Career advice (fire academy vs fire department experience)
Hello I am at a bit of a crossroads in my career right now and am looking for some advice to help pick my path. I just recently got accepted into the fire academy near where I live and was planning on attending the academy in the fall. Then a local department that I would love to work for long term opened up a single role emt position and I applied for it. This role is just an emt position and is limited to three years but you gain very good experience working for a department and build connections within that department to potentially build a whole career there. As well, they also can sponsor you to go to the fire academy and paramedic school and then hire you once you have all of your certifications. I live in Southern California so these positions are extremely sought after and hard to come by. I just went through the whole interview process and I am pretty sure at this point that I am going to get the job. This job seems like a bigger opportunity to me right now than the fire academy as the academy will always be there and the opportunity to get on with one of my dream departments early on in my career might not always be an option. My biggest dilemma is that I know a lot of the guys going into the next academy as well as my brother is also doing it. I was really excited to do the academy with my brother but at this point am leaning more towards taking this job. I just want to hear opinions from people in the fire service on whether I am making a mistake taking the job or if I should go to the academy. Thank you.