I obtained a BS in Aerospace Engineer in 1998. After job jumping several times I realized I didn't care for it. I was basically a "paper" engineer, which was my fault as I never pursued jobs that did "real" engineering.
Anyway, around 2003/2004 I went to night school for EMT. The purpose was to be a dive master on dive boats (I was/am a dive master - I don't dive anymore). It was fun.
My engineering job sucked so I jumped into paramedic school right after EMT. I really enjoyed it. About a month from graduating PM school, county fire department came in to class and said they would hire paramedic only but we would have to cross train to firefighter.
In Feb 2006 I was 35 yo with a 9 month old baby and decided if I didn't do it then I never would so I applied and got hired then department put me through fire school.
It was the best career decision of my life. It didn't take long to see a bunch of people get hurt from the job, so I figured I better have a back up plan since I also have chronic health issues. From 2010 to 2015 I did an online Masters degree in CS. After completing it I started working part time remote jobs as a developer.
Then COVID hit in 2020 and they pulled me out of the field due to my health issues. I turned 50 and was getting tired after 14 years. I started applying to full time jobs and landed one.
In 2022 I switched jobs again for a better org and I am still here. I just switched positions from Java dev to cloud engineer in May.
I absolutely enjoyed 85+% of FF/pm but it is a young person's game. It gave me confidence I probably never would have found. Again, it was literally the best career move I ever made and would recommend anyone to do it.
I'm midway through a similar journey - jumped from engineering to fire then into armed forces. At the back of my head I can always go back to the office, but the passage of time guarantees the reverse is much harder.
To anyone that has even thought of something more outside an office, try it so long as you're physically able. Compensation is one thing, but the experience for me has been priceless.
> Compensation is one thing, but the experience for me has been priceless.
Yep. When I got hired on at the fire department I took a $12,000 pay cut. Overtime was abundant so it was easy to make up the loss plus some. But you definitely can't purchase the experience
The firefighters in my small northwest Iowa town don't get paid at all, it's strictly volunteer. Same for our EMTs, which the county is having trouble finding volunteers for.
Back when I was hired in 2006 and going through fire school we were told 70% of the United States is volunteer.
Either due to the remoteness of rural living or just people in rural areas have more grit, the call volumes are much lower.
I live in Florida, but I am from a small rural town in MO and my mom still lives where I grew up. I was just there in August and I picked up a brochure for the county ambulance. They have 5 ambulances for the entire county and their call volume was approximately 3000 calls per year!
The county fire department I worked at has approximately 40 station and the busiest station doing 3000+ EMS calls on its own. Our department did all the 911 transports. When I left in 2020 we ran approximately 90,000 calls.
Is there anything that you learned through the FF/PM job that you find applying in your SE job? If I would have to guess, it's estimating outcomes quickly, people and expectation management?
The one thing I feel I can point is being able to talk to people either one on one or giving a presentation. Part of it could be getting older but I do feel like the FF/PM experience played a significant part in it.
What it did not translate to, for me, was working under pressure in IT. As a paramedic I had standard operating procedures / guidelines to guide me AND once we departed the scene I was usually no more than 30 minutes away from a doctor AND I didn't cause the problem to begin with AND once I gained confidence in my abilities I didn't get nervous as much or questioning myself. For the most part there is only so much you can do in an emergency situation in the field.
However, if something breaks in the IT world and I have management breathing down my neck (doesn't happen often) I worry that it was something I did, I don't know how to fix it, I'm not fixing it fast enough, blah, blah, blah. You would think non-life threatening IT-issues would not bother me but they do. Day to day office politics and team interaction doesn't bother me much though.
Another thing I feel like I got out of the FF/PM career is a get-it-done-figure-it-out-as-you-go. From the proverbial cat in the tree (never had that call) to a person having a heart attack, to person needs to be extricated from a vehicle, you can't just say "nope can't be done" or "I'm not doing it". I now see coworkers pushing back on stuff without even making an attempt. Try something, anything, but just don't say "nope can't do it". That is frustrating to me.
Jumping on this as one who was a ff/pm and officer and is a product manager: break things down into smaller and smaller problems, prioritize and resource manage. Show up at an MVA, it's a series of questions: how many patients do I have? how acute are they? what resources do I have coming or need? traffic control? tow? more patient transport? what do we need to make each hit a success point - do I need to take the door or roof off of this car to get the patient out? stabilize that vehicle to make it safe for us?
As you slice and dice, the problems become simpler, the answers easier, and the insurmountable chaos you showed up to becomes progressively more manageable.
We live about 2 hours away from great dive spots. At the time we, my wife and I, were diving our kids were small, so we had to find someone to watch them. By the time it was said and done and we picked up the kids, cleaned the gear, it was a long day. It just got to the point it wasn't worth it to us anymore.
