Looking for an IT job

On Wednesday night, I made the mistake of taking a close look at my finances. I think I know what a full blown panic attack feels like now. I couldn't sleep and was second guessing my chances of getting a decent IT job. I was starting to think that I might have to start looking for really crappy entry level IT positions.

I had an interview on Thursday morning with a potential employer and was pretty pessimistic about it, as I was driving to the interview. Traffic was horrible and I made it just in time. When I walked into the building, I was thinking about all the different ways that the interview could go horribly wrong. I was starting to think of the interview as just a way to get some good interviewing experience and perhaps an opportunity to get some feedback into what I need to do to get back into IT.

The interview was the best one I ever had. My two year absence from IT, and my pursuit of an RT career, was an interesting topic of conversation that left the interviewers thoroughly entertained. The interview was fairly technical and was a big confidence builder. I can still "talk tech" with IT professionals and come across as knowledgeable and competent.

I also had an interview with an IT recruiter on Thursday afternoon. I was still pumped about the interview in the morning, during that interview. The recruiter was pretty enthusiastic about me and the employment opportunities that are available to me.

My interview in the morning was the first IT job that I applied for. I had forgotten about how long the hiring process takes. I applied for that job in early August and was interviewed by a hiring manager over 30 days later!

What have I done

I've pursued an interest in Science and Medicine as far as I need to. Science is interesting but I'm not interested in doing the work required to get a PhD and I hate working in a lab. Medicine is interesting but I dislike several things associated with patient care and working in a hospital.

I have a renewed interest, and enthusiasm, for my IT career and am going to go back to it without any second thoughts.

More details coming soon

I'll provide more details about what I've done, what I'm doing and what I'm planning to do. The short version of the story is that I'm returning to my Information Technology career.

I'm kind of busy studying for some exams, so I might not be getting around to any serious posting for a while.

I'm thinking about starting a new blog. I'll leave this blog around because it might be of use to people interested in Respiratory Therapy.

My "career exploration sabbatical" is over, but the adventure continues...

Departure Date: 2010-07-14

I got a copy of my transcript a few days ago. At the top it says:

ELIGIBLE TO CONTINUE
Departure Date: 2010-07-14

I dropped out of the program. After completing about 2.5 months of clinical rotations, I decided that don't want to be an RT. Everyone who knows about it, is shocked. I'm relieved.

Last shift for PICU

I've already finished my NICU rotation. I'm about to leave for the last shift of my PICU rotation. Next week I'll go back to my base Hospital and do the rest of my rotations there.  I'm having trouble coming to grips with the fact that my training will be finished in a about 5 months. I feel like I know so little and have so much to learn.

NICU Rotation

I'm currently doing my NICU rotation in a Level III NICU. I thought that I would find neonates scary but they aren't that bad. Some of them are actually ridiculously cute. I've got a few days off and am having trouble motivating myself to study.

First week of clinical

The first week of clinical was fairly unstressful. I went to my first code blue, which was interesting. I always wondered how I would do at a code blue. I was there and did what needed to be done, just like everyone else in the room. Doing a code blue in the school's simulation lab, was a lot more stressful.

My new favorite book

This is my new favorite book.  It's not a Respiratory Disease book that goes into a bit of Pathophysiology, it's a real Pathophysiology book!  All of my other so called "Patho books" are a joke when compared to this one.

Clinical Rotations

This is how much time I'll be spending at each rotation

Adult ICU:  12 weeks
Wards/ER:  7 weeks
OR:  3 weeks
PFT: 2 weeks
Level 3 NICU:  3 weeks
Simulated PICU/PCCU:  1 week
Level 3 PICU/PCCU:  1 week

I'll be doing the first week of my Wards/ER rotation next week.  I'll be working with a different Preceptor each day, which should make things interesting next week.

Orientation complete

I finished my hospital orientation.  I did the orientation in three 12 hour shifts.  My base hospital is freaking huge!  I've already gotten lost 4 or 5 times.  The tour of the hospital, on the first day, lasted 5 hours.  The person giving the tour actually go lost a couple times.  I'll be on Wards next week.  I also have a bunch of homework to do for the clinical site and for the college.

First day of Clinical tomorrow

I'll be starting my clinical rotation tomorrow.  I'm pretty excited about it.  Next week I'll be doing twelve hour shifts. I'm told that next week is an orientation week. I have to dress business casual, so I'm not sure if I'll actually have any patient contact. I'm bringing some scrubs and a lab coat with me, just in case I need them.

