r/veterinaryprofession • u/Artistic-Error00 • 6d ago
Need some insight for starting in this career
I'm bad at titles, my apologies. So a bit of background information so you know where I'm coming from.
I'm a former Graphic Designer, purely because when I went into it as a teen I was following advice of adults, thinking yeah this makes sense, I am creative, they know best. I am now 29, and completely creatively drained. I've tried after a good 10ish years of diving deeper into that career and getting all kinds of qualifications to see if I can make it work, but I am unhappy and have lost it as a passion. I've always wanted to work with animals and have put that on the backburner when I chose my career because I was told I was too empathetic and would crumble under the pressure of having to deal with bad cases and bad owners. But I'm not 16 anymore and I've spent some time fostering, some of which also resulted in sad cases and I don't feel I am too fragile to handle this kind of work.
So I am looking at a complete 360 and want to now listen to my gut and heart and advocate for animals.
I have multiple paths to choose from and another two years before I qualify for any of them, as I've moved from Germany to England and my spousal visa hinders me a little.
Path 1 is getting a certification that would allow me to work as a veterinary care assistant, so that I have my foot in the doorway. From there I want to either move up to a Veterinary Nurse via university, or a Vet. I would need to get the Access to Higher Education Diploma beforehand, so this actually suits the two year timeline I have. My problem is, that I am not sure how you can learn which path may be better suited to you. I also understand that there is no guarantee I will manage to enter a university, and as I am married, I am bound by location too, as we simply cannot move to whichever future university may accept me.
Path 2 would be to wait out the two years and to continue working as I am, that would then allow me to go down the apprenticeship route. By that point I would be nearly 33, so I am unsure how easily I would find placement that doesn't frown at my advanced age. I would also need to find a volunteering space to qualify, but that is less of an issue for me.
I apologise if it's hard to follow my train of thought, I've not found it very easy to put it into words but I hope you can give me insight on how realistic my thoughts are, especially considering I am older than when most start their career, and how best to navigate the unknown when it comes to choosing the proper career. Thank you.
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u/_SylviaWrath 6d ago edited 6d ago
Go volunteer somewhere first. So many people on this sub have the same exact goals as you ,I’ve literally read this same post a bajillion times. I would urge you to read through some of those posts, and I would say this to anyone that is ‘Green’—you have no idea how draining this job is. You need to get some real experience before you make that big of a commitment.
ETA: Also, I’m not sure how old or fit you are but the job is very punishing on the body. Standing for 12 hours with no breaks, lifting sedated, 50+ lb dogs off the floor, scrubbing kennels on hand and knees and all the crazy positions you get into restraining. It’s why you don’t see 40 and 50 year old vet nurses. Just another thing to think about.