Need Career Advice: Engineer to PA?

[Turtle]

Hi,

 

I'm a mid-career aerospace engineer and I'm seriously looking at making a career change to PA or some other professional field in medicine. I got certified as an EMT-Basic earlier this year and really enjoyed learning about the human body and emergency medicine. Also, I like to help people. As a result, I'm considering making a career change to medicine.

 

I'm hoping to get career advice (i.e., sanity check) from you fine folks here. As a mid-career engineer, I get paid well, treated well, and I enjoy what I do. I just feel that I've come close to peaking in my career and would like to do something different. I don't want to become one of those tired and grouchy older engineers just hanging in there long enough to retire.

 

So, while working on pre-reqs, I figure the fastest I could start a PA program would be two years from now which means the fastest that I could graduate PA school would be about 4.5 years from now. Right now, my only debt is my house mortgage and I'm single with no dependants so I don't have to worry about unsettling a wife and kids. Financially, I can take the hit of not being gainfully employed for 2.5 years while in PA school.

 

So, would you recommend that I consider changing careers to a PA or maybe some other professional-level medical field (e.g., nurse or something else)? I say "professional-level" as I'd like to maintain a similar standard of living (middle class) even though I'd be starting at the bottom and would be taking a pay cut.

 

Alternatively, I could continue working full-time as an engineer and maybe work part-time as a paramedic (only one year of training for that). I'd just need to figure out how to stay fresh and not become a grouchy old fart. :-)

 

Anyway, thanks in advance for any advice. Please tell me if this sounds stupid. Don't sugarcoat it!

[newton9686]

We have atlas one guy in our class that I am close with who is taking a payout to become a PA. He came out of the financial world, so a little different the engineering, but he had to leave a 100k salary. At the end of the day you have to decide that you want this regardless of the money. It is absolutely harder than a poor college student deciding they want to be a PA. You have to decide if you are happy enough to continue to be an engineer or do you want to switch paths entirely and lose money because of it. I do not think doing a paramedic program is out of the question. It may be fulfilling enough to continue to work full time as an engineer and part time as a paramedic. However only you can make that decision. You are never too old to go to PA school.

[corpsman89]

I think UGoLong will have the best advice for you. He was an engineer prior to becoming a PA. I think he also went to PA school later in his career as well. Hopefully he will chime in soon.

[rev ronin]

One of the biggest challenges coming from a mid-career technical profession is that you will never get the universal professional respect as a PA that you do as an engineer.  It's a subtle thing, but I went from speaking at national conferences to... well, nobody important.  No one really cares what you used to do... unless it means you can help run the EMR or figure it out.

[UGoLong]

Oh where to begin? This is going to be long; sorry everyone…

 

As Corpsman89 noted, I made the transition from aerospace engineer to PA that you are thinking about. The journey taught me some important life lessons. Two were critical to me: (1) You have to decide what is important to you (money, fame, satisfaction, etc.) and (2) you can baby step your way to a decision. See below.

 

I was an aerospace engineer (BS from Maryland, MS from Michigan) who later got more involved with computer simulations, computer engineering, and project management. I got lots of respect as an Air Force officer (spoke at conferences too, Rev!) and, later, as a VP for a large R&D company. Along the way, I went to night school to get an MS in computer engineering. The more my ego got stroked (or beat upon) the more I was driven to be just as important as I could be. Until I wasn’t really sure who I was anymore.

 

I was married with three kids the day I blundered into a hospital at 38 and became an ER volunteer (against my will. Didn’t they have a computer I could help with instead?) I loved it!  Even if I was just helping in small ways, I finally felt I was making a difference and time passed quickly. I ultimately went to EMT school and started working with a volunteer fire department. When I took a rare day off of work now and again to ride all day (instead of just nights and weekends) with my crew – and for free no less – I felt better about myself and what I was doing than if I had been at my regular day job. Eventually I was working there up to 100 hours a month while keeping my regular job, traveling for work, etc.

