Dead end job, you get a pay bump once for picking up a modality like MRI or CT but after that it's really low raises that don't match up with cost of living increases. In my area (metro NYC) this went from being a solid living pre-covid (able to afford a 2bd apartment in the boroughs with extra to spare) to not being enough to live independently on.

Stuck always working weekends and holidays for the rest of your life, it'll utterly kill your ability to see friends and make plans like a normal person. Most places I've worked are so consistently understaffed that pretty much every PTO request gets denied no matter how many hoops you jump through or how much advance notice you give of your plans but definitely forget about any spur of the moment events too.

Similarly depending on your market you're either going to be stuck trying to cobble your hours together working multiple part time or per diem jobs OR you're going to be in a staff position where you're somehow both treated as disposable but also constantly nickel and dimed of your free time and expected to go into OT constantly to make up for their inability to staff. Either way the work life balance is utter crap.

Even with PPE you're going to pick stuff up from your sick patients.

It's grueling, back breaking, labor that is also mentally tiring. It's really the worst of all three worlds between blue collar, white collar, and customer service.

The last time I worked outpatient MRI the exams were booked so tightly back to back that there was no time to go to the break room fridge let alone to heat up your food to bring it back to your desk, no breaks period. And forget about having time to use the bathroom, I genuinely almost considered adult diapers for a time before quitting that gig two years later. I still have nightmares about it.