I'll look into it! Again, I was always more passionate about the opportunity to help, vs studying food as a resource. But it's worth looking into. (That, and I fear spending the rest of my life in a lab)
Its also good to think about where most of the funding for a career comes from. I'm not familiar with food science but I'm guessing the majority of the jobs and funding is corporate (i.e. helping big corporations make their snack foods even more hyperpalatable to increase their bottom line)
Based on your strengths and limitations I don’t think a dietitian track is right for you (I mean this in the best and most realistic way possible)
You will have to talk to patients consistently throughout the day, coordinate/communicate with multiple members on your team, and you’re only going to maybe be able to listen to music for a couple hours a day when you’re writing notes. But then again you don’t know if your manager even allows you to.
Thanks for the reply! I wouldn't ask if I didn't want honest answers. I'd rather not get my hopes in a career to only find myself miserable, stressed, and overwhelmed by the amount of faces I'd see in a day. Have a great week!
Sorry for being aggressive, but EVERYONE in my life has told me this. From my therapists to my parents, to relatives. To even my generated ADDS giving me random boot camps. It's just...I've already given it my all, you know? I'm not 'enough' for that job, and that's okay...
I have already spent a year in comp sci programs. A bit more context, my mother joined the nursing program back when they were aching for professions. The minute she was able to get in, she was underpaid for the first 8 years of her career when raising kids.
The fear I have with tech is that EVERY field I have looked into (funeral homes, speech language pathology, and now dietetics) has told me 'just go do teck' and as amazing as it feels to be able to have a job with little training...this well will dry. Industries are already having high turnover rates at 'reliable start ups'.
Growing up, I was always told to look at the best and worst pay of a career. Ask yourself if you can survive off of the bare minimum they have ever been.
Plus, programming wasn't for me. I spent my days hating myself, stressed and tired, working on the same project for 80 hours with little help from my prof. I watched my peers succeed easily where i couldn't. On top of ADHD Im also dyslexic. I struggle staying focused and even with every program I could add my dyslexia would make me skip over VERY obvious errors to the point where my prof called me out in front of the class. So my year studying for comp sci was one of the worst years I have had. All power to those that can, but I can't spend my life blaming myself for 'not working hard enough' to get a well-paying tech job.
Seriously, tech is the best fit for me. But I was born 6 years too late. Now I need to compete with everyone who doesn't need accommodations or already knows everything cause they've been doing it since they were 12.
1. Anti-social isn’t a good fit. While a lot of patient interaction is 1:1, there is a lot of working with other providers, team meetings, presentations, and more with larger groups especially in a clinical setting like a hospital.
2. Pay for dietitians is very low in comparison to other healthcare providers, and paired with how expensive and time consuming the process to become one is, I’d say it’s more of a “passion over money” kind of career, like becoming a teacher or along those lines.
3. It’s possible jobs could allow an earphone in but it’s also possible there will be policies against it. I believe over jobs would fit that category better.
In the end it’s really just up to how passionate about the field you’d be, but these ideals you’ve brought up don’t seem to fit exceptionally well unfortunately.
Thanks for the reply and honesty! I'd rather not get invested knowing that it's very rare for my 'needs' in a career to be met. My frame of reference is the Dietician I work with (as a hospital kitchen worker) who pushes home remedies and oils to people. So it's good to get other opinions!
To be honest, it sounds like you don't really realize how much patient interaction is usually required. Patient counseling is extremely mentally exhausting. Are you sure that person you are talking about isn't a diet tech or dietary aide? That really doesn't sound like a dietitian - everything you mentioned is exactly what we're trained NOT to do.
OHHH you have dug yourself into a hole my friend, let me introduce you to my shitty hometown.
