Is becoming a vet tech a mistake?
Tl;Dr: Everyone seems to think being a vet tech is horrible, especially other vet techs. Is becoming one a mistake?
For context: I am a 27yr old with a degree in Communication Studies & Rhetoric who has been working office admin jobs for the past few years. I currently make about 50k (which is hilariously low for what I could do in my field, but also very close to what most vet techs make in my area so its proof to myself that I already know what the pay feels like). I absolutely hate my job. Not my boss, not my coworkers, just the literal tasks of working in an office. I haven't met a desk job I've liked.
The only job I did love? Foster Care Coordinator at a county animal shelter. I grew my program from about 30 animals in foster care to 500 at the peak (it was a state with no spay-neuter laws and its a no-kill shelter. Chaos. Chaos constantly). I LOVED giving vaccines, assisting the vet team, taking home the medical fosters, holding the animals at end of life. I've done the maggot removal, I've survived a parvo-outbreak. I had some nightmares about it but it never scratched how much I loved that stupid crazy job. I got paid virtually nothing and didn't really care. I felt like I had a real job that really helped and had purpose and skill. Not just a pencil pusher. I only let it go because I had to move and when I moved there are weirdly no shelters in my area? (A state with strict spay-neuter laws and a fairly rural area.)
Fast forward I am looking up the ladder for my job and while my earning potential skyrockets up from here I look at those job listing and throw up a little in my mouth every time. I just hate it.
I've been considering pulling the rip-cord and going back to school to do a 2 year vet tech certification program at a nearby college. I never wanted to pursue the major I did, or do the work I do, but I did it because everyone told me it was the smarter, easier, better thing to do. I'd make more money, I'd have a comfortable life. But honestly, I can't see myself staying in the office or even accepting a position that makes me more money than I do now because I dont want to do that kind of work. I want to, for the first time in my entire life, make a life path choice for myself. Go after something I actually want and like even if its risky.
Despite that fire under me to take my life back and do it my way, I am a little terrified by how much shit people talk about vet techs (especially vet techs leaving the field). Even my dad responded to the idea with "uh thats a minimum wage entry job? Just go be a vet! Now THATS whats in high demand and pays well" (He has no grasp on how long or how expensive that would be. I simply couldnt afford to pull that off.)