The horrible feeling of being stuck

Heya Guys,

I recently completed my degree in nursing- realised that I hated every bit of it but I knew that I had to complete it- now I don't know what to do. I am currently looking at a career in tech but I don't even know how to go about it. Not only am I stressing about it but my parents are also stressing me. Everyday, I just feel like I'm dissociating more and more.

Any advice would be more than appreciated

Hi!

Why did you hate it? Didn't you choose the subject on purpose? Look for nursing-related jobs and apply then. I reckon you had your placements which should help you to find a career in healthcare. I've applied for BSc Hon's Adult Nursing for the September intake. Your words are discouraging me now.

Heya Guys,

I recently completed my degree in nursing- realised that I hated every bit of it but I knew that I had to complete it- now I don't know what to do. I am currently looking at a career in tech but I don't even know how to go about it. Not only am I stressing about it but my parents are also stressing me. Everyday, I just feel like I'm dissociating more and more.

Any advice would be more than appreciated

Heya Guys,

I recently completed my degree in nursing- realised that I hated every bit of it but I knew that I had to complete it- now I don't know what to do. I am currently looking at a career in tech but I don't even know how to go about it. Not only am I stressing about it but my parents are also stressing me. Everyday, I just feel like I'm dissociating more and more.

Any advice would be more than appreciated

Hi!

Why did you hate it? Didn't you choose the subject on purpose? Look for nursing-related jobs and apply then. I reckon you had your placements which should help you to find a career in healthcare. I've applied for BSc Hon's Adult Nursing for the September intake. Your words are discouraging me now.

Oh wow, I have a close friend in a very similar position. She’s about to finish her child nursing degree but she’s already unsure she wants to do this after graduation.

Firstly, do you know *why* you don’t want to do nursing anymore? Is it because of the shift work/NHS nurse shortages and overall pressure of the job? If so, you might want to consider a job outside of the hospital that’s more of a 9-5, such as being a school or nursery nurse, a functional assessor nurse etc, or you could even retrain to do something like sonography.

You could also apply for healthcare management or health and safety graduate roles ? Your degree will be directly relevant and you’ll be able to explain the transferable skills you’ve got.

If you are sure you don’t want to go into anything healthcare related, then you need to analyse why you want to go into tech. Your best bet would be to apply for tech bootcamps/internships/graduate positions, many of which are still taking applications now and don’t require tech experience. However they DO require proof of your interest in tech. On your CV and in your application you will have to show why you became interested in tech and what steps you have taken to learn more about tech.

For example, have you started learning how to code? Do you read journals/newspapers about tech? Did you work with tech to some level while in nursing and that inspired you? Stuff like that will really help you stand out. You need to make sure you don’t give off the image of “I’m just moving into tech because I hate nursing” or “I’m unable to tackle the pressures of a nursing career so that’s why I randomly chose tech” … instead you should give off the idea that “I have diligently studied nursing and learnt how to manage pressured situations, how to learn and apply new concepts (etc etc more transferable skills)… and I want to leverage these skills for a career in tech, which I’m extremely interested in because I’ve had …this experience and I’ve read …. this and I’ve done this….. and I know I’m a great candidate for this role”

I hope this helps, and good luck! Remember you’re still very young, you’ve got plenty of time to figure out what you want to do with your life. There are bankers that studied history and there are consultants that studied engineering! No one is ever trapped in their career!

I think Nursing is a good vocational job, however, you must really have a passion towards it. I don't want to discourage you!
There is so much nursing politics involved with a lot of nurses still fearing the doctors- even though they have just as much value to give. I think the main reasons I dislike nursing is because of the awful unsociable hours- there were times which I would go to placement at 7am and leave around 8pm. This use to be so depressing for me in the winter! Another reason is yes; although, you do have nice patients you also have some extremely entitled and racist patients and I guess because my heart was not in the right place i found this incredibly difficult to deal with

My best advice to you is make sure you gain a lot of work experience as you can; I know work experience in the hospital is hard so try the care home and speak to as many people as you can.

Thank you- this is very encouraging! I'm in the process of applying to graduate schemes, however, I am a bit late in the process as surprisingly, I never knew something of the sort existed. For many student nurses, other alternatives are never exactly shown! With an internship, don't you have to still be in university?

I do agree with your points. Thanks for those pieces of advice. I appreciate it. Good luck to you with whatever you do in your life!

Thank you!
I was in your position once so if you need any help with navigating university or nursing coursework/exams- feel free to contact me!

Thank you- this is very encouraging! I'm in the process of applying to graduate schemes, however, I am a bit late in the process as surprisingly, I never knew something of the sort existed. For many student nurses, other alternatives are never exactly shown! With an internship, don't you have to still be in university?

I just wanted to complete this thread for anyone who was like me to give them assurance that they can do it. One year later- I now have a grad job starting in September as a data Engineer at a well-known company. To anyone reading this, if I can do it so can you! Don't give up! Thank you to all that provided me with inspiration!

Hi! I am a second year midwifery student about to go into third year having the same sort of realisation as you did but at this stage it would be wiser for me to stick with it and get my degree. I am confident in my decision to pivot into tech, but was wondering is there anything you suggest I do in my third year to make this transition easier post qualifying? I found your post really inspirational so thank you! Also, would you be able to share more details of how you made the transition during the last year.
Huge congrats, and wish you all the best with your new job!