Future of MT -- love what I do, but reality sinks in - wiseMT

REALITY CHECK ... makes me wanna holler!!

Now working as an ME/MT at two major MTSO corporations – and then reality slaps me in the face, on a daily basis, as I merrily type my little fingers away, almost to the point of feeling a bit of pain and arthritis coming on.  Please someone hand me the Mineral Ice or  Aspercreme before I  can no longer stand the pain !!! 

... and I am very good at what I do (top Tier ME/MT and QA, at the top of the pay scale, and always maintain 98% plus accuracy), and yes one would say on top of my game.

REALITY CHECK  has hit me HARD very recently!!  Maybe it was the frequent meals of beans and brown rice???  So I said to myself – return to school?  Then I realized that it would cost me multiple thousands of dollars to return to school to become “proficient “ as a Medical Coder or possibly even earn my degree in some arena of Health IT -- or whatever it would take to utilize my vast experience as a Medical Language Specialist, or MT/ME and to be able to transfer my vast medical knowledge to some other field where I could actually work and pay my bills, and then have a few dollars left over.....instead of struggling to live from “paycheck to paycheck. “  Not get rich ... just to be able to simply pay my bills....  i.e., the basics of life, such as rent/mortgage payment, utilities, phone bill, and some food on the table.  The basics ??? 

So I ask myself, is it worth the effort to go back to school, and possibly get into MORE debt with student loans and in the end, just to come out earning a salary of possibly $50K per year PLUS the increased debt incurred to go back to school, just to make a few bucks more per year in my annual salary.

Okay, so then I thought about medical school – and that would mean taking the MCAT, possibly having to complete a Post-Bac Program (since it has been many years since I earned my Baccalaureate degree), and then also incurring even more debt, PLUS 4 more years of medical school, PLUS a residency of say 3 to 7 additional years of training (depending of course on the chosen specialty) and then possibly ending up earning a physician’s salary of $150K or so, maybe more if I specialize in an area of medicine that actually pays a bit more.

OR... I thought about possibly going to law school, taking the LSAT which means investing in a pre-law LSAT preparation course (say another $1000 or so) and then there are absolutely no guarantees that I will get into a “good law school” or even that I would land a job with a descent salary working as a lawyer.  I know a lot of unemployed lawyers.....yikes !!

There Are So Many Choices, Right ?? 

REALITY CHECK:  Not so many choices after all !!!  

The reality is -- right now (today) ... I MUST pay my rent/mortgage and my basic living expenses.  And since I am now working at home as an MT/ME, I have to pay for internet service, preferably DSL, and I must have a reliable computer system that will NOT CRASH in order to keep up with the minimum requirements, etc. etc.

Let’s face it -- Right now I have to eat nutritious foods each and every day so that I will not get sick, or worse, become dehydrated, or get ill with a compromised immune system, or come down with the FLU, – i.e., while at the same time that my expertise MT/ME services are needed to help out with a “huge backlog” at my current job and the reports that were due yesterday.

REALITY CHECK:  Personally, I have over 20 years of experience in this industry, have previously worked in-house at several large teaching hospitals as an MT and supervisor, then transitioning to own an MT business with  several “dependable” accounts (direct billing, of course, which was many years ago before VR) , and I have also worked as a Medical Coder at a major hospital. 

So I have truly been there, done that. 

Now I sit here and ask myself – WHAT NEXT?????

Yes, I have “peace of mind” and not dealing with a lot of drama while working at home – but I am not at all accustomed to “No Jobs Available” --  especially when I am now working TWO JOBS with national corporations.  

And I realize (...here comes the “AHA MOMENT”)  that each of these large corporations are OVER HIRING – and the head of these large corporations, the “big cheese“ leadership truly does NOT care whether or not me, the MT/ME is running out of work and constantly getting “NJA” almost every week now – and subsequently not earning any money in the meanwhile, oh yes ... as long as the corporation is meeting TAT and ultimately maintaining the financial goals of the Venture Capitalists to whom they must answer to – in the name of profit (of course) !!

All the while – I am the one sitting here at my home office – truly praying for a favorable outcome from this situation.  

I am too old for this !!  God is my only salvation.