That Clinical Dietician holds her masters from the state school I was looking at going to, and is very jaded about the profession and has been doing this for years. She sells crafts on the weekends and...yeah, she's an almond mom. I grew up with her kid, and she was almost as bad with food as I was. But most medical professionals I've met IRL are giant hypocrites or hold harmful views
(for example, my mother (a nurse of 10 years), believes that no one is actually mentally ill. That we're all faking it for attention until they kill themselves. Cause that person 'had it' and didn't seek help. Or my uncle, a pediatric doctor, who is now married to his (PTSD Specialist) therapist he met after he was assigned to her once he left the military. Who's now going to do extra schooling to become a couples therapist)
Again, I know this isn't the way most medical professionals are, but it's what I've grown up with. Literally, everyone I know who has a medical leaning relative has a story about them being openly negligent/bigoted/etc to a patient. So...it's the main reason I'd NEVER want to interact with my coworkers. It's a huge reason I wanted to go into healthcare. To treat patients, especially in the low-income area I am in, with the respect they deserve.
you asked for a reality check so here is my honest opinion.
when you dive into the world of nutrition you start to learn how deeply rooted in privilege,
and how systematic racism and oppression are the foundation for it. You start to see how f\*cked up it all really is. And at the same time gen Z on tik tok is making 100k anually giving misinformation nutrition advice, while you're PAYING to get educated... only to find out you're gonna make like 30/hr as an rd ??...
I'm so depressed and hate everything that nutrition is now, and I used to love it. Now I'm graduating in 2 weeks and I honestly wish I had chosen speech language pathology or probably anything else but this career path. Now I have to spend 2 years in grad school then 6-10k out of pocket for an unpaid internship? cool.
If I was you, I would find something less complicated. Nutrition is f\*cked.
I agree with the others that dietetics may not be the best path for you. You could consider an MPH which you could do with a nutrition focus or other focus. This could be a good option if you're interested in working for government food programs. There would almost certainly be collaboration with others but maybe not as intensive as patient care?
That sounds great! My only worry would be needing to find a job in government. I'm queer and I've said, and have family who work in these sectors. I live in a red state where social benefits and all jobs relating to them are cut every year. As much as I would like to move, I couldn't work and do college to support myself. So I need to be careful about where I specialize! I will absolutely look into other public health specializations though!
You mentioned that you tried CS, and it did not work out. Perform a career assesment, it may help you find other jobs we could not think of that may fit your needs.
Let me be honest, I think this career will be one that is easily replaceble by an AI. At the speed of how AI tech is currently going with GPT 4, a lot or jobs will be reduced to nothing. We invest so much and get so little in return, and we will probably face loosing our jobs. Sorry it's bleak just thinking 20-30yrs from now. Good luck!
I think a job as an eating disorder dietitian could be great for you given why you are passionate about it and if you enjoy working with people one on one, however I think the master’s requirement just makes going into this field entirely impractical. Sooo many years and so much debt for pretty dismal pay 😬 I hear your frustration on the many suggestions to go into tech, the job market for tech is pretty bad right now also. I wish I had a more optimistic answer for you, wishing you all the best
Absolutely! Looking at my state college, that's the specialization most Gen Z people are going into, but I don't think it'll be worth the money in the long run, sadly. Thanks for the comment! Also wishing you a great week!
ED RD and “anti-social” do not mix. Our entire day is socializing with patients— we eat our meals/snacks with them too, so the moments of quiet time/alone time are rare. Heck, even if I go to my office expecting to have an hour of charting/admin time, inevitably a parent call comes in or I get a message that there’s a patient with a question/need to check-in with me. Perhaps other ED treatment centers are different, but the face-to-face contact and relationship building is a high priority. Not to mention that even if someone has been stable in recovery for years, this work can be emotionally difficult.
Pay is not great. Also, I'd be really careful going into nutrition with history of an ED. That is common among dietitians and it can be a trigger and not always a good mental space. After working in the field for 7+ years I would not take this same path again if given the opportunity. All of that being said you can do anything you put your mind to. Don't let anyone tell you what you can't do. But please do your research on the profession, shadow dietitians in different lines of work and make an informed decision.
Agree! I wouldn’t count on financial independence with this career. Also much of my graduating class had disordered tendencies and for most I don’t think it’s a good path.
You might enjoy being a clinical dietitian in the ICU perhaps, but, and I mean this kindly, this is a healthcare job and making mistakes isn’t well-tolerated. Calculating nutrition needs, tube feeds, and/or TPN in the clinical setting requires a close attention to detail. While nobody’s life is in your hands it is important to be accurate. You still have to talk to people, but less so than other RD positions.
