u/FingersOnTheTapes

Hello!

I have a degree in composing and couldn't get enough hours between teaching like 5 instruments privately so I took a job teaching music in the classroom. Bad idea. I was paid terribly, the parents are mean, the students are mean, and admin is useless. I couldn't even afford a one bedroom apartment. One kid called me slurs right in front of admin and didn't even get in trouble and I decided I was done. I just can't do it.

Other than music my monetizable career interests include fixing things and helping people. Before I became a music teacher I repaired computers.

I am debating either becoming a biomedical equipment repair technician or becoming a lab tech. The BMET program is quite expensive and the job appears to be rarer and pay less so I'm working towards the MLT program.

I am missing a 3 semester sequence of bio to start the program and can likely finish my associates in that amount of time so I figure I might as well get my allied health associates while I'm there. While I do that I'll be working repairing computers again.

I am attracted to the MLT program because I really want to help people for a living but I have a strong disgust reflex so I don't think I have what it takes to be a nurse. And after spending my day in front of 200 students the seclusion sounds very very nice.

The MLT program is looking like about 15k and the BMET program is 25k.

I'm just posting to see if anything pops up for y'all when you read this. I'm not particularly concerned about the difficulty of the classes I passed some really hard classes in college but I am also not particularly smart.

I am an ex music teacher trying to leave the music education field.

Outside of teaching music I have been most interested in becoming a BMET, but have also been considering other careers that involve either fixing things or helping people or both. Other than becoming a BMET I have been considering Medical Lab Technician and EEG Tech programs.

While I go back to school I will be supporting myself with a part time field service electronics repair tech job, as well as by substitute teaching and teaching the violin.

I am weighing the pros and cons of either getting an allied health degree versus coughing up for online CBET school. My main concern is how employable I will be in an adjacent field should I be unable to get a BMET job.

In this respect I feel that an allied health degree has a substantial advantage, I feel like the non BMET pathways it opens up are enjoyable fields that are quite lucrative. But I don't think I have a full sight picture of what employment with a BMET degree but no BMET job would look like.

Here's my point of view on my options:

Allied Health:

• Cheaper, local
• More versatile
• Attached to some other careers that look both tolerable and lucrative (MLT, EEG tech, rad tech, MRI)
• Less attractive to BMET employers
  • Though assuming this field service tech job goes well I will have a year or two of experience from it that I will be taking into BMET applications

CBET:

• More expensive but quicker
• More focused
• Don't know what non BMET employment with this degree looks like
  • I do quite enjoy repairing electronics
  • Employment could be less lucrative than allied health fallback options
• I definitely am vastly more interested in working as a BMET than the other options I have listed, it's definitely my main focus
• If my field service tech experience helps get me in the door, why double dip on an expensive and redundant degree?

Potential local EET associates?:

• Also cheap and local
• Could blend the benefits of both options
• Could also blend all of the drawbacks of both options
• Also don't know what non BMET employment looks like with this degree

What do you think? What would you do in my situation?

I’m surprised I can’t find one it seems like an obvious combination.