Am I to old?

[traumaman5150]

I will put a question out to all of you and please be harsh in your input. I am or will be 36 next Friday and I am currently going through E.M.T. B Certification. Am I to old for this profession I have fell in love with? Am I waisting my time? Thanks Lou!

[Dustdevil]

Am I to old for this profession I have fell in love with?

Nope. Life experience and maturity are definite assets in this business. Although, I would certainly never suggest that being 35 means you are necessarily mature. I'm just giving you the benefit of the doubt.

Unless you are physically worn out from age or a life full of personal trauma, then no, your age is not a bad thing at all.

Am I waisting my time?

Probably. You're going to spend less than ten years in the field. You are barely going to make a living in that time. You're going to burn out both on the horrible conditions and the horrible pay. Then you are going to get out at age 45 with nothing in the bank and no marketable education. Then what?

So no, you're not too old. But yeah, you're wasting your time. It's retarded.

[Ghost-Tech]

36 is not old to start a career. Especially if you actually like " the job ". How many people actually enjoy doing what they do. I say go for it.

[hammerpcp]

Nope. Life experience and maturity are definite assets in this business. Although, I would certainly never suggest that being 35 means you are necessarily mature. I'm just giving you the benefit of the doubt.

Unless you are physically worn out from age or a life full of personal trauma, then no, your age is not a bad thing at all.

Probably. You're going to spend less than ten years in the field. You are barely going to make a living in that time. You're going to burn out both on the horrible conditions and the horrible pay. Then you are going to get out at age 45 with nothing in the bank and no marketable education. Then what?

So no, you're not too old. But yeah, you're wasting your time. It's retarded.

You forgot to mention the enjoyment factor though Dust. You have to decide how much enjoying your job, over being properly compensated, is worth to you. If you are willing to get more training, more options and more income will become available to you.

[Michael]

please be harsh in your input.

Harsh input: Whether you're wasting your time means relative to your other options; namely what else you would be doing with that time? Training to do something you loathe?

Falling in love with any type of work is so rare that it would be foolish to deny it; you'd have a hard time afterward not wondering "What if I'd done that?" Most of our regrets are over what we haven't done in life rather than what we have done.

Also, one thing leads unexpectedly to another: By following what attracts you, you discover aspects or related fields (or meet life-changing people) you'd otherwise never have come across, leading to where your true® vocation lies. Something, presumably wholesome, lies in your attraction to emergency medicine. If your interest doesn't remain in pure EMT work, it might be because you've found you're best at responding to the emotional side of patients, an area full of specialties you can then take up. Or you might find you're good with children or old people -- or equipment or personnel or posting on message-boards or race-driving...

>Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, the providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets:

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!<

(W. H. Murray, The Scottish Himalaya Expedition, 1951)

Before you accept someone's telling you that you'd be wasting your time (about anything), ask what would not be wasting your time, and see where that answer seems to be coming from, namely is it spoken out of deep knowledge of your particular aptitudes? If the alternative suggested appeals and you'd overlooked it, you've got your answer. If not, I'd say hesitating is the only waste of your time. And emergency medicine is a good field to unlearn that.

[JakeEMTP]

You're not to old I hope. I'm 45 and in the beginning of my medic program. Just remember, no one gets rich doing this. It has to be for the love of it.

[AnatomyChick]

You're just fine..now Jake on the other hand... *shakes head*... Jake is too old! :twisted:

[medik8]

HELL NO!...You're not too old. It's a job, everyone has to have one pretty much, you're most likely (the majority of us) not going to make much money.... BUT... if you've found this profession AND fallen in love with it...then you're very, very, rich in many other ways. EMS is one of the great loves of my life...and unlike some of the others from the past (gulp..we won't go there)....it's one that has NEVER let me down. The benefits and rewards that have been given back to me, in my heart and mind, are incredible. I will cherish them forever.....and welcome them every day I work.

If its what makes you happy, then there is nothing more to question...

:wink: That's just how I see it....

8

[donedeal]

training for the EMTb program i am currently in is 136 hours followed by a written and practical exam. the total length of time is 12 weeks. so...if you get out there and find you dont like it, big deal...you lost 136 hours of your life. its better to lose those 136 hours to find out if you are satisfied with your new career path or not, rather than worry the rest of your life, (god knows how many hours), what if? actually....i reword that phrase, "lose those hours", regardless of whether you decide to stick with the field, you are learning VERY valuable skills that may come in handy at some point in your regular life. i say stick it out.

[Dustdevil]

training for the EMTb program i am currently in is 136 hours followed by a written and practical exam. the total length of time is 12 weeks. so...if you get out there and find you dont like it, big deal...you lost 136 hours of your life.

Sure, if you learn from taking the exam you don't like it. But it doesn't happen that way. And finding out you don't like it is the best thing that could happen to you. The worst thing is to find out that you DO like it, do it til you're fifty years old, and then realize you have nothing to show for that time except a bad back, high blood pressure, a fat ass, and massive debt. You won't be able to afford a vacation, a new car, or college for your kids. And you have nothing but a certificate for 136 hours of night school to show for it all. Now what job are you going to get?

I know you're gonna do what you wanna do. The lure of the siren is quite seductive. But she is a fickle bitch that will spit you out in a few years wishing you had never met her. It won't be a fond memory you are glad you have. It will be five or ten years you really wish you hadn't wasted. And I take great pleasure in saying, "I told you so!" :wink: