Medical IT / Medical Coding good mix for IT skills?

Moon Child

I know the Jack of Trades of approach is probably detrimental, but maybe it is just my personality. I like to know a little of everything. I actually was a Biology Major before I switched to CIS. I think more like an economist the more jobs I can do the better off I am. I see great security in that. I rather have less money, but always have a job and guaranteed employment.

I admit I am not the brightest guy I was diagnosed with dyslexia as a kid. My mother wasn't very bright either 950 on SAT, Masters in Nursing but she made 80k a year as a nurse. I know truck driving you can always have a job regardless how bad you are. One of my dad's buddy been a trucker all his life, all kinds of accidents, been fired like 10 times in his life from trucking jobs, he has an extensive criminal record, yet he has no problem finding jobs as a truck driver and being employed as a truck driver. Same thing with nursing. My mother was a manger over nurses and she told me they needed nurses so badly that as long as the nurse had a pulse they wouldn't fire her regardless how bad she was at her job. She said she worked with a lot of really awful nurses who screwed up a lot on the job, but the hospital never fired them because they needed nurses so badly... I hear the same thing from EMT's at least in my state.... that is not the case with computer jobs especially higher paying ones from what I hear, very cut throat, easy to get fired. So that is why I like trucking and Nursing, see more security there.

I always wanted to combine computer jobs with something else. Teaching, medical, trucking... because computer jobs are often temp contract work... I might decide in the long run to do truck driving part of the year and the other part do temp computer work. If computer jobs don't work, no big deal you learn and become better and just hop on the truck until the next temp computer job comes a long.

LarryTR

cyberguypr

I think you are finally on to something. Why not be a truck driving EMT nurse who of course teches and does medical coding and who also programs Cisco stuff while working in accounting at a correctional facility. Of course this is all next to the oil field and you moonlight there too.

techfiend

Moon Child, I really think you need to discover yourself. Have you tried meditating?

yoba222

Ever taken a poorly implemented cert exam before? Where the questions you're dealt don't accurately measure your actual knowledge of the material? Why place so much faith in SAT and IQ exams then?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_diagnosed_with_dyslexia

TheFORCE

Moon Child logic.... i knew a buddy of a buddy who made 80k as truck driver,
my mother as a nurse made 80k,
my EMT friend will help me get licensed
I can be a teacher and have job security if i get a teaching jib
I can do medical coding and teach math but I'm not very smart
I have low IQ, low SAT scores and dyslexia but I have a Master
I started biology but then switched to do computers
After 10 years as nurse i could probably make 80 if i get hired.
After 10 years of trucking i will always have a job.
I know what I'm doing but everyone including my wife tell me I'm wrong, i still think I'm right
I try to diversify my skills and experience in different unreleated fields instead of diversifying my experience in the field of IT or teaching or nursing or anything else.
I'm comfortable with low paying jobs.
But i want a high paying 80k job, but I'm comfortable making less if i have to work part time.
Maybe i can spend 2 months in each possible profession to make sure i have a job.
I don't care that 100% of the people in this forum have started with less money and have increased their earnings over time.
I dont care that most of the people here at this forum aversge at least 50k-60k
I still think I'm right
i like to be prepared for the Job Armageddon, i can fall bsck to my unskilled job
I like to have a bag full of professions in case the world ends and Y2K happens all over again and teachers and EmTS and nurses and truckers will be in demand but IT is cut throat.


This goes on and on and on until infinity.

Moon Child

TheFORCE wrote: »

Moon Child logic.... i knew a buddy of a buddy who made 80k as truck driver,
my mother as a nurse made 80k,
my EMT friend will help me get licensed
I can be a teacher and have job security if i get a teaching jib
I can do medical coding and teach math but I'm not very smart
I have low IQ, low SAT scores and dyslexia but I have a Master
I started biology but then switched to do computers
After 10 years as nurse i could probably make 80 if i get hired.
After 10 years of trucking i will always have a job.
I know what I'm doing but everyone including my wife tell me I'm wrong, i still think I'm right
I try to diversify my skills and experience in different unreleated fields instead of diversifying my experience in the field of IT or teaching or nursing or anything else.
I'm comfortable with low paying jobs.
But i want a high paying 80k job, but I'm comfortable making less if i have to work part time.
Maybe i can spend 2 months in each possible profession to make sure i have a job.
I don't care that 100% of the people in this forum have started with less money and have increased their earnings over time.
I dont care that most of the people here at this forum aversge at least 50k-60k
I still think I'm right
i like to be prepared for the Job Armageddon, i can fall bsck to my unskilled job
I like to have a bag full of professions in case the world ends and Y2K happens all over again and teachers and EmTS and nurses and truckers will be in demand but IT is cut throat.


