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I am 38 and have been a stay at home mom for a long time now. I have had part time jobs that have allowed me to be here when my daughter was not in school, and as she got older, allowed me to help my parents, both of who had serious health problems. For the past 4 years, I've only had piddly work at home jobs. I have a 15 year old associate's degree in medical office assistance, which again, I never used because I had my daughter. I feel completely stuck right now as to what to go back to school for. I have been very actively searching for a job for about a year now, without any luck. I feel like going back to school is my only option.
My most economical choice would be to go back for an associate's degree in medical billing and coding or just update a ton of my classes from the office assistance degree. I know it's almost impossible to get into billing and coding right from school, but it would greatly increase my chances of getting into a medical office and working my way up. Also, the program does have an internship, so you never know.
I LOVE helping people, but to get a degree in any kind of counseling field would take a ton of time and money. I would not be able to go to school for another 4-5 years without working.
I applied for a physical therapy assistant program, but was a bit too late in applying, so I did not get in this year.
Ugh!! Any advice for somewhat lucrative careers that I would not have to spend an absolute fortune in schooling for would be great!
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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You are still young and can do whatever you want. I have a relative that had no degree, but went to college at age 42 to become a nutritionist and is now happily working with infants and their parents at a local hospital. if you are going to make the time and financial commitment, do something you are interested in, or better yet, passionate about. That will help get you through the many classes, homework and exams that you have not done for a long time. Also research the field to try and get an idea of the sustainability, so that you don't get into a field that could be replaced by outsourcing or technology.
That would be my concern with medical billing (outsourcing). When applying for jobs it may be hard for you to compete with others having a lot of experience, but be sure to talk to friends and family and have them keep their ears open, your best chance is to hear about something before it's announced and get a recommendation.
That is my concern with coding as well. Unfortunately, we are barely eeking by with just my husband's job right now, so I'm not so sure that I could get into a 4 year or more program right now. The 2 fields I was interested in was counseling and nutrition (ironically!)....The quickest way into couseling would be for me to go back to school full time for 3 years, continue on to get my masters (another year and a half), then it would take around 3-5 years to gain enough experience. At that point I would pray to get out of the social work field (I've heard horror stories lately) and find a job in the counseling field. The nearest nutrition school is about 1 1/2 hours away, and it is almost impossible to complete if you are not a traditional student . I've heard this from graduates.
I love to help people, but hate bodily fluids, so nursing is definitely out for me!
I have heard of people working from home and doing medical billing. I don't know anything about how to get into it and the pay is average, but I think by working in an office setting for a doctor might be a good start to learn. If you have good office skills (computer, Microsoft office) then you have a good start already.
Some other helpful links for researching working from home:
Location: Stuck on the East Coast, hoping to head West
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Rather than pursue a degree, I'd pursue a certificate. Our local community college offers several certificates in many different fields and some take as little as 6 months. The certificate programs are pretty straightforward as to what your job title would be after completing it. Before signing up, do a search for the job title and see what opportunities and pay are out there. The certificate problems are much less expensive than the degree programs. They are also less expensive than the vocational schools--in my area anyway.
It seems as though all of the certificate programs offered around here are the professions that there are no longer openings for. Either that, or it's soemthing that you then have to become certified for, but they don't quite give you enough education for that. For example, I completed a certificate program for a pharmacy technician, but the teacher told us during the last week that in order to become certified, we would have to work in a pharmacy for quite awhile first. He said there's no way we would pass it without becoming VERY familiar with all of the common drugs. However, the pharmacies don't want to hire people who aren't certified!
I was going to go back for x-ray tech, ultrasound tech, etc..., but when I asked around, they said they are now just starting to give those positions to RNs who are already employed in the facilities. I was curious about paralegal, but a friend of mine, who was a paralegal for years, just lost her job because the lawyer she was working for ended up getting some sort of software that reduced her hours to almost nothing.
[quote=renrenbri;29518158]... For example, I completed a certificate program for a pharmacy technician, but the teacher told us during the last week that in order to become certified, we would have to work in a pharmacy for quite awhile first. He said there's no way we would pass it without becoming VERY familiar with all of the common drugs. However, the pharmacies don't want to hire people who aren't certified!.....[/]
So you paid for a certificate that is basically useless? You might want to look into what you need to do to refresh your Medical Assistant coursework.
options trading... find a stock that has earnings coming up... buy some near the money puts or calls that are only days from expiration and hope the stock jumps or plummets 10% or more in one day after earnings. Turn a $150 gamble into potentially thousands of dollars (or a $1500 gamble into TENS of thousands) . Worst case, lose the $150 (or $1500) investment as the options expire worthless.
This would have worked great with GMCR recently. I'm giving it a try with AMD. With the company getting all the next gen consoles I think the stock may recover into the upper single digits this year. Gotta buy the rumor, buy future growth, and buy early.. at 4 bucks and change it's still fairly cheap. That doesn't mean you should though, and this is not investment advice. Also beware the stock market is pretty frothy here with bullishness levels fairly high.. a good time to move money out of retirement plans to wait for a correction potentially. Again, this is not investment advice merely observation.
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Worst case, lose the $150 (or $1500) investment as the options expire worthless. 