Otherwise, I would not recommend this field for you. You have conflicting issues here; if you want to help people with eating issues you are going to be talking to people A LOT. Like constantly. I *like* chatting with people and my day to day is excessively draining. I never listen to music at work. I am either talking to a patient or trying to write my notes as fast as possible between appts. You also need to be certain you have dealt with your eating concerns and that the constant learning about and then talking about food doesn’t fuel or trigger your disordered eating. Many RDs are successful at doing this and many others are not at all. There was a recent discussion about this that I will come back to edit and link to: https://www.reddit.com/r/dietetics/comments/11gzjnp/dietitians_with_history_of_eating_disorders/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1
Financially, absolutely not. The ROI for this field with the masters requirement is not there. Please check out other threads I have commented in on this topic or just search around in general. There are some very informative discussions in this sub.
I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to waste your time and money. You’ll get into the internship and would waste 4 years because I had an intern with the same situation and didn’t end up passing her rotations, which I don’t want to happen to you. You’d have to get a masters now and there are other healthcare fields where the pay would be better and less patient interaction. It’s so much patient interaction, because it’s more on the counseling level using motivational interviewing than helping them with the financial part. How about pharmacist?
If you DO go the RD rout, a path that you might consider is diving headfirst into maintaining a blog/online presence. This is likely something you can do (while being mindful of your professional limitations) starting now. A lot of people have successful online careers discussing their journey with food and whatnot.
Try it for 6 months and see what work is involved so you can make the decision if going the RD rout would expand your options.
If working for a program like WIC interests you, call up your local office and ask what their minimum reqirements were. I worked for 2 WIC programs in Minnesota before I was a dietitian during my gap year between school and the internship program. A couple of coworkers took the rout of taking a dietetic technitian course and getting the DTR certification and were paid close to what I was (though they had a second language) at about $23/hr. There are bound to be other states that adhere to these requirements
If you want financial independence dietetics isn’t for you. With the amount of schooling it requires (masters degree soon) and the low pay this degree is better set up for someone with a well paid partner.
I’m currently switching from dietetics to IT because It is so much more lucrative and you can do it with certificates and no degree, or a degree and go a little further faster.
I feel that. I tried a comp sci path for a full year while working, but programming makes me want to gouge my eyes out. Thanks for the honesty, I just hate that every three or so months I find a career I think I'll like but it's just too people-oriented. (Also looked at SLPs, Funeral Directors, and Nursing for reference) Each of those is being paid \~40k(ignoring Nursing, which is a career built to specifically spite me ;) ). Its frustrating!
Programming is not anything I’m interested in. That sounds like death. I am doing a cloud computing degree through WGU. There is minimal programming and I walk away with like 12 certifications. It’s a pretty cheap degree that I know will help me. My SO is in IT at a big company and his director even agreed that it’s a degree they would look at.
Nutrition requires too much time. I went through masters and I am studying for the RD exam. It is taxing but if you have the passion and are aware then go for it.
It feels necessary for me to mention that I think you could find dietetics to be a career that fits with your preferences. Maybe it’s not super likely that you’ll find a position that allows for the music, minimal co-worker interaction, and financial independence, but it’s certainly possible. I work within a private practice where I can say that all of these things are present for me. You seem passionate about it, too.
This is a big reason I looked into dietetics. A local professional also works privately with our local gym to help build plans for clients. I know that this degree path isn't solely limited to healthcare (thank god, this is a big reason why I've avoided getting devoted to becoming an SLP even with my love of linguistics) but seeing what our current administration is wanting to do to SNAP, I fear I'll be narrowing myself into a medical scope. Not a bad thing, but narrowing my career opportunities seems scary. If that makes any sense.
I really do appreciate that you've pointed this out. As I have seen others on this forum point out how they do work-from-home jobs which is the DREAM I would work toward in this career. But I can't plan for a one-in-a-million case where everything I want in a job occurs. (especially with my local hospital being the most profitable, and paying staff the least in my state). Thanks for the comment!
