I have a son with cf. Thinking ahead... just wondering what skills would be useful for him to learn now that might be helpful for a career that you can work from home. I want him to be as self sufficient as possible. He's taking a 3D modeling class but I know that's not super useful outside of very specific fields. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated!
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Adults with CF what are your jobs?
- Thread starter Mekikya
- Start date
I'm a solar engineer, degree in Mechanical Engineering.
I thought similarly when I was in high school, thinking I shouldn't pursue anything physically demanding. Working from home didn't really exist at the time and I wouldn't necessarily pursue a career with that in mind. I've made some great friends having a work-place to go to.
I don't know how old your son is, but I believe the treatments available and upcoming will be a gamechanger for the generation growing up now. I had doubts I'd live through college and now I'm 41, so I'm not as delicate as I thought. I recommend kids pursue whatever they're interested in, especially when young. Learning 3D printing teaches many great skills, computer modeling, spatial visualization, etc. I was learning drums, which I turned into a nice hobby and had fun playing some live shows, never expecting it to be my career. Marketable skills are great, but having varied interests makes for a more interesting human.
Eric
I thought similarly when I was in high school, thinking I shouldn't pursue anything physically demanding. Working from home didn't really exist at the time and I wouldn't necessarily pursue a career with that in mind. I've made some great friends having a work-place to go to.
I don't know how old your son is, but I believe the treatments available and upcoming will be a gamechanger for the generation growing up now. I had doubts I'd live through college and now I'm 41, so I'm not as delicate as I thought. I recommend kids pursue whatever they're interested in, especially when young. Learning 3D printing teaches many great skills, computer modeling, spatial visualization, etc. I was learning drums, which I turned into a nice hobby and had fun playing some live shows, never expecting it to be my career. Marketable skills are great, but having varied interests makes for a more interesting human.
Eric
H
Hail2Pitt
Guest
I'm a software manager with a technology company.
If he's interested in it, a degree in computer science and a job as a software engineer is a great route to go. While there are certainly companies that are stressful and require long hours, software engineers are in such demand that you can kind of choose what environment you want to work in. Also, software engineers at technology companies typically have pretty flexible schedules, working from home may be an option if it's ever needed, and the pay and benefits are usually good as well. While my health is decent (and like Eric, I'm also 41), I do take my share of sick days, and also have had to go on disability a few different times. And I certainly use my health insurance all the time, so it's important to have good insurance!
If he's interested in it, a degree in computer science and a job as a software engineer is a great route to go. While there are certainly companies that are stressful and require long hours, software engineers are in such demand that you can kind of choose what environment you want to work in. Also, software engineers at technology companies typically have pretty flexible schedules, working from home may be an option if it's ever needed, and the pay and benefits are usually good as well. While my health is decent (and like Eric, I'm also 41), I do take my share of sick days, and also have had to go on disability a few different times. And I certainly use my health insurance all the time, so it's important to have good insurance!
I'm a PhD student in biochemistry with the aim of working in an industry job after. My main concerns when picking a career path were that it wasn't physically demanding and that it will have steady health insurance. An industry job won't exactly be low-stress, but I've greatly benefitted from Orkambi and Symdeko and anticipate the triples helping further and so I don't worry about being able to manage a fairly demanding job. Right now I work 40-50 hours/week; I'm not sure what my personal upper limit would be health wise.
I got my degree in secondary education. Working in high school is nice because there are many breaks built into the school year that allow me to schedule doctor's appointments, or should the need arise, a hospital stay. The insurance is also good, and every community needs teachers. The down side is that students spread sickness. I like teaching because it keeps you plugged into the community in a way you might not get when working from home.
rubyroselee
New member
I went to nursing school, but after I got licensed I didn't want to expose myself to all the germs. So I got my MBA and weaseled my way into healthcare IT. I think IT is a great career for CF. I am able to work from home (or the hospital) if I need to, and it's not physically demanding. Some days I wish I had a more active job, but at the same time I'm thankful because there are times when I wouldn't be able to do it. But quite honestly, I think someone with CF should not feel like they should be held back in any way - there are adults with CF with a wide variety of jobs, health statuses, etc. The sky is the limit.
