I have always been upfront and blunt with students about Audiology as a profession
Pros:
- Awesome schedule. I usually know what time I will start and end each day and the typical day to day is about the same
- The work is enjoyable and often times stimulating. You are constantly learning new hearing aid technology and if you love technology there is a ton of it in hearing aids. You never stop learning new things
- Less chance of being exposed to disease and other unliked parts of medicine such as malpractice.
- The salary is pretty good most places. You may not find a dream job out of school but you will find a job pretty quickly. It is this way in most fields. No one usually lands their dream job right out of school in any field. In Audiology you will probably start out in a lower paid job dispensing hearing aids either in an ENT office or in a private practice. After you get a couple years of experience under your belt you then can find your dream job
Cons:
- You can always find a job, but you may have to relocate to get your perfect job. I know I moved over 500 miles from where I went to school, but it was worth it. I love where I work now and have a wonderful future here. The juice was definitely worth the squeeze
- You will be selling hearing aids and will be salesman in any Audiology job except for the VA. I no longer sell hearing aids, but boy oh boy do I fit a lot of them! I also do a great deal of diagnostics, so it's a good mix
- The pay is not as good as other doctoral programs such as optometry, psychology, physical therapy, or even as good as some masters level programs such as SLP, OT, and Nurse practitioner
- The job can have a high burn out rate depending on your setting
All in all if I had to do it over again would I become an audiologist? Probably not. I love what I do, but I could be doing the same part of my job I enjoy (the counseling, the helping side) with less education and more money and better job prospects closer to home.
I don't begrudge anyone still wanting to be an audiologist. I still love what I do everyday and still go to work and come home happy every day. It's a great field, but it still has some growing pains to work out. If audiology can get direct access and hearing aid dispensers can be put out of business, then I think audiology will be one of the best jobs to have. If it cannot overcome these hurdles then it will remain the way it is now. A profession with a high cost of entry and a lower return rate in terms of payout. Money isn't everything, but it is something to think about.
Hope I didn't seem like a downer, I just wanted to give you the true facts and make you think critically (after all that's what we do as a profession).