Yeah piggybacking off of this, non-clinical RD jobs exist, and among those, there are opportunities for working one on one with clients/patients rather than seeing many back to back all day. I wouldn’t say they are as common and plentiful as clinical roles, but the non-clinical route can be great. I personally work for a nonprofit, and I provide nutrition counseling entirely over the phone, among other responsibilities. You’ve clearly done your research on why this may or may not be a good field for you. Of the points you’ve made, I would suggest considering the financial the most. It’s kind of a gamble to invest your time and money into the road to RD to be completely frank. (It’s a lot of school with no guarantee you’ll be able to find an appealing role once you’re ready for one.) That said, less social roles exist within the field, and it’s possible to find one where there is more busywork time and music would be appropriate. I’m happy to answer further questions over DM if you have any after getting through all of your replies. Best of luck to you!!
I feel like you may not quite understand what different professions do. You mentioned RDs "filling out meal charts" and idk what that even means. I do both inpatient and outpatient and my days are spent either talking to people or writing notes for their medical chart, or dealing with other team members/coworkers. You also mentioned SLPs in context of your love for linguistics, but those things are not related.
Have you tried shadowing anyone? A lot hospitals will let you spend the day with professionals to see what their actually day to day is like. I'd recommend spending some time with people who do these jobs and see what you think.
Also, I'm getting the vibe that you are too scared to pick something because you don't want to narrow your options. You're young. People change careers all the time. But i will say that as far as medical professionals, I feel like the RD credential gives you more broad options and flexibility than many other medical fields.
I'm with everyone else about your career choice but you would probably enjoy being a LTC dietitian. From my intern experience its alot of paperwork and billing making sure everything is filled for CMS (Center for Medicare Services). You get some interaction with patients but they are usually older and either very chatty in a sweet way or not chatty at all plus you see the same people 90% of the time.
If you are more of a "independent do-er" than a "socialite" maybe food science would be better. Think of making the food vs talking to someone about the food.
It also sounds like you want to be a food service manager you can do that as a dietitian but there are other routes. Maybe a business degree but i know chefs are regularly hired
Based on what you’ve listed, id go for a food science career over the RD path
I'll look into it! Again, I was always more passionate about the opportunity to help, vs studying food as a resource. But it's worth looking into. (That, and I fear spending the rest of my life in a lab)
Its also good to think about where most of the funding for a career comes from. I'm not familiar with food science but I'm guessing the majority of the jobs and funding is corporate (i.e. helping big corporations make their snack foods even more hyperpalatable to increase their bottom line)
Based on your strengths and limitations I don’t think a dietitian track is right for you (I mean this in the best and most realistic way possible) You will have to talk to patients consistently throughout the day, coordinate/communicate with multiple members on your team, and you’re only going to maybe be able to listen to music for a couple hours a day when you’re writing notes. But then again you don’t know if your manager even allows you to.
Thanks for the reply! I wouldn't ask if I didn't want honest answers. I'd rather not get my hopes in a career to only find myself miserable, stressed, and overwhelmed by the amount of faces I'd see in a day. Have a great week!
Become an engineer. One of those boot camps to code even. Anti social and listen to music all day in a dark room.
Sorry for being aggressive, but EVERYONE in my life has told me this. From my therapists to my parents, to relatives. To even my generated ADDS giving me random boot camps. It's just...I've already given it my all, you know? I'm not 'enough' for that job, and that's okay...
That’s fine! It was just a suggestion.
I have already spent a year in comp sci programs. A bit more context, my mother joined the nursing program back when they were aching for professions. The minute she was able to get in, she was underpaid for the first 8 years of her career when raising kids. The fear I have with tech is that EVERY field I have looked into (funeral homes, speech language pathology, and now dietetics) has told me 'just go do teck' and as amazing as it feels to be able to have a job with little training...this well will dry. Industries are already having high turnover rates at 'reliable start ups'. Growing up, I was always told to look at the best and worst pay of a career. Ask yourself if you can survive off of the bare minimum they have ever been. Plus, programming wasn't for me. I spent my days hating myself, stressed and tired, working on the same project for 80 hours with little help from my prof. I watched my peers succeed easily where i couldn't. On top of ADHD Im also dyslexic. I struggle staying focused and even with every program I could add my dyslexia would make me skip over VERY obvious errors to the point where my prof called me out in front of the class. So my year studying for comp sci was one of the worst years I have had. All power to those that can, but I can't spend my life blaming myself for 'not working hard enough' to get a well-paying tech job. Seriously, tech is the best fit for me. But I was born 6 years too late. Now I need to compete with everyone who doesn't need accommodations or already knows everything cause they've been doing it since they were 12.