This goes on and on and on until infinity.

Lol that is actually funny the way you put it and your right and do have a good point. That actually helps me a little reading that thank you.

I just will see homeless people on the streets with no job and begging for food and I have a terrible fear of that happening to me. I will get bad nightmares about being homeless one day, wake up in night sweats. I have always had a job my entire adult life, never been unemployed, got a lot refrence letters from past employers and teachers I worked with, but still it is an awful fear I have.

I just feel the way to guarantee never getting homeless or unemployed is to be trained in so many different jobs that it will never happen to me. I do feel stupid sometimes I scored a 110 on IQ tests in middle school and was told had dyslexia as a kid , got only a 24 on ACT and like a 1050 on SAT so I feel really sensitive about that, but I guess that isn't so bad.

I have no problem landing interviews it's just when people see me in person... barely over 5' foot tall and have a hard time finding a suit that fits me properly for Interviews they don't hire me because of how small I am. Had 5 teaching interviews in 2 weeks and an interview with Comcast before left trucking and went back to old computer job. Comcast said I passed an online logic assessment test did well on it and invited me to an in-person interview for a Network/ cable installer position with Comcast, but flubbed up that interview they never called back.

Danielm7

I think most posters are borderline banging their heads against a wall at this point. You know what makes you really employable? Being really good at your job, not being crappy at 5 different jobs. As everyone else has said, 10x over, make up your mind, you can't do everything, and if you try you can't do everything well. The idea that computer jobs are all short term contracts is laughable. I want to feel like we're being trolled.

When one person tells you that you're doing it wrong, fine, maybe they don't understand. When EVERYONE tells you're doing it wrong, you're probably wrong.

TheFORCE

Moon Child wrote: »

Lol that is actually funny the way you put it and your right and do have a good point. That actually helps me a little reading that thank you.

I just will see homeless people on the streets with no job and begging for food and I have a terrible fear of that happening to me. I will get bad nightmares about being homeless one day, wake up in night sweats. I have always had a job my entire adult life, never been unemployed, got a lot refrence letters from past employers and teachers I worked with, but still it is an awful fear I have.

I just feel the way to guarantee never getting homeless or unemployed is to be trained in so many different jobs that it will never happen to me. I do feel stupid sometimes I scored a 110 on IQ tests in middle school and was told had dyslexia as a kid , got only a 24 on ACT and like a 1050 on SAT so I feel really sensitive about that, but I guess that isn't so bad.

I have no problem landing interviews it's just when people see me in person... barely over 5' foot tall and have a hard time finding a suit that fits me properly for Interviews they don't hire me because of how small I am. Had 5 teaching interviews in 2 weeks and an interview with Comcast before left trucking and went back to old computer job. Comcast said I passed an online logic assessment test did well on it and invited me to an in-person interview for a Network/ cable installer position with Comcast, but flubbed up that interview they never called back.

I think at this point you need to see a therapist, psychologists or someone qualified to get to the bottom of yout situation.
Now you bringing height into the topic, everytime you post its something new that you are having a problem with.
Next you will say your name is not very popular.

Everything in the world seems like a problem you can't deal with. Seriously, you can't find a suit? In 2017 you can't find a suit?


But like Danielm7 said, I'd also like to beleive we are being trolled because this is just too funny and ridiculous to be true. But then again theres some weird stuff in this world.

Blucodex

Troall post is troall.

And the correct spelling is banned?

LarryTR

***** ---> correct spelling

tro||
tro!!
tr-oll
tr oll
tro11

LarryTR

haha. looks like you're right. What a strange word to censor!

cyberguypr

This thread makes my blood boil and I absolutely love it! At this point i'm 50/50 on tro|| vs. person with the most severe inferiority complex on the face of this earth. Therapy an medication are not a bad thing if done under the care of a properly trained professional, preferably one that doesn't do 100 other jobs.

TheFORCE

cyberguypr wrote: »

This thread makes my blood boil and I absolutely love it! At this point i'm 50/50 on tro|| vs. person with the most severe inferiority complex on the face of this earth. Therapy an medication are not a bad thing if done under the care of a properly trained professional, preferably one that doesn't do 100 other jobs.

I'm cracking up everytime I read this thread. I think in this thread he forgot to mention that he also worked as a security guard for a few years.

