Radiologic Technologist a smart career choice?

[Wheaties]

Hi, everyone. My son has been set on attending our local Tacoma Community College to become a radiologic technologist because all the "official" sources say they are well paid and in high demand. However, he was poking around on the internet and found posts on the indeed forums by all these RT's who can't find work or say they really aren't paid well, etc. So now he's having a freak-out.

Does anyone know someone who recently entered this field? How can I help him find out what the job market is really like in our region (Western Washington State)?

[ncornilsen]

Consider looking into radiographic Non Destructive Testing of materials. For example, i work at an aero metal casting company and we employ something like 100 radiographers for looking for voids and dirt in the castings. Its not glamorous work, but the field is bigger than medical..  pays a middle class wage with good benefits.

[Wheaties]

That's a great idea. I hadn't heard of that.

None of the posts my son found were from people in our state, but they all claimed there's a glut of RT's nationwide, which is surprising since the program is so hard to get into at his college.

[mozar]

How difficult a program is to get into has no bearing on the job market.

[SpareChange]

Hi, everyone. My son has been set on attending our local Tacoma Community College to become a radiologic technologist because all the "official" sources say they are well paid and in high demand. However, he was poking around on the internet and found posts on the indeed forums by all these RT's who can't find work or say they really aren't paid well, etc. So now he's having a freak-out.

Does anyone know someone who recently entered this field? How can I help him find out what the job market is really like in our region (Western Washington State)?

I'm a hospital-based radiographer, although not in your neck of the woods. I'd be very cautious about letting anecdotes on Indeed carry much water. The ASRT does a nationwide staffing survey every two years, and the last one (2017) lists the vacancy rate for the Pacific region as 4.5% for radiographers, which is about the national average. I don't know what his interests are, but if TCC has the option to integrate CT training into his program, that might be a smart thing to consider. Hopefully he'll have the chance for some observation beforehand. If you have any other questions, you're more than welcome to fire away.

[Mesmoiselle]

I graduated from an accredited program in oklahoma in 2007. Didn't find work for 9 months, then got offered a job at a rural hospital 7 hours out of state in Kansas. I jumped on it. Because they were rural, they insisted on cross training me into another modality, which ended up putting me in my current career of ultrasonography. I would never say I was a Big City Gal, but I was bored out of my mind there.  And in spite of throwing applications every now and then in the direction of my home town in Oklahoma, I was never called for interview.

I met my husband  end of 2010 and then moved to Louisville KY mid 2011 where there was no Radiographer jobs. I bust my butt and got my licences in ultrasound. Even then, there was only PRN. in the end, I carved out 20 hours of week for myself at this employer ($2400-$3200 month, no benefits) for 4 years. Decided the environment had tanked, looked around. And there was still pretty much nothing without 45-90 minute drives attached to them.  I'd always dreamed of doing Traveling Contract work as I had been trained by an amazing Traveler initially. I've been doing that the last three years, it's lucrative, I end up working 9 months a year because I can get away with it.  I still have Indeed sending me stuff weekly, and it's been rare that a full time X ray or Ultrasound Job has popped up. I do think the market is better now in general, as there are MORE jobs being posted every week than there used to be, just not any that are my cup of tea.

I liked x ray and wish I could do both again. But the way it is for both x ray and US is that you will not be snapped up as you graduate. You are very likely going to have to move. And if you don't have to move, it's because you've probably taken the worse shift locally or signed up for a long commute or my case of getting a job that doesn't promise hours. It's stressful for most graduates. I'm glad I'm not a new graduate anymore.

[katscratch]

Does your son's program have an advisor or clinical director? They should be well aware of the job market. If the program has clinical rotations that's even more reason they should know how the market is currently doing - they would be in contact with job sites and at least the educators at those sites, who may not be involved directly in hiring but would certainly have an idea how often they are hiring.


It does seem to me that some of the non-nursing healthcare jobs can be hard to find in areas that have more than one school. My area is hurting for surgical technologists after a major program closed, and many hospitals are offering huge signing bonuses, but radiology technologists are fairly saturated as there are still a number of programs. Local politics can also affect new graduate employment - when I graduated surg tech there were hiring freezes at all the major hospital groups due to a strike, for example.

Networking during clinicals is crucial in my area for all the support careers. We used to only hire techs that had done a rotation at our hospital because we are quite specialized, and I still get messages from staff at former rotation sites when they have job openings.

I'd recommend your son be as proactive as possible - start talking to his program directors/etc, find out how the clinical rotation/practicum works, make sure he's engaged in discussions in classes so the teachers know him and the quality of his work, join any professional organization and go to conferences (for surgical tech there are very cheap student rates for the state conferences and these are excellent networking opportunities). In my program those of us who made the effort up front all got jobs within six months, in spite of the hiring freeze, while those who were more passive took much longer or took a job in a related field instead.