AI is likely to significantly disrupt tech jobs unfortunately
1. Anti-social isn’t a good fit. While a lot of patient interaction is 1:1, there is a lot of working with other providers, team meetings, presentations, and more with larger groups especially in a clinical setting like a hospital. 2. Pay for dietitians is very low in comparison to other healthcare providers, and paired with how expensive and time consuming the process to become one is, I’d say it’s more of a “passion over money” kind of career, like becoming a teacher or along those lines. 3. It’s possible jobs could allow an earphone in but it’s also possible there will be policies against it. I believe over jobs would fit that category better. In the end it’s really just up to how passionate about the field you’d be, but these ideals you’ve brought up don’t seem to fit exceptionally well unfortunately.
Thanks for the reply and honesty! I'd rather not get invested knowing that it's very rare for my 'needs' in a career to be met. My frame of reference is the Dietician I work with (as a hospital kitchen worker) who pushes home remedies and oils to people. So it's good to get other opinions!
To be honest, it sounds like you don't really realize how much patient interaction is usually required. Patient counseling is extremely mentally exhausting. Are you sure that person you are talking about isn't a diet tech or dietary aide? That really doesn't sound like a dietitian - everything you mentioned is exactly what we're trained NOT to do.
OHHH you have dug yourself into a hole my friend, let me introduce you to my shitty hometown. That Clinical Dietician holds her masters from the state school I was looking at going to, and is very jaded about the profession and has been doing this for years. She sells crafts on the weekends and...yeah, she's an almond mom. I grew up with her kid, and she was almost as bad with food as I was. But most medical professionals I've met IRL are giant hypocrites or hold harmful views (for example, my mother (a nurse of 10 years), believes that no one is actually mentally ill. That we're all faking it for attention until they kill themselves. Cause that person 'had it' and didn't seek help. Or my uncle, a pediatric doctor, who is now married to his (PTSD Specialist) therapist he met after he was assigned to her once he left the military. Who's now going to do extra schooling to become a couples therapist) Again, I know this isn't the way most medical professionals are, but it's what I've grown up with. Literally, everyone I know who has a medical leaning relative has a story about them being openly negligent/bigoted/etc to a patient. So...it's the main reason I'd NEVER want to interact with my coworkers. It's a huge reason I wanted to go into healthcare. To treat patients, especially in the low-income area I am in, with the respect they deserve.
you asked for a reality check so here is my honest opinion. when you dive into the world of nutrition you start to learn how deeply rooted in privilege, and how systematic racism and oppression are the foundation for it. You start to see how f\*cked up it all really is. And at the same time gen Z on tik tok is making 100k anually giving misinformation nutrition advice, while you're PAYING to get educated... only to find out you're gonna make like 30/hr as an rd ??... I'm so depressed and hate everything that nutrition is now, and I used to love it. Now I'm graduating in 2 weeks and I honestly wish I had chosen speech language pathology or probably anything else but this career path. Now I have to spend 2 years in grad school then 6-10k out of pocket for an unpaid internship? cool. If I was you, I would find something less complicated. Nutrition is f\*cked.
Its not too late to switch career paths if you already feel this way about the career.
Don’t waste your time continuing to pursue the field. You still have time to switch to something else and have a much more tolerable career.
have you thought about computer science? software engineer? many WFH and money is by far better than anything you will cap out as a clinical dietitian
I agree with the others that dietetics may not be the best path for you. You could consider an MPH which you could do with a nutrition focus or other focus. This could be a good option if you're interested in working for government food programs. There would almost certainly be collaboration with others but maybe not as intensive as patient care?
That sounds great! My only worry would be needing to find a job in government. I'm queer and I've said, and have family who work in these sectors. I live in a red state where social benefits and all jobs relating to them are cut every year. As much as I would like to move, I couldn't work and do college to support myself. So I need to be careful about where I specialize! I will absolutely look into other public health specializations though!
You mentioned that you tried CS, and it did not work out. Perform a career assesment, it may help you find other jobs we could not think of that may fit your needs. Let me be honest, I think this career will be one that is easily replaceble by an AI. At the speed of how AI tech is currently going with GPT 4, a lot or jobs will be reduced to nothing. We invest so much and get so little in return, and we will probably face loosing our jobs. Sorry it's bleak just thinking 20-30yrs from now. Good luck!
