The Student Room Group

Career prospects vs Pay etc

hello, opinions pls.
> which one of these do you think has the better pay?
>the better career prospects?
>and ultimately leads to a happier career choice?

Nursing- all branches and areas e.g. practice nurse, nurse practitioner, childrens nurse, mental health nurse, staff nurse etc.

Midwifery

Pharmacist- all areas

Pharmacy technician

Doctor

Biomedical Scientist- all areas incl research

Healthcare Scientist
Paramedic

Pathologist

Police Officer

Thanks x
Original post by Llemoon
hello, opinions pls.
> which one of these do you think has the better pay?
>the better career prospects?
>and ultimately leads to a happier career choice?

Nursing- all branches and areas e.g. practice nurse, nurse practitioner, childrens nurse, mental health nurse, staff nurse etc.

Midwifery

Pharmacist- all areas

Pharmacy technician

Doctor

Biomedical Scientist- all areas incl research

Healthcare Scientist
Paramedic

Pathologist

Police Officer

Thanks x


Apart from a pharmacy technician, all of the nhs careers you've listed start on similar salaries (about £21k), a pharmacy technician is less than that. I couldnt tell you what the scientists get but it could be similar. A police officer, appears to start from the lower 20k's also.
Now understandably you want to know how you ll pay your bills but none of what you've listed are "high" paying careers so seriously think about if they're for you if money motivates you.

As they're all public sector careers, they all have specific career progression you should look into. Happiness is a personal thing, I was incredibly unhappy working in nursing, but love my job in a pharmacy.
Original post by claireestelle
Apart from a pharmacy technician, all of the nhs careers you've listed start on similar salaries (about £21k), a pharmacy technician is less than that. I couldnt tell you what the scientists get but it could be similar. A police officer, appears to start from the lower 20k's also.
Now understandably you want to know how you ll pay your bills but none of what you've listed are "high" paying careers so seriously think about if they're for you if money motivates you.

As they're all public sector careers, they all have specific career progression you should look into. Happiness is a personal thing, I was incredibly unhappy working in nursing, but love my job in a pharmacy.


hey there can i ask what you didnt enjoy about nursing? how far through you were? and are you studying MPharm now? I have similar thoughts about leaving for something pharmaceutical like.
Original post by Llemoon
hello, opinions pls.
> which one of these do you think has the better pay?
>the better career prospects?
>and ultimately leads to a happier career choice?

Nursing- all branches and areas e.g. practice nurse, nurse practitioner, childrens nurse, mental health nurse, staff nurse etc.

Midwifery

Pharmacist- all areas

Pharmacy technician

Doctor

Biomedical Scientist- all areas incl research

Healthcare Scientist
Paramedic

Pathologist

Police Officer

Thanks x


I would think nursing, midwifery, doctor and pharmacist all have very good pay, dr and pharmacist being the highest. Also i think pathology requires you to be a doctor well if you want to be pathologist anyway. But you shouldnt just pick things due to money, however you dont want a job that doesnt pay much as its a lot of uni work to not get paid alot.
Original post by Barnaclebabe
hey there can i ask what you didnt enjoy about nursing? how far through you were? and are you studying MPharm now? I have similar thoughts about leaving for something pharmaceutical like.


Many things really, seeing people in so much distress had a real bad affect on me and my health and i never felt like i was truely helping patients (i was doing mh nursing, the legal side can be quite complex and although things were in peoples best interests, i couldn't bring myself to provide treatments that people hadn't directly consented to), couldn't leave the job at work, couldn't cope with shift work particularly well, i generally didnt enjoy the majority of the role. I left 6 months in. No, i m working in a pharmacy as a dispenser :smile:
hello, was reading through this. I think all have decent pay, especially those you require a degree for. I think you'll have to have a think about which is suited to you, for example a police officer is very different to a midwife so you shouldnt really go off pay. Nursing does pay a bit once you get more experience, as with midwifery. Doctors get paid A LOT and pharmacists get paid around 40K.
Original post by claireestelle
Many things really, seeing people in so much distress had a real bad affect on me and my health and i never felt like i was truely helping patients (i was doing mh nursing, the legal side can be quite complex and although things were in peoples best interests, i couldn't bring myself to provide treatments that people hadn't directly consented to), couldn't leave the job at work, couldn't cope with shift work particularly well, i generally didnt enjoy the majority of the role. I left 6 months in. No, i m working in a pharmacy as a dispenser :smile:


Hi, i was reading through this thread, I'm so sorry that you had to leave mental health nursing, my sister is a mental health nurse, she hated ward work with pts as she said they felt more of a box to check off rather than a person, however she now works in the community and loves the one to one care, im looking at studying pharmacy. Are you planning on studying pharmacy? and do you like your job as a dispenser? I have been trying to apply for part time work as one but they mainly seem to be full time.
Original post by Pharmafish
Hi, i was reading through this thread, I'm so sorry that you had to leave mental health nursing, my sister is a mental health nurse, she hated ward work with pts as she said they felt more of a box to check off rather than a person, however she now works in the community and loves the one to one care, im looking at studying pharmacy. Are you planning on studying pharmacy? and do you like your job as a dispenser? I have been trying to apply for part time work as one but they mainly seem to be full time.


I love my job:smile: I m not planning on it at the moment as I m happy as I am, mines a full time job.

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