I wonder, where does he find the time to do all these jobs, switch to so many fields and pursue certifications.

For someone who thinks very lowly of themselves he sure does have a lot of "courage" and brain power to go back to class.

Unless he is like 60 years old I don't know how he has managed all those jobs, that or he has some time machine to go back in time to do all that.

Moon Child

TheFORCE wrote: »

I'm cracking up everytime I read this thread. I think in this thread he forgot to mention that he also worked as a security guard for a few years.

I wonder, where does he find the time to do all these jobs, switch to so many fields and pursue certifications.

For someone who thinks very lowly of themselves he sure does have a lot of "courage" and brain power to go back to class.

Unless he is like 60 years old I don't know how he has managed all those jobs, that or he has some time machine to go back in time to do all that.

Thats right I did. I actually got invited to go through a police training/ interview process oh a couple years ago? Maybe 4 years ago for the Chicago Heights police department. Saw an add in newspaper they were hiring. Minimum qualifications was a bachelor's degree and preferred previous experience in security or some LE experience. They called me in a big room with oh about 100 people. Said every week lots people be eliminated and someone asked how many people were they going hire, the police officer said maybe 1 or 2 and everyone else will be on a call list.

I guess didn't have enough self confidence to think would make it and didn't show up to day 2. Standing a little over 5' tall and these great big 6'4" muscular guys there I figured they wanting to hire a little 5' small guy to be a police officer was zero to none. Got invited to several interviews for corrections officers too, got interviewed by great big 6'4 guys with python size arms. I figured they weren't interested in me being in corrections when they saw me in person standing barely over 5' tall. Maybe just was overanalyzing the situation.

It might been longer than a couple years ago, maybe 4 years ago right before turned 35 in November I'm now 39. I thought you had to be no older than 35 to join the police department, but I am friends with a lot cops and in some police departments they have no age restrictions. One cop I know said he could help get me in county police, told me a 50 yr old man just joined his department made it through the police academy. I guess just didn't have any self confidence and didn't bother to apply.

I do watch a lot of cop shows drives my wife nuts. Watch detectives solving murder crimes like Forensic Files for example. She can't understand how I can sit there calmly and not be bothered by blood and guts and gruesome murder scenes. I always found police work interesting and always had great respect for many friends of mine who are police officers, looked up to them as my heroes. Read probably about 40+ books by Agatha Christie as a kid.

hiddenknight821

Why hasn't someone locked this thread already?

NetworkingStudent

Moon Child wrote: »

Thats right I did. I actually got invited to go through a police training/ interview process oh a couple years ago? Maybe 4 years ago for the Chicago Heights police department. Saw an add in newspaper they were hiring. Minimum qualifications was a bachelor's degree and preferred previous experience in security or some LE experience. They called me in a big room with oh about 100 people. Said every week lots people be eliminated and someone asked how many people were they going hire, the police officer said maybe 1 or 2 and everyone else will be on a call list.

I guess didn't have enough self confidence to think would make it and didn't show up to day 2. Standing a little over 5' tall and these great big 6'4" muscular guys there I figured they wanting to hire a little 5' small guy to be a police officer was zero to none. Got invited to several interviews for corrections officers too, got interviewed by great big 6'4 guys with python size arms. I figured they weren't interested in me being in corrections when they saw me in person standing barely over 5' tall. Maybe just was overanalyzing the situation.

It might been longer than a couple years ago, maybe 4 years ago right before turned 35 in November I'm now 39. I thought you had to be no older than 35 to join the police department, but I am friends with a lot cops and in some police departments they have no age restrictions. One cop I know said he could help get me in county police, told me a 50 yr old man just joined his department made it through the police academy. I guess just didn't have any self confidence and didn't bother to apply.

I do watch a lot of cop shows drives my wife nuts. Watch detectives solving murder crimes like Forensic Files for example. She can't understand how I can sit there calmly and not be bothered by blood and guts and gruesome murder scenes. I always found police work interesting and always had great respect for many friends of mine who are police officers, looked up to them as my heroes. Read probably about 40+ books by Agatha Christie as a kid.

To the OP:

You should listen to your wife. Pick a career and stick with it!!

If you want to be a truck driver, then fine be a truck driver. You want to be EMT, then go be an EMT.

If you keep flipping flopping careers, it might take a toll on your marriage.

Stop comparing yourself to others, this is a contest you can not win. Be the best version of yourself that you can be.

