Let me start this post off by stating I surely have nothing against nursing. I have the utmost respect for a man or woman called to that profession and we certainly all need nurses, and as the US population ages we will need more and more.
However, sending a child to nursing school has become one of the huge growth industries in the Philippines and one can’t help but wonder if all the current interest isn’t centered around the fact that work visas for nurses are currently one of the few US visas that Filipinos can qualify for without many problems.
In fact one can be pretty sure this is the case, given that everyday one hears of qualified Filipino MD’s … fully fledged Medical Doctors … taking a semester or two of nursing school to familiarize themselves with nursing specifics and then sitting the Nursing Board exams so that they can go to the US as RN’s. In my own family my wife and I have been working with a niece who is currently in her senior year of high school. When asked directly about nursing she readily admits she has little or no interest in nursing, but when college is discussed it is like a broken record, nursing, nursing, nursing … as if that was the only college education of value to anyone.
I’m not qualified as a career counselor, but I did hold jobs for more than 40 years and I have counseled, supervised advised and even disciplined employees for many of those four decades. I can tell you one important lesson that has come through loud and clear amongst all the myriad hopes, dreams, disasters and dissatisfactions I have seen.
There is nothing worse than a square peg trying to fit in a round hole. The corners might get worn down over the years, but the fit is never correct. And if there is one job I can think of off the top of my head where dedication to duty is absolutely essential it would be nursing. Nurses in the US can be quite well paid, but dealing with the tedium, the risks and the constant need to watch patients die, unable to do anything is not something that a decent salary can make up for.
If you have relatives ‘hot’ on nursing, or if you are thinking of it yourself, better have a real soul searching heart to heart conversation/reflection on life goals … nursing is not for the faint of heart nor the casual job seeker.
Now of course another criticism that can be leveled at an overseas nursing career is one that fits any OFW occupation … the stress of fragmented families and the waste of family members living all across the globe … financial waste and emotional hardships.
What if there was a way for kids bright enough to go to college, yet not necessarily medically inclined to earn a decent living right here in the Philippines. I’ve already written about several ideas I have that I feel could bear fruit … one example those who haven’t yet seen it might want to read Outsourcing Is Not Only For The Big Guys or Philippine Telecommuting — Part 5 just for a few ideas.
Something that crossed my desk just a few days ago brought something else up … related to my articles on Computer Aided design work, but with a distinctly different flavor. Much of my professional career with the planning side of the Air Force and my civilian business experience centered around a technology that is even today only starting to boom … Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In 25 words or less GIS software is a system which links maps or other images to a database. One of the most common and profitable place it is seen is in municipal tax assessment work. It’s quite likely your home town in the US has your tax records and even a drawing of your property online …it’s a very useful technology.
With the type of software currently available it isn’t rocket science either .. but the sheer volume of data that has to be reviewed, corrected, formatted and entered into a GIS to make it useful guarantees technical working at good rates of pay for years and years to come.
Now why couldn’t a kid educated here in the Philippines get a degree or a professional certification (many GIS practitioners have only one or two year certificate programs, they don’t need to be civil engineers or surveyors to do this work). right here in the Philippines.
Well there are schools who teach the subject but it’s not available everywhere and like any ‘brick and mortar’ school a college or university here in the Philippines is going to have a difficult job trying to keep up with the latest advances in the field.
We’ve talked here recently about elementary and high school in the Philippines using distance learning But My Kids Can’t Get an Education in the Philippines, the question come to mind, why not college-level work as well?
Here’s just one example of a "real" school in the US offering full-fledged, industry current course in the field. You can read their description of the government outlook for workers. A graduate of a course like this could work many places and could also make a great outsourcing business here in the Philippines taking on the labor of data conversion and verification that has to be done for thousands and thousands of projects yet to be accomplished in the US and other overseas countries. There is more to outsourcing than answering the phone.
TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR CAREER
uwf.edu/gis/gisonline
The United States Department of Labor has identified Geographic Information Science (GIS) as a key emerging and evolving industry with numerous opportunities as a career path.
"Across the country, tens of thousands of trained [geospatial] workers are needed to fill positions that are going begging." Quoted from GIS.COM
The University of West Florida’s online program delivers a dynamic Geographic Information Science certificate program to students across the country. Students will participate in online courses with instructors who are highly qualified in their field.
Upon completion of the program, students will receive a University of West Florida Certificate in Geographic Information Science, and earn 24 undergraduate semester credit hours of college credit. Students with a bachelor’s degree can earn up to 12 hours of graduate credit and receive a graduate certificate in GIS. The certificate can be used to help fulfill a student’s educational requirement when applying for their GISP certification. Courses taken can transfer into several UWF undergraduate and graduate programs or even programs at other universities.
Excellent post Dave! Doesn’t help me as I am retired too, but lots of good information for people interested in those lines of work.
I agree with John, an excellent observation regarding the highs and lows of nursing as well as the potential for getting invloved with GIS. Heck even someone like me could get certificated (ummm maybe..hehe) and then potentially telecommute (as long as there is adequate internet resources)or somehow get involved and make an income. Heck #2, this could be advantagous for those who are willing and able to gain the necessary cetificate and training.
With the current precarious environment of my industry (newspapers)I am seriously going to look into this.
Well done Dave!
~marshall
@John in Austria: Thanks John. Be careful about that retired status … I’m retired too but then I keep getting into little ‘good ideas’ that ahve a littl eprimrose path that you follow and then when you aren’t looking you fall off a cliff and leand in the rms of the J*O*B monster.
@marshallmellow: Thanks Marshall. You know GIS and the newspaper buisness often tie together very well. I’m forcing myself not to go looking right now, but I recall a very innovative project by one of the bug Dallas dailies that tied GIS-massaged demogarics with adverting sales and rates … and then they saved a lot of money by revising their deliver routes as well. There’s a big scope for GIS and specialized maps in the political world too, political campaigns often make good use of maps but the surface is only scratched. The biggest cost factor if often very simple work … typing in thousands of addresses into the dtatabase so they cna be plotted … the kind of work that can be outsourced very effectively