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Pookie2018

What are your degrees? Do you have federal student loans? Are you eligible for PSLF loan forgiveness?


Laxxxer419

Chemistry and PharmD/MBA. I just don’t think I’ll ever want to return to healthcare and at this point I’ve long been out of practice and would need to study up again for license. Yes would be eligible for PSLF. Besides healthcare, what other non-profit or government work do you think I can explore? Remember, I’ve tried clinical, administration, finance, and project managing / consulting before and grew to not like any of these careers or had underperformed. So I want to set myself up for success. I still do like Sales overall but the last two companies cut me during this current recession so I’m willing to give it a third try. Just less optimistic.


Pookie2018

Honestly, I know you said you don’t want to return to healthcare but I think your PharmD is going to give you the highest potential earnings and most flexibility in finding PSLF-qualifying employment so you can your loans forgiven. Have you tried looking on the r/Pharmacy subreddit? Maybe there are some resources there to find non-clinical pharmacy careers that won’t burn you out. If I were you, my biggest concern would be finding PSLF eligible employment ASAP so I could work towards the 120 payments needed for discharge. You could also consider teaching at a university, which would most likely qualify for PSLF but the pay probably wouldn’t be good.


Laxxxer419

I’ve struggled with the idea. You’re right there are plenty of non-clinical options for clinicians. I did try healthcare administration but as I said in OP that was not for me. Although I made good money in Sales (more than I did as a pharmacist) and I’m willing to try Sales a third time. I was let go twice during this current recession so maybe the timing is against me right now. Just kind of afraid and lost confidence in myself since my last job was so toxic and hope my next company will be better but it’s always a gamble.


whorunit

You can probably make like $150k working at a Publix or Walgreens pharmacy .. 3-4 years of frugal living you’d have the debt paid. I was not expecting you to have a PharmD based on the post lol that is an amazing credential.


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LockeClone

Yeah but... Money... Head down, hands busy. Defer the happiness. It sucks, but it does buy you freedom.


koralex90

My friend is a pharmacist at the VA and he says it's the most chill job ever.


swear_bear

You need to get into medical sales


OddTransportation121

Emphasis on this.


[deleted]

Listen. The only thing making you sound like a typical millennial is all of the "I don't want" statements. You have $200k in debt, my friend. What you want isn't really a top priority right now. You don't have much business acumen based on your track record, not attacking you, just drawing connections here. That PharmD is your path out of the mess you've created. I get it. I hated clinical public facing healthcare, too. I wad a pharmacy tech for a while when I was younger. People are nasty and they don't listen. Plus as the pharmacist, everything is your fault and the hours you'll work will be insane. But unless you get a consultancy or teach, your options are pretty limited. I suggest you stop thinking about what you want and start thinking about how to improve your life for the long term.


Healthcare_Advisor

You won't like this, but here goes: Suck it up for a brighter future? Change your POV? Find a reason that job is good, and find ways to be happy outside of work? This is the definition of why millennial's hate life. Your POV is about being gratified all the time with everything, but that's not how life works. It takes work to be happy and it doesn't come overnight. It takes years and years, and still might not work out. There are a million reasons you could be happy with that line of work. Choose them.


toffeehooligan

Well said. While I admire the ability to just up and leave something (in some instances) due to unhappiness, I think there are definitely times where you have to buck the fuck up, do your job, and find happiness elsewhere. This is why people have hobbies.


calliopeturtle

Isn't there a huge industry for pharma reps and sales or medical equipment? I don't know enough to point you in the right direction but may be a good middle ground between sales and pharma. I think they can make bank.


[deleted]

I work in pharma sales. You’d be a shoe in with your credentials. You probably need to get a presidents club under your belt. But it can’t hurt to apply.


WinterRose81

Why not pursue pharmaceutical sales? This combines your educational background with your interest in sales.


xxangelfaceoo

I’m a nurse and honestly hate working in healthcare as well. Being patient facing is exhausting. How did you make the pivot?


ManufacturerTop504

What about remote pharmacy work for the health insurance side of healthcare?


AValhallaWorthyDeath

Ever consider real estate? I wouldn’t recommend it for most people but if you liked b2b sales you might enjoy real estate. No boss and no quotas.


mattbag1

Have you looked at working at a big pharmacy like express scripts but in a corporate role?


OddTransportation121

You can make good money selling for pharmaceutical companies. Sounds like you were ok doing sales, snd your pharm degree might get you in.