LarryTR

Moon Child wrote: »

I do watch a lot of cop shows drives my wife nuts. Watch detectives solving murder crimes like Forensic Files for example. She can't understand how I can sit there calmly and not be bothered by blood and guts and gruesome murder scenes. I always found police work interesting and always had great respect for many friends of mine who are police officers, looked up to them as my heroes. Read probably about 40+ books by Agatha Christie as a kid.

kiki162

Lets be real for a minute.

It's probably ADD and anxiety causing a lot of these issues. I hate to get personal about it, but it's the honest truth. There's plenty of treatment options for ADD/Anxiety that will be life changing for you.

There are other options if you want to stay in the medical field like x-ray tech, etc. Yes, nursing is always in demand, but do you really want to see things most people shouldn't? Sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom in order for them to realize a major change needs to be made.

scaredoftests

Moon Child wrote: »

Lol that is actually funny the way you put it and your right and do have a good point. That actually helps me a little reading that thank you.

I just will see homeless people on the streets with no job and begging for food and I have a terrible fear of that happening to me. I will get bad nightmares about being homeless one day, wake up in night sweats. I have always had a job my entire adult life, never been unemployed, got a lot refrence letters from past employers and teachers I worked with, but still it is an awful fear I have.

I just feel the way to guarantee never getting homeless or unemployed is to be trained in so many different jobs that it will never happen to me. I do feel stupid sometimes I scored a 110 on IQ tests in middle school and was told had dyslexia as a kid , got only a 24 on ACT and like a 1050 on SAT so I feel really sensitive about that, but I guess that isn't so bad.

I have no problem landing interviews it's just when people see me in person... barely over 5' foot tall and have a hard time finding a suit that fits me properly for Interviews they don't hire me because of how small I am. Had 5 teaching interviews in 2 weeks and an interview with Comcast before left trucking and went back to old computer job. Comcast said I passed an online logic assessment test did well on it and invited me to an in-person interview for a Network/ cable installer position with Comcast, but flubbed up that interview they never called back.

What in the world does your height have to do with anything? I am 4'8". It is all in the attitude. You are creating so many obstacles for yourself.

beads

In Moonchild's weakest of weak defense I can understand part of the problem being a reflection of location. Two clues here: IvyTech (https://www.ivytech.edu/) and Chicago Heights reference puts OP in an economically suppressed area of the country not far from Chicago, Ft. Wayne and basically Northwest Indiana. A place where positions are sparse and cheap jobs are plentiful.

Of course having traveled through the Northern prairie of Indiana I can only but wonder why anyone settled there outside of farming a century ago. People tend to float from one job to another in many of the rural communities. I understand it. I grew up in one as well and plan to retire in one years from now.

MC you are reading much of the commentary correctly from the forum of over-certification achievers -find a vocation and stick with it.

- b/eads

LarryTR

I live in a rust belt state. It's tough. Getting a decent job isn't about what "credentials" or degrees you have or even your experience, it's who you know.

I used to work for a local but large copier sales/service company as a CSR. They had the service contracts for the School District and local govt machines. It's amazing how so many (most) of the last names in the higher positions are the same. It's very incestuous.

Queue

I did what your doing for a while, I was never successful. As soon as I picked IT and worked on my career, everything fell in place. I tripled my highest previous income in less than 3 years. I expect it to quadruple from that point in the next couple years. You have to stick with something. If you want to live a bunch of different roles play the Sims or something.

Start listening to yourself. You know your wife doesn't want the trucking driving, therefore move past it. Stop mentioning it. I don't understand why you wasted time getting a CDL knowing that you wouldn't be able to work in the profession.

There will always be some unskilled role that if everything goes south you will be able to make a basic income.

TechGuru80

Maybe pitch a tv show idea to a major network..."The 365 Job Man"...a show where you change jobs every day for a year. If Honey Boo Boo had a show, I'm sure you can do it.

N7Valiant

I get the indecisiveness. I started off college getting into Welding because I took shop once and thought it might be cool. It was less cool nearing the end of it and by the time I got my Associate's I was convinced that I didn't want to do this 8 hours a day. Then I tried Accounting and came to the same conclusion, but my realization was a bit quicker after 2 semesters.

After that I switched to IT, studied for 3 years, and after my internship I did find that I could easily do this 8 hours a day with no problem.

But having had more job experience than I, shouldn't you be able to point to something and say "that's what I want to do for the rest of my life"? I can rank my past jobs in order of preference. The unpaid internship still ranks higher to me than my $16/hr retail job.

I believe dyslexia may be a hurdle if you want to get into programming, do work involving command lines, reading data, etc. Though if you can study for and pass A+, Net+, Security+ then it evidently might not be true in your case.