Cssilver74
New member
I worked 18 years as a RN in surgery doing open hearts. My exposure to the sickest of patients was limited in this environment as I was constantly "scrubbing up" and wore a mask the majority of the time. I am 44 now and knew around 39 I could not work in that environment forever as the mental and physical fatigue was beninning to become taxing on my health. I returned to graduate school at 40 and for the past 3 years have worked as a senior clinical analyst for the Analytics Division of my Healthcare System. I serve as an internal consultant working with data scientists, database engineers and other analysts. I also do a fair amount of BI development and database queries. I think there are ample opportunities in the healthcare sector that minimize direct exposure to patients. Something to consider.
Cssilver74
New member
Hey Rubyrose, I posted a very similar scenario. I worked as an RN in surgery for many years then went back to grad school and landed a clinical analyst job in our Analytics Division. Curious what type of work do you do within IT?
Lance2020x
New member
I'm a video producer / motion graphics animator. As I get older I'm realizing travel and "working in the field" are taking more out of me, so a few years ago I began heavily investing in learning motion graphics animation as that's something I can do from home.
Were I to recommend a field it would easily be coding/programming/developing. Coding careers have exploded to the point where companies have more money than they do developers, so they are having to offer jobs WITH perks like working from home, etc. In a developer field you're looking at a 9ish month bootcamp, followed by 2-4 years as a junior developer working from an office, then once you leave the "Junior" level, having a LOT of authority to negotiate the ability to work from home etc.
A friend of mine did a 6 month coding camp here in Nashville and after completion, the very first interview he went to he got a $70k/year junior dev position where he negotiated taking every other Friday off and 3 weeks vacation a year. He negotiated another raise three months later, and after 2 years plans to negotiate working from home or moving to a different company. That's how high the demand is right now in cities.
Were I to recommend a field it would easily be coding/programming/developing. Coding careers have exploded to the point where companies have more money than they do developers, so they are having to offer jobs WITH perks like working from home, etc. In a developer field you're looking at a 9ish month bootcamp, followed by 2-4 years as a junior developer working from an office, then once you leave the "Junior" level, having a LOT of authority to negotiate the ability to work from home etc.
A friend of mine did a 6 month coding camp here in Nashville and after completion, the very first interview he went to he got a $70k/year junior dev position where he negotiated taking every other Friday off and 3 weeks vacation a year. He negotiated another raise three months later, and after 2 years plans to negotiate working from home or moving to a different company. That's how high the demand is right now in cities.
Thanks for the great suggestion Lance!
As a Math and Computer Teacher and with 12 grandchildren, I am working with them (as young as 7 yrs old) on www.tynker.com. They love it and of course I love working with them!
I am using it with my 7-11 year olds. It goes through grammar school...14 years old. The younger ones have fun games too!
As a Math and Computer Teacher and with 12 grandchildren, I am working with them (as young as 7 yrs old) on www.tynker.com. They love it and of course I love working with them!
I am using it with my 7-11 year olds. It goes through grammar school...14 years old. The younger ones have fun games too!
So glad it may work out for DS! My younger ones are enjoying it! They are creating characters for minecraft and doing some simple block programming. They are 6 and 9.
Let us know if this works for DS. They have Java for the older kids. He may need help?
Salt and Light
Jeanne
Let us know if this works for DS. They have Java for the older kids. He may need help?
Salt and Light
Jeanne
blindhearted
New member
I graduated college with 2 associates degrees, Information Systems and Internet Technology in 2004. Most jobs required 1-3 years of prior experience in that field. I had never had a job. I got my first job as an Office Assistant with an Ambulance Transport Service. I did that for 3 years until my health began to decline in 2007. I needed a transplant in 2012. By the time I returned home in better health (not completely healthy) in 2013 everything I learned in college was obsolete. Technology moves incredibly fast. When I graduated there were no tablets or smartphones. I looked into Medical Transcription but computer software is quickly taking over that field. Medical Billing & Coding is a good career choice but you have to continually keep your education since the rules change a lot (I did some at my job). It can be stressful. A lot of Coding jobs can be on site. So if it's with a doctors office, he would have to be there. Most people dont work from home from the start. Plus he may have to go on site for some training.