Dislike My Job

[snipza]

I don't like my job. It sucks. I'm stuck in a server room all day and don't get many calls to help people. My trainer doesn't train me much and I am losing my mind. I am paid relatively well but that is not really what I am after. I'm a young 23 y/o man and want more - NOW.

I need to be in contact with people. Which is a big reason why I want to become a Dentist - the closer doctor/patient relationship they can form with their patients is a HUGE motivator for me, personally.

I am driving myself crazy thinking about what I have to do to get in. This runs through my head on a regular basis because I am itching to get out of the industry I am in.

"apply for post-bac, get in, do well, get ECs, do well, study for DAT, do well, apply for schools, attend interviews, do well, get into dental school, do well, graduate, get a job, do well."

I am considering taking a 10 week dental assisting course or even EMT, EKG/Phleb, CNA to get into the health care industry so that I can be around people, help people, and feel good about what I do at the end of the day.

Any pre-dents putting themselves under all this pressure and stress? I don't like it and am having trouble relaxing.

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[doc toothache]

Kind of like going on vacation and expecting problems to disappear upon returning.

 

[yeslek88]

I don't like my job. It sucks. I'm stuck in a server room all day and don't get many calls to help people. My trainer doesn't train me much and I am losing my mind. I am paid relatively well but that is not really what I am after. I'm a young 23 y/o man and want more - NOW.

I need to be in contact with people. Which is a big reason why I want to become a Dentist - the closer doctor/patient relationship they can form with their patients is a HUGE motivator for me, personally.

I am driving myself crazy thinking about what I have to do to get in. This runs through my head on a regular basis because I am itching to get out of the industry I am in.

"apply for post-bac, get in, do well, get ECs, do well, study for DAT, do well, apply for schools, attend interviews, do well, get into dental school, do well, graduate, get a job, do well."

I am considering taking a 10 week dental assisting course or even EMT, EKG/Phleb, CNA to get into the health care industry so that I can be around people, help people, and feel good about what I do at the end of the day.

Any pre-dents putting themselves under all this pressure and stress? I don't like it and am having trouble relaxing.

I would definitely advise doing some extensive shadowing/assisting before taking a $500k dive into a career only to realize that the problem was you and not the original career.

 

[DentalLonghorn2014]

Hey there,

Regarding post bac, it doesn't have to be a formal program. However, if you can get into a formal program, some have "rewards" like if you maintain a 3.8GPA, you are guaranteed an interview. This is what I was told so I am not totally sure about that. You can take post bac classes at any school ( I prefer a cheap institution). I think you should do some shadowing first though to make sure you want to do this.I also find it admirable that you WANT to help people. Where ever you go, do well and you will have a shot. Best of luck.

 

[snipza]

I would definitely advise doing some extensive shadowing/assisting before taking a $500k dive into a career only to realize that the problem was you and not the original career.

I have shadowed a dentist (only about 2 hours so far as she is quite busy) but definitely got to see a lot about patient interaction and the care it takes to worth in the mouth.

Also, regarding the post-bacc - I am applying for a formal program because I have my degree already (non-science) and will not be able to have a good enough registration date to take pre-reqs at a community college, unless I want to take another 4 years to complete pre-reqs. The program I am hoping to get into is structured and cohort-based. Classes are guaranteed for my cohort and I will be done in 2 years.

 

[Cello]

I am driving myself crazy thinking about what I have to do to get in. This runs through my head on a regular basis because I am itching to get out of the industry I am in.

I did the same thing before I left my last full-time job too. I have a more complete understanding of dentistry now than I did back then, and I am still excited to become a dentist. That said, if I was at all wary of amassing huge debt, or couldn't handle stress well, I think I would have found another career path.

"apply for post-bac, get in, do well, get ECs, do well, study for DAT, do well, apply for schools, attend interviews, do well, get into dental school, do well, graduate, get a job, do well."

I am considering taking a 10 week dental assisting course or even EMT, EKG/Phleb, CNA to get into the health care industry so that I can be around people, help people, and feel good about what I do at the end of the day.