I'm not married, but your wife's response should rule out trucking.


My dream job would be to be a video game programmer(as any juvenile dream job goes), but I'm not willing to move to California(too many laws, taxes, regulations IMO). I believe I have an aptitude for programming given that I cobbled together a Sudoku generator in my first class. But since I didn't take Comp Sci as a major instead of IT(my mistake), I'm not willing to move to the hot spot for programming jobs, and it's not practical to go back to school, I've decided that elsewhere in IT is the way to go. Namely InfoSec given the numerous military bases around here. It's also rather future-proof since it's rare to outsource security clearances.

You kind of have to give up what's ideal for what's practical. You also have to kind of know what the next step is and how to get there as others have said. Help desk is entry level unless you're applying to Tier 2 or higher. It's just to give you some money and some requisite experience while you study for and take a higher level cert so you can move up and instead of being the guy who talks to the customers first, you can get the more privileged position of being that other guy the customer might get transferred to if they get past the help desk.

You do seem like you expect maximum pay right off the bat, but I guess I can understand that if you're 39 and can't afford to work your way up from the bottom. That having been said, it seems like you should just stick to what you know and build on that.

Trucking sounds like your best source of immediate income, but I can't imagine 20+ years of experience trucking will get you a lot of promotions and pay raises. I find it hard to imagine that 2 years of cumulative experience in IT can't qualify you for something higher than Help Desk with your CIS degree. Sounds like you need to pick a specialization be it networking or programming and stick to it, aggressively gather certifications, seek relevant work, chase promotions. If there is a particular downside to the IT world though, it does seem to be that you do spend a lot of time chasing down and renewing certs throughout your career.

N7Valiant

scaredoftests wrote: »

What in the world does your height have to do with anything? I am 4'8". It is all in the attitude. You are creating so many obstacles for yourself.

True that. I knew a military guy who was short(shorter than me at 5'4"), but he was so padded with muscle that he left no doubt in my mind that he could easily take on people who were 6 feet tall.

Moon Child

scaredoftests wrote: »

What in the world does your height have to do with anything? I am 4'8". It is all in the attitude. You are creating so many obstacles for yourself.

So glad to hear that if your short and you can make it, I should't be thinking my height is the main obstacle. I just think of 'Heightism' discrimination and the research that shows shorter guys often getting less job offers and money regardless of their education level.

I probably will work on CCENT and study for the middle school math licensure. Looked at the math test I need to take to be licensed also be a middle school math teacher, it is really easy and I might as well take and pass it if it wouldn't take me long to do. In my state once you get a teaching license you can easily get licensed in another subject area by just passing a test. about 200 job openings for SPED teachers in my state but many want you be licensed also like in middle school math or another area so might as well do that if it is an easy test to pass.

scaredoftests

Moon Child wrote: »

So glad to hear that if your short and you can make it, I should't be thinking my height is the main obstacle. I just think of 'Heightism' discrimination and the research that shows shorter guys often getting less job offers and money regardless of their education level.

I probably will work on CCENT and study for the middle school math licensure. Looked at the math test I need to take to be licensed also be a middle school math teacher, it is really easy and I might as well take and pass it if it wouldn't take me long to do. In my state once you get a teaching license you can easily get licensed in another subject area by just passing a test. about 200 job openings for SPED teachers in my state but many want you be licensed also like in middle school math or another area so might as well do that if it is an easy test to pass.

I beg to differ (I am a woman), though I see plenty of guys at work that are the same height as you and they are just fine. Like I said, stop throwing obstacles along your path.

LarryTR

Moon Child wrote: »

I probably will work on CCENT and study for the middle school math licensure...about 200 job openings for SPED teachers in my state but many want you be licensed also like in middle school math or another area so might as well do that if it is an easy test to pass.

So you plan on teaching Cisco to Special Ed. math students

TheFORCE

Moon Child wrote: »

So glad to hear that if your short and you can make it, I should't be thinking my height is the main obstacle. I just think of 'Heightism' discrimination and the research that shows shorter guys often getting less job offers and money regardless of their education level.

I probably will work on CCENT and study for the middle school math licensure. Looked at the math test I need to take to be licensed also be a middle school math teacher, it is really easy and I might as well take and pass it if it wouldn't take me long to do. In my state once you get a teaching license you can easily get licensed in another subject area by just passing a test. about 200 job openings for SPED teachers in my state but many want you be licensed also like in middle school math or another area so might as well do that if it is an easy test to pass.

Here we go again.