What Drives a Vet Tech?
We all know that work requires a bit of sacrifice and effort in order to succeed. But do we sacrifice too much for our career? Are we paid what we’re worth? Vet techs face this struggle every day. Whether you decide to choose your career because you love to do an activity, have a passion for a particular type of work, or you just have the drive to become wealthy, everyone takes on a career for a different reason.
While there are kids who dream of becoming baseball players for the major leagues, others just want to be extremely rich and live the life of a rockstar. But we all must ask ourselves at some point whether we desire a passion or a reward. There are careers that offer both out there, but for the most part you are forced to choose between the two. Then you must ask yourself if the job is worth it. It’s called work for a reason, so you obviously are devoting time, energy, intelligence and elbow grease to getting your job done day after day. Is the investment worth it? Are you getting what you deserve for what you put in?
Some people only desire an emotional reward such as seeing a patient recuperate back to full health. For a vet tech, this is often the only reward they need. Their love of animals is worth more than any paycheck they’ll receive. Maybe it’s because they’re not paid very well, or maybe it’s because the industry has yet to catch up with the career demands. Regardless, anyone who’s spent anytime in a clinic knows just how hard they work to earn their wage just to help out an animal friend.
Have you spent anytime in a clinic shadowing or working as a veterinary technician? What is your stance on the question of love or money? Is this a completely unbalanced career that people take on simply for the love? Or is it similar to any other career where you start being paid as a medieval serf and are forced to work your way up? Vet techs do have the ability to make substantially more than what they start out receiving. However, the technical knowledge required to even work in the industry seems far more demanding than another similar paid position. In fact, that is why schooling for vet techs is set up the way it is with real world labs and certification programs.
The constant question that you will face in this career certainly is the passion vs pay struggle. Yet, have the courage and strength to always tell yourself that any day spent doing what you love can never be considered “work” and you will be the happy and content through and through.