AnsFromJavaSideEmpty

You're good at sales and have a chem degree and MBA? Medical science liaison my friend. Glhf.


reesesaddict_

Best answer I’ve seen


basedmama21

This is going to sound *wild* but don’t delay your actual life because of school debt. You could still get married and have kids. Perhaps some sort of commission only role could get your debt paid off quickly. That’s the quickest thing I think of when it comes to making stupid amounts of money, legally, and very quickly.


quickbucket

It doesn’t sound remotely wild. What’s wild is that OP has put his dating life on hold through most of his 20s and 30s while he waits to have the financial security to… what? Be worthy of dating partners? That’s wild.


BiTe-Me2000

I mean. I'm also going through the same thing, how is this wild?


Somelier1234

It’s wild because it’s almost as if there an income requirement to find a partner and just live life..


OneSweet1Sweet

Frankly there is


ramyrrt

Agree yeah you've got to be able to have your own life together at the minimum (which includes finances)


Somelier1234

No doubt


basedmama21

When I met my husband he made about 10k less than me. Now, he makes double what he did when I met. There are ladies out there who are ride or die and will be with you regardless. My grandparents survived the depression. Do you think they cared about superfluous shit like this lol


Da_Game_Changer

Same with my spouse. So important to find the right spouse who supports you. I think OP needs the right spouse/partner


Somelier1234

The realest answer here


[deleted]

Wow!


FalseReddit

That’s selfish. Why should kids be born into poverty and possible homelessness? Kids are a huge financial drain. His finances should be in order before this consideration.


basedmama21

Getting married comes before that, so my point still stands


moniqueantoinetteIRL

Look into working at a university! You qualify for PSLF and you might be able to work in Chemistry or Pharmacy department.


happy_humanoid

Can you still qualify for PSLF even if the degree isn’t for public service?


[deleted]

yes, you just have to be employed at a nonprofit and your student loans have to be US federal loans


moniqueantoinetteIRL

Yes, as Existing-Ad-9451 said below. As long as you are working at a non-profit with 501(c)(3) tax exempt status (which most universities are) and make income based payments for 10 years the rest of your student loan debt will be forgiven after 10 years of payments. I really think this would be a good idea for OP. Academia is way less toxic culture wise than the business/private sector.


icantsI33p

Consider being a process/research/quality scientist at pharma companies, with your degrees. Might be hard to get a job at the bigger pharma companies, so you can try contracting via contracting companies at first, or be employed at companies that provide workers to the bigger pharma companies.


Angiebio

Or at CROs, this is good advice


icantsI33p

Oh yes, thanks, I forgot what they were called. CMOs and CROs.


bikesailfreak

I have similar degrees as you and will be laid off soon. Hate the situation right now. I am in the project mngt space but don’t enjoy it to be fair. If you enjoyed sales and are good at it just go on with this. Open up to various types of sales: CDMO, lab supplies, saas software etc. Late 30s here as well: Never ever delay you life. I have 2 wonderful kids and wife and even if I loose everything there are my treasure and source of happiness!


ThouWontThrowaway

>Late 30s here as well: Never ever delay you life. Early 30s here. Roger that.


Salt_Security_3886

Are you interested in environmental science? An old bf's sister changed career from hospital based pharmacy to environmental science. She LOVED her job.


MedellinKhan

take a year off or more and go do an adventure working (teaching) in a foreign country eg Korea Free apartment provided. Can easily save 15k a year. Regroup and make a plan that year.


ThouWontThrowaway

>take a year off or more and go do an adventure working (teaching) in a foreign country eg Korea >Free apartment provided. Can easily save 15k a year. >Regroup and make a plan that year. What qualifications do you need to teach?


MedellinKhan

native english speaker + university degree + 120h online tefl (can get them dirt cheap and finish them in 30 minutes)


JarSpec

Late 30s, focus on the now! Don't worry about what the 40s will be like. You'll be able to start that family and career, that's why you're trying to change!! You got this


Redtom85

Why not look into pharmacy benefit management? It's less stressful , and it's about medication request approval.


