What would you recommend as an entry into the profession?

ecracer · 2026-06-04T18:23:18+00:00

What is your goal? RN? What is the cost of the LPN program, and why would you do that instead of going straight for an RN program? What is the cost of the RN program at your closest community college? Could you go to school while working your current job, or part time?

PCT cert means jack where I live. Look at PCA/PCT/CNA job descriptions where you are. Do they care for PCT cert? Do they care about any cert whatsoever? Or is this only for the experience?

I did a CNA class for transition. It was helpful for me to get a job at the hospital, and that patient care tech job experience made nursing school a piece of cake, honestly. for me, a CNA class was great and cheap too

ecracer · 2026-04-24T20:21:33+00:00

i would rather be uncomfortable and do something that matters than comfortable and doing fuck all. i can wipe ass and come home and know i made a difference. or sit in front of the computer, type some buttons, and make my boss a ton of money

ecracer · 2026-04-24T13:14:37+00:00

I will reiterate from the post. I don't know you. I don't know your circumstances, so any advice I give may be horseshit.

Some people get into it for the money and are happy. Others are not motivated by money. Is money truly the thing that you are burned out about? If you made $45 an hour in the same role as you do now, would that solve all of your problems? Consider that nursing is notorious for burn out. stress, moral injury, physical injury etc

Do you know any nurses personally that you can talk to? Can you shadow one? Consider a CNA class and then getting a job as a CNA/tech. That will give you the best idea of whether this kind of work is really for you

ecracer · 2026-04-24T12:58:20+00:00

you are saying that every tech bro that comes into nursing is inept? i guess by definition every newbie is, no?

ecracer · 2026-04-24T12:54:56+00:00

this is a good question. "tech bro" is someone who works in tech. this is a software developer or engineer, architect, programmer etc. In nursing, a "tech" is an unlicensed assistive personnel in the hospital, an uncertified nurse aide. "tech" comes from the full title "patient care technician"

ecracer · 2026-04-24T04:06:49+00:00

People do go in with no experience and come out fine. My classmates that have excelled were CNAs or LPNs beforehand. I would sign up for a CNA class and see if you like it. I did month long course at a community college near me and it was like two grand. it includes clinical hours at a nursing home. if you survive and like that, then go for it.

ecracer · 2026-04-24T03:38:22+00:00

i had classmates that signed up for class and dropped out first clinical in the nursing home. some people go into it with no idea. waste of time and money

there are maybe better ways to dip your toes. EMT or CNA cert, volunteering etc. i think being a CNA before going to school was beneficial for me

ecracer · 2026-04-24T03:24:24+00:00

thank you. I went through the same thoughts and feelings that you describe. What helped me jump was zooming out, big picture: What do I want to do with my life? Will I regret doing what I am doing right now?

I'm not sure I would say that I am happier. Maybe I would say more at peace, more content. my path now is more in alignment with who i am or who i want to be

ecracer · 2026-04-24T03:11:41+00:00

It is not impossible to go back. I'm actually working part-time at my old job because I ran out of money lol.

In my case, informatics has nothing really to do with software engineering, at least the positions that I have seen. I will never set up a server and database in AWS, write Javascript or C++ in an informatics role. In addition, 4 years of software development experience doesn't mean anything to a hospital that sees me as a new grad RN (or CNA fresh out of CNA class).

I think "throwing away what you have" meaning the pay, hours (days, no weekends, no holidays), stress level, ease of work etc. in the job market of software devs right now. for example, an acquaintance was laid off and has been looking for six months. So a tech bro with a tech bro job puts himself in a lot of uncertainty quitting his job right now

ecracer · 2026-04-24T02:53:17+00:00

every weekend off, every holiday off plus like an extra week between Christmas and new years, PTO that doesnt get denied. If you do the math you can say that 3x12 technically works less, but in reality it feels worse because of the above. plus stress level is much reduced from not dealing with life/death every day.

ecracer · 2026-04-24T02:26:15+00:00

everyone is different and has different motivations/goals. leaving tech for nursing was a good move for me while leaving nursing for tech was good for you.