 

One lesson I learned was that all of us make contributions and no contribution lasts forever, unless you were the architect of the Pyramids (and then you did it on the backs of people you definitely weren’t mentoring very well!) What makes someone tick? Is it the praise, the money, the ability to solve a problem, the gratitude of the client (or patient), or just knowing you made a difference today and right here?

 

The life of a VP was all-consuming and I found it less rewarding than being a full-time engineer – except for the chance to grow something and mentor people. And I got to be the chairman of our Institutional Review Board. About the time I was taking a night EMT-I course, I decided to quit and become a self-employed project management consultant. (With three kids, a loving wife, and a mortgage, no less!) At the time – age 45 – I even thought about medical school; my 90-year-old grandma didn’t think I was too old! I don’t know if I could have gotten in, but I did not want to sacrifice that much of my time left with the kids, who were in high school and college.

 

Now I was the president…of a one-person business anyway. I enjoyed working with people and things went well. Most of my projects -- by choice -- involved medical products in one form or another. I could make my own schedule and knew how many billable hours I needed each month. I switched to being part-time paid with a third service EMS department in a neighboring county. I bumped into an old friend who had become a PA and decided that that had promise. I started taking prerequisites. One year I was going to apply to PA school but ultimately decided that I couldn’t leave home at the same time as our youngest child. So I waited another year and went to medic school at night

.

I was self-employed for 12 years, successful at it, and brought my eldest son in to work with me. I made the decision to become a PA, turned the business over to my son (he still runs it 12 years later), and started PA school when I was 58.

 

In school, I found that my engineering background was a huge help. It didn’t help much in anatomy (my weakest subject), but having a systems mind helped significantly with physiology, pathophysiology, physical exam, clinical methods, and in developing study techniques that worked for me in pharmacology.

 

It’s probably no surprise that I went into internal med when I graduated, and specifically into cardiology. The heart is mechanical, hydraulic, involves fluid flow (I was a propulsion guy as an aero), is electrical, and ties into the body’s control system. From a technical standpoint it has been a joy. I greatly enjoy getting to know our patients and trying to describe things to them in their words. If you can take someone with systolic congestive heart failure, get them to take their meds night, watch their salt, stop drinking -- and then see their ejection fraction and exercise tolerance improve -- you know you've had a very good day.

 

Being a PA combines science and working with people in a very nice combination. One’s engineering view of the world and problem-solving skills come into play a lot. Medicine is going through its own metamorphosis these days and life there is not a bed of roses. The days are long, the work can be hard, tempers sometimes fray, the nonclinical load on one’s time continues to increase (I had to design our EMR forms), practices are under brutal financial strains, not everyone is grateful, and no patient lives forever. Still, several times each day, I know exactly why I’m there.

 

I’m 70 now; I never thought I could even work to 60 in my old jobs. Now I am clinical part-time and also teach part-time for a local PA program (even there – besides lecturing and advising -- I use my engineering background to run their simulation laboratory.) And after 30 years in EMS, I still ride as a medic a few days a month and hope to do so until I’m on the cot and not pushing it. Life has turned out fine. I don’t regret anything I’ve done to get here. And getting older and recovering from a recent health scare is teaching me some new lessons, like budgeting more time for my wife, grandkids, and travel.

 

So, can an engineer become a PA? Yes. Should you? You first need to understand what really motivates you. You don’t have to decide all at once: take a baby step. Become an EMT to see if you can deal with people at their worst, work on a team, and enjoy a job independent of its financial rewards. Take some prereqs and see how that makes you feel.

 

Ever so slowly, the ship that is your life’s journey may indeed turn onto a new course.

 

Good luck!

 

(BTW, this isn’t an advertisement, but I wrote much more about my own journey from engineer to PA in my book, “Old Man on Campus.” It’s my story and maybe not yours, but perhaps it can add some more insight I didn't add here; this post is already way too long!)

[unicorns]

Well, this was a weird post to stumble across, as I thought maybe I wrote it myself!