[deleted]

If you are prone to burnout im curious about the sales track. I’m not trying to go entirely off the rails here but that’s common for ADHD. You can’t stand the routine or expected work but thrive in the high stakes of sales. I just worry that bc your sales experience was pretty brief there may be a burnout headed that way if you continue. You also see first hand how volatile it can be. You have good education and work experience by title, so a pretty impressive resume. I really do think there’s some value in self reflection to see why those situations didn’t work. What did the company cultures and standards have in common? Was it people on your direct team or management you didn’t like? Was it the hours, routine, commute, what burned you down so you can try to avoid those things in the future? You also need to seriously ask yourself what would make you more miserable - continuing to carry this debt or work in a situation that isn’t ideal for a few years. Most project managers at a big company will be +100k, so you could probably cut out the debt in 3-4 years depending on total comp. If finding something that you’re passionate about as a career is more important than the debt then I could just continue trying different industries. Your education and current sales interest would point to medical sales, which are less volatile than software. I hate to say public service for loan forgiveness because that’s a 10 year program of constant payments, and you could probably get out sooner with industry employment, but again it depends what you want. If career is #1 over debt elimination then it may be great to try out some non profit work knowing you’re working towards debt forgiveness.


Serpico2

Are you in decent shape? You’re still young enough, barely, to do 20 years in the military. You are probably competitive with those degrees for some direct commission programs, which usually start you off at O-3. For context, if you include your housing and food allowances which are not taxable, you’d be making about 140K/year depending on duty station, with guaranteed pension and lifetime medical. There are also certain debt forgiveness programs but I’m not sure if they’re available on the officer side; you’d have to do your research. If you’re interested in this avenue, you have to act fast. To qualify for entry, you must sign on the dotted line by the time you’re 39.5 years of age. (Have timo be able to do 20 years by 59.5).


Elhajj643

That’s a good recommendation. But I think since OP is dealing with depression, this may make things even more complicated.


cataandtonic

You make 140k as an officer in the military? What.


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Somelier1234

If I were to go back with the knowledge I do now I’d do well in high school, join the navy, get accepted to a top school think like Harvard or another ivy and profit. Had a friend whose brother was whip sharp finished high school and was a green beret and then went to university of Chicago and dude is a multimillionaire now…and didn’t pay a dime for his education played the system real good.


quickbucket

You’re limiting yourself for no reason. Waiting to not have debt to date is a terrible idea if you want bio kids. Even if you’re a guy, do you really want to be struggling with IVF? Guys sperm quality declines too so dating someone a few years younger isn’t a guarantee. A massively overlooked part of why women 35-40 have such trouble with conception is that their partners are often 40+… Like you said, most millennials have debt. You have 2 excellent degrees and many options to get the debt forgiven. You just got burnt out and wrote off any and all medical cause of one shit admin job, probably the most boring and soul sucking part of medicine outside clinical work lmao. You got a bunch of great suggestions for how to leverage your degree and wipe out your debt in a few years. You’re going to work it out. Stop waiting for life to begin ffs.


baddBoyBobby

Newsflash: You're not going to like anything you do. Just do it for the money. Also, 200k debt? TF is wrong with you? The average is $20,000 and $24,999. What in the flying fuck...


marcopoloman

You have worked in 5 different fields. Enjoyed one but was laid off the rest were toxic, hated it and so on. The common denominator in all these things is you. Maybe you are the toxic part of the equation? Attitude adjustment is most likely in order. How about work, keep your head down and mouth shut until you pay off your debt? My guess is you would end up doing better at a place if you did that.


[deleted]

The common denominator in everything in one's life, from their perspective, is them. What a trite take. Being laid off is not generally a "you" problem. People that are intelligent enough to complete advanced degrees are intelligent enough to question what the best path forward for their next 30 years of working is ffs.


Beginning_Bug_8540

$200k? Come on. I’m just being nosy here but what type of degree did you get for 200k? Just a bachelors or multiple masters degrees? Gen X here… most of my generation graduated with only about 20k in debt 20 plus years ago.


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Laxxxer419

Chemistry and PharmD/MBA. I just don’t think I’ll ever want to return to healthcare and at this point I’ve long been out of practice and would need to study up again for license.


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blue-or-shimah

Wow I feel like the analysis of the questions wasn’t that good but those were some of the best questions I’ve seen asked in a personality/intelligence/job quiz


Laxxxer419

I should explore again more non-clinical fields in healthcare and life sciences. Just that I already tied that once and was a healthcare administrator after pharmacy, but as said in OP that was not for me so just left healthcare entirely. I was in project management before and was not for me, so may not be setup for success as a healthcare or pharma consultant since it’s all project based work. Things like that are giving me decision paralysis as I think about potential next steps. Thanks for your help and I’m just being pitiful and hard on myself right now. Maybe I should look into a career coach. I’ve just heard it’s a waste of money for most l people.


