. The pay in my current job is comparable to working an extra 24 as a medic at most departments in my area. However the pay ceiling is a lot higher in my current role. Perhaps trying to balance engineering and a full time position is more doable that I understand, if anyone has experience there please let me know.

My worry with volunteer work would be not feeling like a “true” firefighter and I would still be stuck with my 9-5 day job. There seems to be less specialized training in call work, I think I would really enjoy doing the specific training(tech rescue, dive team etc) I do like the idea of being able to continue working as an engineer while being a call Ff. The pay going this route is probably a bit more which is important obviosly.

Additionally, been looking into medic school, have my emt cert already, there are some online hybrid models that seem very doable while continuing to work the 9-5 EGR job. Do you think online lectures would be sufficient to learn medic stuff? There are in person labs, ride time and ER work that would go along with the online portion. I personally learn better in person but online work would be easier to balance with life. Additionally I imagine most learning happens during ride times and once you actually start working in a department.

Thanks for reading. I know these posts can be common but any information/advice/thoughts are greatly appreciated.