 

I'm also a mid career engineer, in the aerospace field (metallurgy). At this point (about a decade into my career), my salary will be a small cut and/or a break even (plus now, loans...). But it's what I want to do, so it's going to be ok. My salary will not be able to grow as well in the medical field as it does in engineering, though, and I realize that. I worked part time in an ER last year, while working as an engineer (and boy was it a shit load of work, with a 4 month old at home, and it was HARD, but i figured it was the ONLY way I was really going to know 100%, while keeping my job as a safety net), and it solidly cemented what I wanted to do with my life. Sometimes, in my head, I struggle with the fact that I'm in a very respected career, around many intelligent people, and that there will now be days where I will not be respected, my advice will be ignored, and I will be treated poorly. It is what it is, and perhaps that, in and of itself, is a humbling experience, to keep myself on the path of all that is good and important.

 

UGoLong stated, quite succinctly, a lot of the thoughts I've had regarding this subject.

[SHU-CH]

I have come across a bunch of former engineers working in medicine and I had an engineer in my class in PA school. Scary smart. I think his engineer employer allowed him to work flex time through most of PA school, meaning he was putting in ~40 hours of week outside of PA classes and studying. Married with a kid, too.

 

Do what you love. You probably have the brains to make almost anything work, so do what makes you happy. If you want to test medicine out, you might try something like volunteering for an EMS system if it is a possibility where you live. Your analytical skills will be very transferable to medicine.

[jetsa]

This is an old post, but thanks for asking the question. I am in the same spot now, I'm a civil engineer.

[UGoLong]

jetsa, if you're wondering what to do, let me suggest that you do something small, if only to see if this is the right direction for you. Take one prereq in night school, shadow someone, etc. You can stand at a blackboard forever doing Kepner-Trigoe analyses and not get as far as one afternoon's experience.

When I was in my mid-50s, I couldn't see how I could keep doing my engineering consulting job until I was 65. Now I'm almost 75 and still working as a PA (2 days in clinic and 2 days as an assistant professor for a PA program). Life for me is good. That doesn't mean it will be for you, but it's a data point and we engineers love data!

Good luck!

[ohiovolffemtp]

Not a former engineer but a former IT guy.  I loved the technical parts of my job (I was a system's programmer for a Fortune 50 company) but found I hated the corporate environment.  I'd been a volunteer and then part-time paid firefighter/paramedic.  I took a retirement buy-out from corporate America, taught at the local university so I could take my pre-reqs for free, and worked as a FF/medic on weekends.  I started PA school at 53, got my license at 55, and have been doing EM ever since.  There was a huge opportunity cost in terms of lost income, tuition, etc. during PA school, close to $500K, but I am much happier.  However, it took 5 years of learning my trade before I really felt good about my skills.

I started in a big level III trauma center, working for a medium sized staffing company that was bought up by one of the big national companies.  There I saw and hated all the things about corporate life in medicine that I detested in my past corporate life.  Now, working for a small company as a solo nocturnist at a rural critical access hospital I'm much happier and much better paid.  I was struggling with the thought of working till 55 in corporate IT.  Now, I expect to work full time until at least 66 and part-time indefinitely there after as long as it's fun and the boss at home will let me.

[Rockbe01]

While this is an old thread it is good to find some like these. I am currently and engineer and work in manufacturing. I really like the technical part of my job and trying to improve the operator's day but I pretty much hate everything else. This job has taken a toll on my physical and mental health for a very long time. 

I was a PRN PCT for a year and a half. I have a son and another child on the way. I am in the process of applying and am freaking out a bit about the change. I have been in engineering for a while. I am currently 37. 

I was exhausted doing engineering and being a PCT but at the end of the day I would come home from being a PCT exhausted but with more pride doing that than I ever have in engineering. I come home from my engineering job angry and with stress all over my face. If I have a week or more off of work I am basically a different person. A few days back in the engineering job and I am back to being miserable. 

[UGoLong]

1 hour ago, Rockbe01 said:

While this is an old thread it is good to find some like these. I am currently and engineer and work in manufacturing. I really like the technical part of my job and trying to improve the operator's day but I pretty much hate everything else. This job has taken a toll on my physical and mental health for a very long time. 

