Simple Poll - would you do it again

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Hannah Wynne Richards — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 12:07:55 GMT

I did my 1st bitch spay at Langford - under the eagle eye of Harold Pearson. Bitch spays were one of the things we had to get signed up as competant at before we were allowed to sit finals. Things were better years ago.

Wynne

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

bob lehner — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 09:39:49 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]ob, if you entered vet school at the age of 18[/quote]

Nah - I woz one of them child progidees and went to vet skool at 12.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Mark Hedberg — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 09:25:58 GMT

[quote user="Evelyn Barbour-Hill"]

Bob, if you entered vet school at the age of 18 (and maybe that's an erroneous assumption) then you were just too young to have really experienced The Sixties. Aaahhhhhh.........

[/quote]

On the other hand: “If you remember the ’60s, you really weren’t there.” - Comedian Charlie Fleischer

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Evelyn Barbour-Hill — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 02:04:26 GMT

This thread really does crosslink to the "Life not in practice" one, doesn't it? I wouldn't like to go to vet school now as one of a year of what, 130?150?.

There were just over 30 of us, and I truly believe that's about the right number. Everybody knew everybody and every lecturer or professor could – if they chose – take a personal interest in each student. Learning diffused. If someone was absent from a lecture or practical it was immediately obvious.

I am not saying everything was perfect about Bristol vet school in 67-72. A good few things were not, and some were b. awful. What I am saying is that things were a lot better then.

[quote user="bob lehner"]Well I qualified in '74 and I'm sure us post-WW 2 baby boomers are truly the 'blessed generation'.[/quote]

Bob, if you entered vet school at the age of 18 (and maybe that's an erroneous assumption) then you were just too young to have really experienced The Sixties. Aaahhhhhh.........

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Rob Loxley — Sun, 28 Sep 2014 10:35:15 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]

[quote user="robloxley"]

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]I am very surprised[/quote]

The most recent RCVS News said from their survey only "46% of vets and 60% of VNs would choose their careers again"

[/quote]

I'm not surprised, I'm staggered, I wonder why or what produces those figures.

Actually more than staggered!

[/quote]

Yet it's tucked away by the RCVS and glossed with as much positive spin as they can muster.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

tess — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 16:23:20 GMT

I would do it again if I was graduating in early 90's, as I did.

Not sure I would do it now, although I enjoy my work. Too much debt for not enough salary. A friend of mine with 20years experience was offered £15/hour recently.

If I was going through school now I'd be aiming for an engineering degree- I've always been fascinated by maths and physics.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Julian Earl — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 12:26:46 GMT

Yes I would but chosen a different career path... a less stressful one than ownership to be honest. I love the clinical stuff, not the people-management! I'm guessing my staff would agree with me!!

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Richard Carter — Sat, 27 Sep 2014 12:10:28 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]

Come on all you dinovets how many wished they had done something else??

Are there any out there?

[/quote]

I think if computers had been more advanced I might have chosen the maths and logic involved. By the time I finished school there was a thing called a Mac that cost as much as a second hand car and no-one knew why you might want one. I had seen one once.

Colour blindness kept me out of the airforce and as everyone I knew except the vet spent their entire day on a phone in an office, veterinary had lots going for it - along with treating poorly animals.

My veterinary career has been pretty varied and taken me to some remote and interesting places including a relocation to the UK, along with meeting some of the weird and wonderful both humans and animals.

Enough to retire on, pay off the house - 'fraid not yet!!

T. Rex Esq

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Michael Woodhouse — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 23:31:37 GMT

I'd do it all over again. I love my job.

[quote user="Anthony Todd"]

Come on all you dinovets how many wished they had done something else??

Are there any out there?

[/quote]

Unless the population of old vets is badly skewed as the ones that don't want to do it stopped doing it many years ago and your forgot about them!

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Anthony Todd — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 17:56:56 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]I am very surprised[/quote]

The most recent RCVS News said from their survey only "46% of vets and 60% of VNs would choose their careers again"

[/quote]

I'm not surprised, I'm staggered, I wonder why or what produces those figures.

Actually more than staggered!

5% of vets I'd accept, just.

Imagine how "dedicated" the 54% are that's over half!

Jeepers, the job can have as much medicine as you like, and to the highest standard too.

It's got animals and people, which you can satisfy, and to your way of thinking, it's got business and finance it's got what else you make it.

Mind you, as a corporate drone answering to a sharemongering balance sheeter [or sh1tter] it might be different.

Come on all you dinovets how many wished they had done something else??

Are there any out there?

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 17:47:23 GMT

Well you can't deny the doubling of human population in my lifetime will, unless reversed eventually destroy the planet. I'm just glad I'm less likely than many of you to be around then.

Wynne

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 16:31:26 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]I can (just) remember Harold McMillan's premiership - and I'd say things have deteriorated ever since. More crime,more tax, an exploding population, farm animal welfare deteriorating due to ever shrinking real term farm gate prices.[/quote] I think you have your rose tinted spectacles on again Wynn. Crime is no worse its just more reportable with modern media, ditto animal welfare. Despite an increased population, standards of living for the population as a whole have risen inexorably, taxes have only risen commensurably with that. Whether we are happier as a result or not is another matter.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 16:18:19 GMT

I agree with Bob that things were much easier for us when we were young - but also if I was starting now, I would still choose to be a veterinary surgeon.