I obviously don't know you, but I will warn you that doing well is easy to type, harder to execute. I had it in my head that I would get a 4.0 every semester when I started back to school. But, that seems easy in your head when you've been out of school for a while and you think to yourself "how hard can it be? I remember how it was in school, I went to class only a few hours a week, I can easily find time to do my homework, this will be no problem!"

The problem is, life catches up with you quickly. People you care about may die. You may suffer unforeseen setbacks which distract you from your studies, or make it difficult to study at all. If you don't have wealthy and supportive parents, you may have to work. When you throw a job or two on top of the ECs, volunteering, leadership, and possible research activities, it makes it that much harder to "do well." I've done well enough for myself, maintaining a fairly high GPA, but I've suffered a great many setbacks since I started down this road, and I've had to do everything I mentioned above while completing pre-reqs.

I'm not saying you can't do it; rather, I am suggesting that you may want to be wary of the grass being greener in dentistry just because you are overlooking its flaws and exaggerating its benefits while exaggerating the flaws and overlooking the benefits in your own field. Why did you get into IT in the first place if you don't like it? What makes you think you will like patient contact so much after you get patients who refuse to pay their bills, ignore your medical advice, and are hostile towards you and/or your staff?

Any pre-dents putting themselves under all this pressure and stress? I don't like it and am having trouble relaxing.

We all are. The thing is, it only gets worse at d-school, and then even worse when you have a mortgage to pay, student loans you can't escape, bellies to fill, and an office to manage. The stress is one of the biggest downsides to dentistry, so consider that carefully before you decide to jump head-first into this profession.

 

[snipza]

I did the same thing before I left my last full-time job too. I have a more complete understanding of dentistry now than I did back then, and I am still excited to become a dentist. That said, if I was at all wary of amassing huge debt, or couldn't handle stress well, I think I would have found another career path.



I obviously don't know you, but I will warn you that doing well is easy to type, harder to execute. I had it in my head that I would get a 4.0 every semester when I started back to school. But, that seems easy in your head when you've been out of school for a while and you think to yourself "how hard can it be? I remember how it was in school, I went to class only a few hours a week, I can easily find time to do my homework, this will be no problem!"

The problem is, life catches up with you quickly. People you care about may die. You may suffer unforeseen setbacks which distract you from your studies, or make it difficult to study at all. If you don't have wealthy and supportive parents, you may have to work. When you throw a job or two on top of the ECs, volunteering, leadership, and possible research activities, it makes it that much harder to "do well." I've done well enough for myself, maintaining a fairly high GPA, but I've suffered a great many setbacks since I started down this road, and I've had to do everything I mentioned above while completing pre-reqs.

I'm not saying you can't do it; rather, I am suggesting that you may want to be wary of the grass being greener in dentistry just because you are overlooking its flaws and exaggerating its benefits while exaggerating the flaws and overlooking the benefits in your own field. Why did you get into IT in the first place if you don't like it? What makes you think you will like patient contact so much after you get patients who refuse to pay their bills, ignore your medical advice, and are hostile towards you and/or your staff?



We all are. The thing is, it only gets worse at d-school, and then even worse when you have a mortgage to pay, student loans you can't escape, bellies to fill, and an office to manage. The stress is one of the biggest downsides to dentistry, so consider that carefully before you decide to jump head-first into this profession.

Well, I just graduated in December with my BA, so I'm not too far outside school. I got into IT because it's been a long time hobby - mainly building performance systems. It's a lot different when it becomes your job. Thing is, I considered the medical field way back in community college, before transferring to my university and made the decision to go that route back then (didn't know whether it'd be DO, PA, DMD/DDS, etc - wasn't sure at the time). I decided to continue with my current degree because it would be faster than going backwards to complete the lower-division requirements for a bio degree, I needed a bachelor's anyway to get in, and, being a business degree, provides great flexibility as a backup plan in case I am never accepted.

My GPA has a very strong upward trend. Dean's list on multiple quarters. I finished my last two years at university in 5 quarters (one was summer). I have the work ethic and study habits to continue to do well. Sad to say, but this IT job is a buffer between now and the post-bacc that I hopefully get into. At that point, I'd be working either part time IT or in the healthcare industry in some capacity.

Thank you for you detailed reply!

 

[techyguy]

Just out of curiosity, what do you do in IT exactly? Have you ever done any programming?