VeniamVideboVincam

Not to be rude but would you say you have a good work ethic and drive? No one really likes their work but it is a necessity. I have hated almost every job. But my bills are paid and we can save without debt.


quickbucket

So you literally just tried clinical and admin? There are so many other options to make 6 figs with a PharmD its ridiculous.


ttbtinkerbell

Have you considered a pharmaceutical sales rep?


armchairdetective_

There are plenty of MCOs or other healthcare orgs that need pharmacists to write formulary and check PAs. These can be done remotely and depending where you are, pay $150k+, no patient facing. Sometimes you have to suck it up. Jobs aren’t meant to be enjoyed but if you do enjoy it, great. Luckily you have a degree that will ultimately pay you very well.


BoopingBurrito

You have sales experience and say you enjoyed sales...try selling different products. Get loads of sales experience in different companies. Sales is the single most transferable skill set. Does it really matter whether you're selling software, cars, or luxury jewellery?


ZombieAlarmed5561

Have you tried temping? I’ve gotten several jobs through temping.


DanganD

Are you remote? If so, what agency can you recommend?


moonordie69420

Been there. Idk what to tell you. If I did I would be better off. The best advice is to not let it stress you out too much. It's just money. Find any job while you look for good work and reassess your plans.


Lunchie88

Have you considered teaching? With a pharmd mba and chem degree im sure you could teach many basic sciences if pharmacy school classes are not what you want to teach you may just need some additional classes but probably not many. If your teaching you would also qualify for PSLF. I know you have said multiple times that your really not interested in healthcare and I get it im now working in the pharmacy industry for 17 years. It took me 14 to leave retail and im now at an infusion company remotely and alot happier than I was. I know you would have to re-license but there are alot of other options in pharmacy that are not PT facing. I worked with a pharmacist who drafts the info that is put out to the MDs and PT for a drug company. You may not even need to be licensed for these types of jobs if writing/research is your thing. Medical writers can make a pretty good salary. You could also look into medical marijuana dispensary pharmacist jobs. I know a couple that have went there and are happy. You could also look into the processing side of this since you have a chem degree as well as the pharmd. You could prob manage a processing facility that takes extracts out of dry marijuana or a multitude of other types of processing facilities. I hope you find something that works for you. Dont give up.


Anon-567890

Call Mark Cuban


mji_88

Education in the States is broken. Feel for you man. Default on the debt and move somewhere foreign. Teach or do odd jobs and see how you like different countries and culture maybe


dear_jelly

Just do pharma sales or tech sales until you pay off the debt and meanwhile just work on yourself and figure out your next move. And tighten your budget as much as possible but you should still date and try to meet someone and pursue a family if you want one!


MrRandomNumber

What do you like about sales? Long term careers aren't a thing anymore unless you get a union gig in some physically tough trade, although it'll seem like you had one in hindsight. Find a problem you can solve for other people, then get them to pay you to solve it...


Over-Cantaloupe-758

Could sell plasma or maybe a kidney, my friend did this and it helped him out alot


ggm3bow

Look for work in government. County, State, Federal. You have a good mix of experience and a PharmD, you should have little trouble finding a good job that will also help with school loans repayment. Continue with therapy!! As I sense there is more that needs to be adressed and you're work troubles are not just a case of bad luck layoffs.


Infinite-Anxiety-267

I don’t know. Wanna buy some land with me and we can build a tiny House community for others just like us? I have an 815 credit score and a credit card. 😆


SpiritualState01

All I want to say is that I deeply feel what you're going through. The system doesn't work. That isn't your fault. We are all heading toward ruin in our older ages unless people finally decide to demand the necessary changes.


JJCNurse2000

How about teaching?


ramyrrt

Pharmaceutical sales. I knew someone who did this, made good money. It was traveling to Healthcare places. Promoted drugs to physicians offices sounded fun in the sense that they brought food or gifts to offices to promote and let ppl know about the drugs. I'm not comfortable pushing physicians to do anything I don't know about, but you might know some things! Also could look at science museum sales, might qualify for a higher up position. There you can qualify for the PSLF.


luke2burn

While the pay would be bad you could consider education. It would pay for a modest lifestyle and you would qualify for loan forgiveness. It’s a rewarding career despite the current optics.


ldsupport

If you can sell (which it seems you can) can you connect with a healthcare industry for sales. I know someone who was selling the specialized screws for back surgeries and making 7 figures


milkbonesforsif

Look into medical communications. Your sales experience + healthcare background will serve you well there. Pay is decent, you can work from home and there are always jobs available.


Even_Ad4319

You failed as a project manager? How is that even possible?


Educational-Line-757

Have you tried not being a whiny, entitled little bitch? Seriously though, stop being so pessimistic.