I did something similar - was a SWE for years, then became an EMT, loved it far more than any CS work I'd ever done in my life. Continued on and went to medical school. The path is long but I've never once questioned whether I made the right decision.
If you're thinking about it - try it! An EMT class is pretty easy, fun, and doesn't take long.
I never realized that I was the type of guy who doesn't enjoy desk work until I became an EMT.
Yeah, fair question. To me "real" is crunching numbers, doing experiments, figuring stuff out, along the lines of what I did in my core college classes.
"Paper" is pushing paper, almost in the literal sense. It was just boring for me.
fm2606 · · focus · HN ↗
I obtained a BS in Aerospace Engineer in 1998. After job jumping several times I realized I didn't care for it. I was basically a "paper" engineer, which was my fault as I never pursued jobs that did "real" engineering.
Anyway, around 2003/2004 I went to night school for EMT. The purpose was to be a dive master on dive boats (I was/am a dive master - I don't dive anymore). It was fun.
My engineering job sucked so I jumped into paramedic school right after EMT. I really enjoyed it. About a month from graduating PM school, county fire department came in to class and said they would hire paramedic only but we would have to cross train to firefighter.
In Feb 2006 I was 35 yo with a 9 month old baby and decided if I didn't do it then I never would so I applied and got hired then department put me through fire school.
It was the best career decision of my life. It didn't take long to see a bunch of people get hurt from the job, so I figured I better have a back up plan since I also have chronic health issues. From 2010 to 2015 I did an online Masters degree in CS. After completing it I started working part time remote jobs as a developer.
Then COVID hit in 2020 and they pulled me out of the field due to my health issues. I turned 50 and was getting tired after 14 years. I started applying to full time jobs and landed one.
In 2022 I switched jobs again for a better org and I am still here. I just switched positions from Java dev to cloud engineer in May.
I absolutely enjoyed 85+% of FF/pm but it is a young person's game. It gave me confidence I probably never would have found. Again, it was literally the best career move I ever made and would recommend anyone to do it.
UqWBcuFx6NV4r · · focus · HN ↗
taneq · · focus · HN ↗
trylfthsk · · focus · HN ↗
To anyone that has even thought of something more outside an office, try it so long as you're physically able. Compensation is one thing, but the experience for me has been priceless.
fm2606 · · focus · HN ↗
Yep. When I got hired on at the fire department I took a $12,000 pay cut. Overtime was abundant so it was easy to make up the loss plus some. But you definitely can't purchase the experience
nozzlegear · · focus · HN ↗
fm2606 · · focus · HN ↗
Either due to the remoteness of rural living or just people in rural areas have more grit, the call volumes are much lower.
I live in Florida, but I am from a small rural town in MO and my mom still lives where I grew up. I was just there in August and I picked up a brochure for the county ambulance. They have 5 ambulances for the entire county and their call volume was approximately 3000 calls per year!
The county fire department I worked at has approximately 40 station and the busiest station doing 3000+ EMS calls on its own. Our department did all the 911 transports. When I left in 2020 we ran approximately 90,000 calls.
ricardobayes · · focus · HN ↗
fm2606 · · focus · HN ↗
What it did not translate to, for me, was working under pressure in IT. As a paramedic I had standard operating procedures / guidelines to guide me AND once we departed the scene I was usually no more than 30 minutes away from a doctor AND I didn't cause the problem to begin with AND once I gained confidence in my abilities I didn't get nervous as much or questioning myself. For the most part there is only so much you can do in an emergency situation in the field.
However, if something breaks in the IT world and I have management breathing down my neck (doesn't happen often) I worry that it was something I did, I don't know how to fix it, I'm not fixing it fast enough, blah, blah, blah. You would think non-life threatening IT-issues would not bother me but they do. Day to day office politics and team interaction doesn't bother me much though.
Another thing I feel like I got out of the FF/PM career is a get-it-done-figure-it-out-as-you-go. From the proverbial cat in the tree (never had that call) to a person having a heart attack, to person needs to be extricated from a vehicle, you can't just say "nope can't be done" or "I'm not doing it". I now see coworkers pushing back on stuff without even making an attempt. Try something, anything, but just don't say "nope can't do it". That is frustrating to me.
FireBeyond · · focus · HN ↗
As you slice and dice, the problems become simpler, the answers easier, and the insurmountable chaos you showed up to becomes progressively more manageable.
pcl · · focus · HN ↗
fm2606 · · focus · HN ↗
pure_ambition · · focus · HN ↗
If you're thinking about it - try it! An EMT class is pretty easy, fun, and doesn't take long.
I never realized that I was the type of guy who doesn't enjoy desk work until I became an EMT.
[deleted] · · focus · HN ↗
[deleted]
firefax · · focus · HN ↗
ambicapter · · focus · HN ↗
fm2606 · · focus · HN ↗
"Paper" is pushing paper, almost in the literal sense. It was just boring for me.