Good luck to him!

[Lisapants]

If you're in Pierce County, you'll want to reach out to the public library for the access key for WOIS - It's a career information database with Washington State data. You can read the whole article there, or ask a librarian to locate it for you. Two quick data points from the WOIS "Radiologic Technologists" entry to answer your questions:

Median Yearly salary for Radiologic Technologists in the Tacoma area: $71,987. (varies by experience - based on 2017 estimates).

Growth outlook for this profession in the next 10 years in Pierce County: 19.8%.

[honeybbq]

Radiation therapy technologists make bank. Work regular hours. Usually don't work on the weekends.

[thesis]

Just don't forget that most people are defeatists with money and think that whatever they earn isn't enough to pay the bills. There's always going to be someone complaining that their job "doesn't pay very well", aka it's a tragedy I can't afford a BMW!

I know friends in the field, and they have done well out of school. In fact, they are frequently earning more than many other people I know. One could do far worse with certain bachelor's degrees. Not trying to start a flame war, but I earned my BA in a sub-field of Social Science and was out of work for five months before finding temp work...scanning paper. At least with an RT Associate's degree he would be trained and skilled in a particular field, and probably owe a fraction of what I owed in student loans when I graduated, if he ends up owing anything at all. Ah, community college. Skilled and out of work is way different than unskilled and out of work. And he may have to move, that's just how it is for some jobs.

If he likes what he's doing he should probably stick with it. People once freaked out over the "impending" software outsourcing apocalypse but that really never came about. Also, the BLS was, only a few years ago, predicting the demand for Architectural Drafters to decline by 6%, but has since revised its position to predict an increase of 7%. Things change, making a career choice purely based on fear is foolhardy. If he's really worried, maybe he could just keep a foot in the door for a backup career or cross-train in another area of medical study.

[Peachtea]

So I did some googling and looked around on the schools website which has a lot of info. My takeaways were:
- seems like many of the rural states had a large number of programs for this, which I can imagine saturated their markets. WA only has 10, which compared to other states seemed low give the large population in the Seattle area (Illinois had like 27).
- Also seems like that indeed post isn’t best of source because 1) had a lot of complaints from rural state not similar market to Seattle area, 2) plenty were complaining that others in class (even majority) got jobs but them, so maybe they didn’t do so hot in school, 3) at least one appeared to not have gone to an accredited school (which Tacoma is accredited), and 4) those who spent a lot ona program (private tech schools like 25k tuition) are probably less satisfied with wages than those who only spent 10k or less on tuition.
- Tacoma’s completion rate seems a bit low but not terrible, the found jobs after graduation statistics are good except for the low response rates so call it a wash, the salaries reported differentiate between entry level and general, with the entry level still being impressive (50k). Overall, I wouldn’t take it to mean guaranteed jobs but definitely no red flags about the school.
- the listing of current openings in WA, especially many in broader Seattle area show lots of full time jobs with 25-40/hr wages (presumably 25/hr for entry level?). Looks good for your son.

Finally, in general you can’t fully predict your job outcomes with any degree in any given year, because it depends on how well you do, changes in job market while in school, and a bit of luck. People tell me I should have known my job market was going to be tight when I went to grad school. Which is great advice in hindsight, but I looked at available statistics on job placement and wages and I talked to a couple students/practitioners before applying. Well, after I started schools started being sued/investigated for misleading statistics. A couple months before I started, articles in certain sites were posted with statistics on how job placement and salaries had tanked for grads in the prior two years. At that point I wasn’t looking for articles or info b/c I already did that a year prior when applying, so I missed them. Who knows how much your son can trust the statistics or job growth predictions, they could turn tmrw. Best laid plans might not work out.

However, in retrospect I’d have rather spent 10k for a 2 year degree that looks like it will have starting salary of 50k and top out around 70-90k; retraining if it didnt work out for some reason. Instead I spent 50K+ for a 4 year degree (3 years at state U w/ part time job) + $$$k for grad school. I started with a 60k salary and am now up to +100k. DH got a 4 year degree and recently broke 50k... after six years out and only after spending 10k on a post bacc certificate. (40k jobs were requiring a BA plus cert!) Granted we didn’t pick smart 4 year degrees. But I think that’s all helpful comparators for your sons panic about whether a 10k investment will pay out a ton vs a little. Because realistically most above minimum wage jobs are going to require some schooling; even trades apprenticeships require x number tech school hours. His choice doesn’t seem bad in the risk/benefit calculation that everyone has to weigh for all career choices. No career pick is risk free.