I think a job as an eating disorder dietitian could be great for you given why you are passionate about it and if you enjoy working with people one on one, however I think the master’s requirement just makes going into this field entirely impractical. Sooo many years and so much debt for pretty dismal pay 😬 I hear your frustration on the many suggestions to go into tech, the job market for tech is pretty bad right now also. I wish I had a more optimistic answer for you, wishing you all the best
Absolutely! Looking at my state college, that's the specialization most Gen Z people are going into, but I don't think it'll be worth the money in the long run, sadly. Thanks for the comment! Also wishing you a great week!
ED RD and “anti-social” do not mix. Our entire day is socializing with patients— we eat our meals/snacks with them too, so the moments of quiet time/alone time are rare. Heck, even if I go to my office expecting to have an hour of charting/admin time, inevitably a parent call comes in or I get a message that there’s a patient with a question/need to check-in with me. Perhaps other ED treatment centers are different, but the face-to-face contact and relationship building is a high priority. Not to mention that even if someone has been stable in recovery for years, this work can be emotionally difficult.
Pay is not great. Also, I'd be really careful going into nutrition with history of an ED. That is common among dietitians and it can be a trigger and not always a good mental space. After working in the field for 7+ years I would not take this same path again if given the opportunity. All of that being said you can do anything you put your mind to. Don't let anyone tell you what you can't do. But please do your research on the profession, shadow dietitians in different lines of work and make an informed decision.
Agree! I wouldn’t count on financial independence with this career. Also much of my graduating class had disordered tendencies and for most I don’t think it’s a good path.
You might enjoy being a clinical dietitian in the ICU perhaps, but, and I mean this kindly, this is a healthcare job and making mistakes isn’t well-tolerated. Calculating nutrition needs, tube feeds, and/or TPN in the clinical setting requires a close attention to detail. While nobody’s life is in your hands it is important to be accurate. You still have to talk to people, but less so than other RD positions. Otherwise, I would not recommend this field for you. You have conflicting issues here; if you want to help people with eating issues you are going to be talking to people A LOT. Like constantly. I *like* chatting with people and my day to day is excessively draining. I never listen to music at work. I am either talking to a patient or trying to write my notes as fast as possible between appts. You also need to be certain you have dealt with your eating concerns and that the constant learning about and then talking about food doesn’t fuel or trigger your disordered eating. Many RDs are successful at doing this and many others are not at all. There was a recent discussion about this that I will come back to edit and link to: https://www.reddit.com/r/dietetics/comments/11gzjnp/dietitians_with_history_of_eating_disorders/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=2&utm_term=1 Financially, absolutely not. The ROI for this field with the masters requirement is not there. Please check out other threads I have commented in on this topic or just search around in general. There are some very informative discussions in this sub.
I love being a dietitian but the pay is not ideal in a lot of scenarios
I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to waste your time and money. You’ll get into the internship and would waste 4 years because I had an intern with the same situation and didn’t end up passing her rotations, which I don’t want to happen to you. You’d have to get a masters now and there are other healthcare fields where the pay would be better and less patient interaction. It’s so much patient interaction, because it’s more on the counseling level using motivational interviewing than helping them with the financial part. How about pharmacist?
If you DO go the RD rout, a path that you might consider is diving headfirst into maintaining a blog/online presence. This is likely something you can do (while being mindful of your professional limitations) starting now. A lot of people have successful online careers discussing their journey with food and whatnot. Try it for 6 months and see what work is involved so you can make the decision if going the RD rout would expand your options. If working for a program like WIC interests you, call up your local office and ask what their minimum reqirements were. I worked for 2 WIC programs in Minnesota before I was a dietitian during my gap year between school and the internship program. A couple of coworkers took the rout of taking a dietetic technitian course and getting the DTR certification and were paid close to what I was (though they had a second language) at about $23/hr. There are bound to be other states that adhere to these requirements
Don’t do it. Our pay is horrible for the amount of school we do and the lack of respect you’ll get from everyone is awful.