I was a PRN PCT for a year and a half. I have a son and another child on the way. I am in the process of applying and am freaking out a bit about the change. I have been in engineering for a while. I am currently 37. 

I was exhausted doing engineering and being a PCT but at the end of the day I would come home from being a PCT exhausted but with more pride doing that than I ever have in engineering. I come home from my engineering job angry and with stress all over my face. If I have a week or more off of work I am basically a different person. A few days back in the engineering job and I am back to being miserable. 

You sound like me 25 years ago! I was an engineer or engineering manager until my 50s, when I "retired" and went to PA school. It is a good mix of science and people and a lot of my engineering skills can come to bear. 

Medicine is not without it's stress and not all PA jobs are the same. Still, there are way more good moments than I had tilting with organizations when I was a working engineer.

As I mentioned last year, shadowing a PA would be a good start. There is a tendency to think that the grass is greener. In the end, you will be happier if you go in with your eyes as open as possible.

If you're interested, I wrote a book about what it was like to go from engineering to medicine. Hopefully it would be of some help.

Best wishes!

Edited June 6, 2022 by UGoLong

[Rockbe01]

My change is not just about frustration with things in engineering. I know there will be frustrations in healthcare that may be similar. I may be trading one frustration for another in some respects. But if I am going to get my butt handed to me on a regular basis with stress, I want it to be worth my time. Even with a stressful day as a PCT I still had pride in my work. 

The change is also about my physical health. Partially about shopfloor air quality and how my body responds to it. I have it fairly well controlled now, but some days still can be rough and make me feel like garbage. I would rather get better control and a better quality of life by avoiding the triggers. I don't really care about busted knuckles and things like that. I get that plenty working on my cars and it doesn't bother me. My breathing is different though. 

Right now I am trying to figure out how best to apply given I am not done with Biochem and my analytical writing score on the GRE is not where it should be but I don't want to apply too late. I am hoping that if I can get some interviews it will give me a better indication of how good of a fit it may be. I did shadow once but then when COVID came along I figured I would probably need to wait for a little while but now may be a good time to try again.

Also, I do have your book. I am hoping to get a chance to read it soon. 

 

[UGoLong]

16 hours ago, Rockbe01 said:

My change is not just about frustration with things in engineering. I know there will be frustrations in healthcare that may be similar. I may be trading one frustration for another in some respects. But if I am going to get my butt handed to me on a regular basis with stress, I want it to be worth my time. Even with a stressful day as a PCT I still had pride in my work. 

The change is also about my physical health. Partially about shopfloor air quality and how my body responds to it. I have it fairly well controlled now, but some days still can be rough and make me feel like garbage. I would rather get better control and a better quality of life by avoiding the triggers. I don't really care about busted knuckles and things like that. I get that plenty working on my cars and it doesn't bother me. My breathing is different though. 

Right now I am trying to figure out how best to apply given I am not done with Biochem and my analytical writing score on the GRE is not where it should be but I don't want to apply too late. I am hoping that if I can get some interviews it will give me a better indication of how good of a fit it may be. I did shadow once but then when COVID came along I figured I would probably need to wait for a little while but now may be a good time to try again.

Also, I do have your book. I am hoping to get a chance to read it soon. 

 

Thanks for the background. If you want to change careers -- regardless of the reasons -- that should be all that matters.

I'm a believer in taking small steps to see if a particular change is right for me. Shadowing is a way to see if the new environment is the right one. Talking to at least a few PAs, watching them at work, and learning about whatever frustrations they have was a good way for me to work through that. I had a fair bit of HCE so I already knew something about healthcare.

As far as the application process, before I applied, I visited a couple of programs and spoke with faculty to understand the program and if I met their requirements. That's something you could do, especially if you live near a program.

At least when I applied, you didn't have to have all of your classwork complete, but the vast majority of it. I think I had two classes left when I applied to three programs and they were all OK with that. I had to finish my classwork before the first day of PA school and my acceptances were contingent on successfully finishing them. Depending on the program you apply to, that may or may not be the same situation.

Best wishes.