 

[ToothbrushBuddy]

Good luck getting in! There are several people in my dental class that have dentistry as their second profession (myself included). We are all much happier in dentistry and us second-profession students seem to work harder. By the way, you might consider working for a public health clinic as a dentist because you like to help people and don't have to deal with the stress if managing a business and they will often times help pay off your student loans as well.

 

[snipza]

Good luck getting in! There are several people in my dental class that have dentistry as their second profession (myself included). We are all much happier in dentistry and us second-profession students seem to work harder. By the way, you might consider working for a public health clinic as a dentist because you like to help people and don't have to deal with the stress if managing a business and they will often times help pay off your student loans as well.

I am really not completely sure of where I would go (still have a lot of research/shadowing to do), but it definitely makes sense that avoiding the stress and financial toll of starting/buying a practice would aid in keeping the financial burden and overall stress down.

But, being a business major, and having always wanted control over my work life, a practice (whether built or bought) is definitely in the future if I ever become a dentist.

Just out of curiosity, what do you do in IT exactly? Have you ever done any programming?

I am technically supposed to be a Help Desk person. But being that there are only two people in the IT department (myself and the network engineer), I am required to know what he knows to add redundancy to our department. It sucks because he's been on his own for years and never documented anything. So, now he's trying to update me on systems/process/procedures that he hasn't even updated in his head. No programming experience, here - never tickled my fancy.

 

[doc toothache]

I have shadowed a dentist (only about 2 hours so far as she is quite busy) but definitely got to see a lot about patient interaction and the care it takes to worth in the mouth.

Related to Speedy Gonzalez?

 

[DentalDoge]

Definitely shadow a bit before getting into a massive commitment.

Probably come up with a reason why you dont like what youre doing now that will sound good to the schools.

 

[techyguy]

I am technically supposed to be a Help Desk person. But being that there are only two people in the IT department (myself and the network engineer), I am required to know what he knows to add redundancy to our department. It sucks because he's been on his own for years and never documented anything. So, now he's trying to update me on systems/process/procedures that he hasn't even updated in his head. No programming experience, here - never tickled my fancy.

Yeah, okay, help desk ain't fun. I've seen help desk guys move to quality assurance (i.e. software testing). I won't ask you anymore specific questions about your job, although feel free to PM if you want more advice along that track. I, myself, moved from QA to software development, which is a lot more glamorous, but I had an interest in programming. In general, keep an eye out for things that can be automated with shell scripts, or something like Python (a very lucrative language).

Documentation is an art, by the way, and...heck, that was one of the things I did well with early on, to differentiate myself.

I got some inspiration way back in 2009, from a fellow alum who was in systems administration, who did a formal post-bacc. He's finishing up a pediatric residency this year. I took my pre-reqs while I was technically enrolled in a master's, which was just a few extra hoops. I'm waiting to hear back after a couple interviews, and this is my second cycle. I'm already taking two more classes in preparation for a 3rd go-round. (Which may sound worse than it is - I mean, medical micro and social psychology are kind of cool.)

Bottom line, there are no promises. Your business degree may be in more demand than all of my degrees and experience, though.

 

[Fondue]

Yeah, okay, help desk ain't fun. I've seen help desk guys move to quality assurance (i.e. software testing). I won't ask you anymore specific questions about your job, although feel free to PM if you want more advice along that track. I, myself, moved from QA to software development, which is a lot more glamorous, but I had an interest in programming. In general, keep an eye out for things that can be automated with shell scripts, or something like Python (a very lucrative language).

Documentation is an art, by the way, and...heck, that was one of the things I did well with early on, to differentiate myself.

I got some inspiration way back in 2009, from a fellow alum who was in systems administration, who did a formal post-bacc. He's finishing up a pediatric residency this year. I took my pre-reqs while I was technically enrolled in a master's, which was just a few extra hoops. I'm waiting to hear back after a couple interviews, and this is my second cycle. I'm already taking two more classes in preparation for a 3rd go-round. (Which may sound worse than it is - I mean, medical micro and social psychology are kind of cool.)

Bottom line, there are no promises. Your business degree may be in more demand than all of my degrees and experience, though.

If you don't mind my asking, what made you decide to switch from software development to dentistry?