Some people in the laboratory will tell you that you absolutely should do ANYTHING but become a medical technologist (aka medical laboratory scientist). Some will tell you that you absolutely should. If you’re a science student and wondering whether you should go into the field, you are justifiably confused. What’s the truth? Well, the truth is, as with everything else in life: it depends.
Here are five reasons why you SHOULD become a medical technologist
1. The money.
The pay is generally not by salary but by hourly wages. While there is no good data on current pay because it’s based on respondents to surveys (the ASCLS data is old and websites like salary.com are wildly exaggerated), the pay will range from approximately $25 /hour at the beginning of your career and tops out somewhere in the mid $40s /hour if you’ve spent your entire life there. Obviously, if you move up to manager, that will be a bit higher. Also, extra money for working evening and night shifts (called shift differential in the health care field) can add a few dollars to your hourly wage. In some areas of the county this is a solid middle-class income, and I was lucky enough to buy my own house with a beginning medical technologist salary. While it seems, as in many middle-class professions, the pay has not kept up with the cost of living (COL), but in most cases, you will be able to live.
2. It is interesting
The sheer depth of knowledge that exists in this field is mind-bending. If you are a life-long student of science and medical know-how, you can never exhaust the mountain of things to learn and you will always see something you’ve never seen before, no matter how long you’ve worked the bench. In fact, if you choose to dig deeper, you can study to become a specialist through the ASCP in one or more of the lab disciplines—the most common disciplines being Hematology, Chemistry, Microbiology, and the feared Blood Banking (aka transfusion services). But keep in mind that however much you specialize in any discipline it is unlikely to earn you higher wages.
3. It is a great stepping stone
“I’m here for a good time, not a long time.” If you are looking to go into any advanced medical field such as becoming a Doctor (MD or DO), a Physician Assistant (PA), a Nurse Practitioner (NP), the lab is a great springboard for any of these professions. The knowledge you gain in the lab is indispensable for the advanced medical disciplines. Sometimes people jump from the lab to becoming an RN (nursing jobs pay better). Others become administrators, but this usually requires a business degree such as an MBA on top of your science training. As for me, I began studying for my MBA, but decided to just go directly into business outside the hospital when I decided I couldn’t wait.
4. You can choose how much you work (in theory)
Let me be clear. If you want, you can have a schedule that says you work 20 hours/week. But remember, management will almost always ask you to work more than that. You can work whatever part-time or full-time schedule you apply for and get. However, you will need the fortitude to say no to anyone telling you that you need to work on your days off or to stay late to cover other shifts. By law, you DO NOT need to say yes. You can ALWAYS say no. There are so many people who can’t say no, and I’ve seen people worked until they are literally sick and admitted to the hospital or the personal relationships in their lives suffer. Boundaries, people. They are a must in this field. NO is your best friend.
5. The people
As with any job/career/etc the thing that makes or breaks the vibe is the people. You can get through a lot of horrible, stressful days as a medical technologist if you have a fun and competent cast around you. It’s also true that it makes it that much more difficult with lame, incompetent people around you. But the one thing I miss about the lab is the people. I have so many friends from the hospitals I have worked in because when you go through the horrifying stresses of hospital life, you get very close to those you work with.
Honorable mention: You can use foul language
Management won’t tell you this, but it is fully accepted to use filthy language in the lab because there are generally no patients around. So, whatever you can say in a prison or on a ship (or a prison ship?) is approximately what you can say in the lab.
Now, here are five reasons you SHOULD NOT become a medical technologist
1. The money (the flipside)
If your goal in life is to become either rich or even upper-middle-class, you should probably choose something else. At this point, cost of living continues to easily outpace wage growth and the lab is generally an afterthought when it comes to raises. Furthermore, most labs or non-union, as opposed to most nurses who are union. This is one reason why they have gotten profound raises while the lab wages remain stagnant. Keep in mind that you can transition from this field into other medical fields that pay more, but if you stick it out, there is very little room for growth within the laboratory. If you want more money and want to do something in the medical field, become an RN/NP/PA/MD/etc.
2. The repetitive work
You know the episode of I Love Lucy where she’s on the assembly line at the chocolate factory and the conveyor just keeps going faster and faster until she can’t keep up, so she starts cramming all of the chocolates in her mouth instead? That’s what the lab feels like sometimes. 99.9% of the work is repetitive, sometimes to the point of stress injury, but mostly just to the point of your brain hurting because you thought you’d make more of your life. A hospital is essentially a people factory and unless you can find time off the bench to work on projects, you will be spending the majority of your time performing extremely menial and repetitive tasks.
3. The vibe
The hospital vibe often leaves something to be desired. It can be a toxic environment and that has only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Furthermore, there is a hierarchy of power in the hospital and those who choose to take part in it propagate that toxicity. That being said, many people are lovely and they more than cancel out the negativity. But you need to be able to defend yourself against the bad ones. Just sayin.
4. The lack of respect
You can work yourself until you’re blue, but you will struggle to gain the respect others. You can go to school for 6 years and your aunt will still think that you are just a phlebotomist. Heck, nurses will also think that. People call everyone who works for the lab “techs” which now feels like it conveys a negative connotation. Our profession has done a piss-poor job of running its own PR.
5. No room for advancement
Here is the reason why I finally left the lab after over a decade of service. There really isn’t anywhere upward to move to and there aren’t many interesting positions to transition to. It’s even rare to move into infection control because they generally fill those with nurses. Not to say you can’t find variety in different jobs and different departments within the lab, but you will just be making lateral moves unless someone above you retires. Could be two years, could be thirty years. I’d rather have more control over my destiny than waiting decades to see if someone ever retires.
Honorable mention: you can use it to travel
Some people would put this at number one, but it definitely depends on where you’re at in life. It’s a great option for those who don’t need to stay in one place.