New career

June 12, 2008 2:44 PM

Help me change careers.

I'm a technical writer. I get paid well, but most of the work is contract based, so I get laid off every year or so and then become unemployed and depressed. I would like to get something more steady.

Is there a profession that could be learned in a short time that has sufficiently high demand that one could count on steady employment and a reasonable income?

I looked into pharmacy, but I don't have the undergraduate science...I would essentially have to get a second bachelors to catch up.

I have a college degree and I'm smart enough to do most stuff. I'm thinking in terms of skilled professions that I would do a degree or certificate to qualify. There must be professions I don't even know about. Court reporter? Librarian? Medical technology?

posted by TigerCrane to work & money (6 comments total)

Paralegal. You can get a certificate in 9 to 12 months and the career is in extremely high demand...moreso than, regrettably enough, the demand for attorneys.
posted by notjustfoxybrown at 3:44 PM on June 12

You don't say what your interests are, which would be pretty important to know. You mention pharmacy, so if you're interested in the medical professions, how about nursing? You would likely also need to take some additional sciences but I believe there are two-year programs that require no prerequisites. Nurses are in very high demand, and the pay is pretty good. Also, if you want to continue your education after working awhile, you can become a nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist. Nurse anesthetists make more money than many doctors.

Teaching is another obvious option.
posted by btkuhn at 6:09 PM on June 12

My interests? Well my degree is in English, I have basically no science (one year of rocks for jocks). I'm familiar with technology.
posted by TigerCrane at 6:34 PM on June 12

What about tech sales? No cert' required for that! Healthcare IT is ripe for the pickin', IMO
posted by Lukenlogs at 8:25 PM on June 12

How about software training? Depending upon the organization, you'll be doing lots of documentation when you're not teaching a class. I do it for a technical college. I learn software, create training docs, conduct classes (based on my docs).
posted by wheat at 6:10 AM on June 13

My wife is technical writer and enjoys it well enough. She works for a company and -- *knock* *knock* -- has not been laid off ever since she started down that career path.

If you weren't getting laid off every year, would you be satisfied in your profession? Maybe you can try for something more stable? Maybe you should join a professional organization that helps members network for jobs?

Do you like writing? Perhaps you can get some side-work writing other articles.

Just some ideas...
posted by tcv at 6:54 AM on June 13