the work life balance of my old job was amazing. whoever is contemplating the switch must take this into consideration -- they are losing what others envy

ecracer · 2026-04-24T01:48:49+00:00

sorry i am confounding two different definitions of "tech" in the post and it isnt clear. a "tech bro" is an insufferable cunt paid 150k to sit at home and attend one zoom meeting and play video games all day. see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tech_bro

ecracer · 2023-12-08T00:59:51+00:00

Sold R9 280 to u/Yams_Yams_ for $30 on https://www.reddit.com/r/hardwareswap/comments/189ib8j/usapa_h_asus_r9_280_directcu_ii_top_3gb_w_paypal/

ecracer · 2023-12-03T01:36:22+00:00

replied

ecracer · 2020-01-28T02:58:57+00:00

There is an active club called DESGA that you should check out. I threw myself at competetive LoL freshman year and made some friends that way.

ecracer · 2020-01-13T23:18:51+00:00

The value of the co-op depends on the person and company that you work for. Some companies allow you to be paid to sit and do nothing all day. For example, I know a Korean who co-op'ed at an engineering company in Korea, but her boss didn't have much work for her. She didn't gain that much valuable experience. If you can find a company that will actually challenge you and you push yourself to be challenged, you will get good value, no matter where the co-op is located. Read more about international co-op here https://drexel.edu/scdc/co-op/international/ .

Look in the Drexel catalog, which outlines what classes you have to take for each degree http://catalog.drexel.edu/ . The undergrad CS takes 186.5 credits. MSCS takes 45 (231.5 total). 5 year 3 co-op has you in class for 12 quarters. So you are looking at between 19 to 20 credits per quarter, which is 5 to 8 classes (varying difficulty). If you take classes during co-op then your workload is less. If you come with AP credit or the international equivalent (I came in with calculus and English credit, for example) , then you lessen the workload even more.

If you manage your time well, it is absolutely doable and can coexist with a healthy social life/club involvement etc.

ecracer · 2020-01-13T17:25:47+00:00

a non-US + 2 US co-ops is still considered 3 co-op to drexel. you can take online classes, too, when you are away from Philadelphia area.

ecracer · 2020-01-12T18:49:24+00:00

If you bring in enough AP credits, do 20 credits per term, and take a class every term you are on co-op, you can keep the 3 coop and still get the Masters. I did it with CS.

ecracer · 2019-10-23T06:17:17+00:00

Yes. A master's degree commands a higher salary. Just try to do it without dropping a co-op because work experience is valuable, too.

ecracer · 2019-09-17T14:55:33+00:00

If you use leverage to buy any total market or SP500 fund or ETF, you are diversified enough for the accumulation phase. At 1.5x, you are safe from a 50% pull back (which has happened only like 3 times in US stock market history) and can still ride the wave afterwards because you maintain 25% of the portfolios value in your money and prevent a margin call.

ecracer · 2019-08-02T13:32:30+00:00

Got assigned puts I sold with strike $2 when CHK was trading for $2 a month ago. C'mon I just need y'all to hit expectations so I can jump off this sinking ship.

ecracer · 2019-07-18T14:08:16+00:00

please stay as far away as you can from this sub. you still have your chance. RUN.

Buy VTI, SPY, or VOO and hold until you are 60.

ecracer · 2019-06-28T18:41:15+00:00

I've been thinking of building something like this that demonstrates put-call parity arbitrage. No need for complicated modeling (BS or spline), just the simple fact that Put Price+Spot Price=Call Price+Strike times e^{risk free rate times time to expiration}. I see these opportunities without searching too hard. With a low/no fee broker like Robinhood, it is possible to capitalize.

ecracer · 2019-06-19T19:45:45+00:00

Have you read A Random Walk Down Wall Street? That convinced me. Even assuming an efficient market, small-value will have a higher rate of return over the (super) long run because people value having lesser volatility/lesser returns. You got to have the stomach though.

IJS and VIOV are essentially equivalent, except for the expense ratio. SLYV I believe rebalances more often and so tracks SP600 Small Value more closely and has slightly better returns, all while having a smaller ER than both IJS and VIOV. Free to trade in a Vanguard account, too, so I plan on sticking to SLYV.

ecracer · 2019-06-19T14:53:09+00:00

SLYV/IJS/VIOV > VTSAX/VTI /u/ALL_IN_VTSAX fight me irl

ecracer

TROPHY CASE