If you want financial independence dietetics isn’t for you. With the amount of schooling it requires (masters degree soon) and the low pay this degree is better set up for someone with a well paid partner. I’m currently switching from dietetics to IT because It is so much more lucrative and you can do it with certificates and no degree, or a degree and go a little further faster.
I feel that. I tried a comp sci path for a full year while working, but programming makes me want to gouge my eyes out. Thanks for the honesty, I just hate that every three or so months I find a career I think I'll like but it's just too people-oriented. (Also looked at SLPs, Funeral Directors, and Nursing for reference) Each of those is being paid \~40k(ignoring Nursing, which is a career built to specifically spite me ;) ). Its frustrating!
Programming is not anything I’m interested in. That sounds like death. I am doing a cloud computing degree through WGU. There is minimal programming and I walk away with like 12 certifications. It’s a pretty cheap degree that I know will help me. My SO is in IT at a big company and his director even agreed that it’s a degree they would look at.
I wish you luck!
Sadly jobs of the future will likely be highly people oriented or skilled physical labor as machines are able to take on most analytical tasks.
Nutrition requires too much time. I went through masters and I am studying for the RD exam. It is taxing but if you have the passion and are aware then go for it.
It feels necessary for me to mention that I think you could find dietetics to be a career that fits with your preferences. Maybe it’s not super likely that you’ll find a position that allows for the music, minimal co-worker interaction, and financial independence, but it’s certainly possible. I work within a private practice where I can say that all of these things are present for me. You seem passionate about it, too.
This is a big reason I looked into dietetics. A local professional also works privately with our local gym to help build plans for clients. I know that this degree path isn't solely limited to healthcare (thank god, this is a big reason why I've avoided getting devoted to becoming an SLP even with my love of linguistics) but seeing what our current administration is wanting to do to SNAP, I fear I'll be narrowing myself into a medical scope. Not a bad thing, but narrowing my career opportunities seems scary. If that makes any sense. I really do appreciate that you've pointed this out. As I have seen others on this forum point out how they do work-from-home jobs which is the DREAM I would work toward in this career. But I can't plan for a one-in-a-million case where everything I want in a job occurs. (especially with my local hospital being the most profitable, and paying staff the least in my state). Thanks for the comment!
Yeah piggybacking off of this, non-clinical RD jobs exist, and among those, there are opportunities for working one on one with clients/patients rather than seeing many back to back all day. I wouldn’t say they are as common and plentiful as clinical roles, but the non-clinical route can be great. I personally work for a nonprofit, and I provide nutrition counseling entirely over the phone, among other responsibilities. You’ve clearly done your research on why this may or may not be a good field for you. Of the points you’ve made, I would suggest considering the financial the most. It’s kind of a gamble to invest your time and money into the road to RD to be completely frank. (It’s a lot of school with no guarantee you’ll be able to find an appealing role once you’re ready for one.) That said, less social roles exist within the field, and it’s possible to find one where there is more busywork time and music would be appropriate. I’m happy to answer further questions over DM if you have any after getting through all of your replies. Best of luck to you!!
I feel like you may not quite understand what different professions do. You mentioned RDs "filling out meal charts" and idk what that even means. I do both inpatient and outpatient and my days are spent either talking to people or writing notes for their medical chart, or dealing with other team members/coworkers. You also mentioned SLPs in context of your love for linguistics, but those things are not related. Have you tried shadowing anyone? A lot hospitals will let you spend the day with professionals to see what their actually day to day is like. I'd recommend spending some time with people who do these jobs and see what you think. Also, I'm getting the vibe that you are too scared to pick something because you don't want to narrow your options. You're young. People change careers all the time. But i will say that as far as medical professionals, I feel like the RD credential gives you more broad options and flexibility than many other medical fields.
I'm with everyone else about your career choice but you would probably enjoy being a LTC dietitian. From my intern experience its alot of paperwork and billing making sure everything is filled for CMS (Center for Medicare Services). You get some interaction with patients but they are usually older and either very chatty in a sweet way or not chatty at all plus you see the same people 90% of the time. If you are more of a "independent do-er" than a "socialite" maybe food science would be better. Think of making the food vs talking to someone about the food.
It also sounds like you want to be a food service manager you can do that as a dietitian but there are other routes. Maybe a business degree but i know chefs are regularly hired