I've now finished the first two years of a three year Respiratory Therapy Program.  The third year is the clinical rotation part of my training. Everyone's telling me that everything will start to make sense during clinical. I hope they're right. I should graduate from the program in December of this year.

I picked up my NRP card yesterday.

Passed the composite exam

The average mark was about 3 percent above a pass.  Lots of people are going to be writing up study plans.  My final mark for the composite was 77%. 

What does a respiratory therapist, right out of college, need?

Someone recently sent me an email asking, "What does a respiratory therapist, right out of college, need?"  She's looking for gift ideas for a relative who's about to graduate from an RT program.  Something RTish that could be useful for a new RT fresh out of school...

Asking me for gift ideas is like asking a drowning man for swimming lessons.  I was hoping that others could leave some suggestions in the comments...

Composite exam marks by the end of the week?

Now we're being told that we will get our composite exam marks, by the end of the week.  I strongly suspect that too many people got slaughtered on part II of the exam. They're probably trying to figure out what questions not to count or how low to make the pass mark.

I guess I wasn't the only person wondering what made them think that I could actually answer those types of questions.  A lot of the questions were beyond me and I mentioned that to a couple of faculty today...

Waiting for marks

The final marks for fourth semester are starting to be released.  I'm still waiting for my Anesthesia and Composite exam marks. 

So far I've got two Bs and two As.  I'm hoping Anesthesia is an A+ and the composite exam is a pass.  If I fail the composite exam I have to write up study plan and be ashamed of myself, for a couple of days.

Composite exam - Part I and II

Part I of the Composite exam tested my ability to apply fundamental concepts and my ability to problem solve.  I think I did pretty good on that part.  That part was 2 hours long.  An hour later I wrote Part II.

Part II of the Composite exam was all case studies.  I'm not really sure how I did on that one.  I felt like I had a lot of opinions and not a lot of confident answers.  That part was 2.5 hours long.

I think my chances of passing the Composite are pretty good.  The exam tested me on very little of what I studied, or wanted to study, yesterday. 

I go to the big shiny new hospital next month and start my clinical rotation.

Two parts

The composite today has two parts.  One is from 9-11AM.  The second part is from 12-1PM.  I'm going to do some last minute studying, of first year material this morning, and then hope for the best.

I was actually thinking about what I should put in my study plan, last night.  That thing could potentially end up being really long and taking a lot of work to get done.

More thoughts about the composite exam

I finished my last real exam today, so now I'm studying for the composite exam.

I've been studying my ass off for the last 2 years.  As far as I'm concerned, I've spent 2 years studying for the composite.  I only have today left to review some things, before I write the composite.  If I get tested on things that I don't know, it really doesn't matter.  If it mattered, then my mark on the composite exam would show up on my transcript or at least have in an influence on a mark that does show up.

If I fail the exam I have to write up a study plan.  I essentially just have to make a commitment to study!  WTF?  I'm almost a straight A student, I didn't accomplish that by not studying.  There are a couple of people in my class who don't study that much and get great marks.  Unfortunately, I'm not one of them.

Also:  Yipee, I can spell check my posts again!  That feature has been missing for ages.

Here I go again

Once again I have underestimated how much I have to study for today's exam.  I left school at 11PM yesterday and now I'm up at 4AM to do some more studying for my 9AM exam...

Thoughts about the composite exam

I'm currently studying for my Pulmonary Diagnostics exam, which I write tomorrow. I will be writing the cumulative composite exam on Friday. The exam is supposed to cover what has been taught over the last 2 years of RT school.

 

I haven't really studied much for the composite exam and these are some of the reasons why:

• I like sleeping.
• Trying to cram for an exam that covers 2 years of RT school is just plain stupid and I won’t spend more than a day doing it.
• I've probably remembered a few things, which I've learned over the last two years, and probably will be tested on some of that.
• The composite exam is supposed to encourage students to review and reinforce things that they have already learned. I don't need the encouragement to do that and will do that over the next eight months.
• How I do on the composite will not have anything to do with the marks that show up on my student transcript. If I plan on furthering my education, no one will care how I did on the composite. They will want to see my transcript. I have had no interest in studying less, for courses whose marks will show up on my transcript, so that I can do better on the composite.
• If I fail the composite, I will just have to write up a study plan that will address the things that I need to brush up on. I probably would have come up with a study plan, on my own anyway, so that I do better in clinical and can pass the registry exam next year. I probably wouldn't have written one up but I sure would have had one in my head.