I can (just) remember Harold McMillan's premiership - and I'd say things have deteriorated ever since. More crime,more tax, an exploding population, farm animal welfare deteriorating due to ever shrinking real term farm gate prices. I too amglad that I'm definitely in the second half of my life,and probably in the last 1/3

Wynne

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 16:10:30 GMT

[quote user="bob lehner"]Well I qualified in '74 and I'm sure us post-WW 2 baby boomers are truly the 'blessed generation'.[/quote]Without a doubt Bob and it a universal truism not just limited to our profession. Harold Macmillan was attributed with saying 'you've never had it so good' in the 1950's. Each subsequent Prime Minister could equally have said the same. David Cameron could be forgiven for saying' 'you'll never have it as good again'!

To add to what I've already said there is proviso: I wouldn't choose to do anything else given my time again but I'm glad that I don't have to live with what the profession has become much longer.

I just put the question of whether she'd rather be doing anything else to my nurse on duty this afternoon and she said she wouldn't but after the third successive call from some f***wit with a pet with a problem of their own making, they can't afford to get treated, asking for credit/and or the PDSA told them to phone us and ask if we would do a payment plan, she said its not the job, its the people that come with it that disillusion her. She's clearly as much of a misanthropist as I am.

To that I added that I'm sick and tired of trying to do a good job at a reasonable price when I'm surrounded by corporate practices which are just out to make money or private practices which their clients think are great just because they charge half what I do but don't see how corners are cut behind the scenes or other charges are bumped up to compensate.

I'm not sorry I became a vet but I'm happy I can retire now when I want.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

bob lehner — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 15:44:38 GMT

[quote user="Laurence Webb"]Perhaps Alex and I were in some sort of 'golden age' when jobs were plentiful, pay acceptable and public respect was high[/quote]

Well I qualified in '74 and I'm sure us post-WW 2 baby boomers are truly the 'blessed generation'.

I arrived in the UK with just £100 in my pocket and a place at vet school. I had a govt. grant on which I lived very comfortably and graduated with zero debt. Jobs were plentiful - I went on an interview tour and then chose the job I liked best. Pay was OK, plus house and car. Three years later I borrowed what seemed like a very large sum to join a partnership - but practice was very profitable in those days and I paid it off in about 5 years. I then enjoyed a pretty handsome living thro' the '80s and '90s working as a (barely competent) GP vet.

In addition, my generation have never had to do military service or fight in a war; we have enjoyed the benefits of the NHS and the wonders of modern medicine (despite all the criticism, it has looked after me OK); we've never gone hungry or suffered food shortages; we've enjoyed cheap long distance flights and have been able to travel the world; we benefited from the property boom of the latter C 20th; we've seen the miracle of computers and the internet..... and so on.

Truly, can any previous (or later) generation have 'had it so good'?

I wouldn't want to be starting out again now.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Bob Russell — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 15:39:40 GMT

I would not enter the profession with the benefit of that retrospectoscope because I really don't think I could afford it! Not sure any building society would lend much based on present salary structure. It was touch and go even in the days when they would lend to almost anyone.

Without a rich partner, second career as an author or an inheritance, motivation is not enough in itself.

I suspect most entering the vet schools will be thinking 'I will be OK'. Not sure they will unfortunately.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 15:11:21 GMT

[quote user="Stephen Courtney"]I'm not sure I would make the same choice in today's market however - the thought of graduating with the equivalent of half a mortgage hanging round your neck would be off putting to say the least.[/quote]Surely that is just because you have the benefit of a retrospectoscope and the rose tinted spectacles. If you were starting off today you would know no different and would be just as motivated as you were way back then. The obstacles were different but no lesser or greater and you rose to them just as today's generation will. The goalposts may have moved but they are familiar with their pitch not ours.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Stephen Courtney — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 14:55:03 GMT

I think there is a bias based on this forum - those of us who are engaged with the profession are more likely to be happy with our place.

I voted yes - can't think of anything I'd rather do, and the decision at the time (1986) was the right one for me.

I'm not sure I would make the same choice in today's market however - the thought of graduating with the equivalent of half a mortgage hanging round your neck would be off putting to say the least.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 14:26:52 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]

The most recent RCVS News said from their survey only "46% of vets and 60% of VNs would choose their careers again"

[/quote] Still surprised and even more saddened that so many nurses feel that way but it is probably because they feel exploited and abandoned. This is almost certainly due to the practice they work for rather than the job.

I'm happy to say that, bar one or two exceptions of those who were obviously just looking for a cushy job with cuddly animals thrown in as a perk, my nurses have said there was nothing else they would rather do even if ultimately they had to leave the profession because of the relatively poor pay.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Rob Loxley — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 13:38:08 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]I am very surprised[/quote]

The most recent RCVS News said from their survey only "46% of vets and 60% of VNs would choose their careers again"

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Bob Russell — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 09:14:07 GMT

I would be another one that would happily head off back to college as it was when I qualified. I would do a lot differently during and after graduation but I suspect most of us would.

I would not even consider the course as things are today. The financial package offered to many new graduates today is really not that much greater than it was when I qualified when you take into account the free accommodation, car etc. Not just in real terms but in actual £'s. I did have a thousand or so in debts but compared to today that is small change.

Money is only a part of the story but with floods of new graduates from new and unwanted vet schools how on earth is the situation going to get better?

Veterinary medicine of course is so much more advanced and exciting which makes the situation even more sad!

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 09:01:53 GMT

I am very surprised and saddened so many have voted no. It's a no brainier for me. I can't say I've enjoyed every minute of my career but I know that nothing else would have been better and I would absolutely do everything the same again. The only thing that could come close would be a professional sports man, especially a cyclist, but that wouldn't last forever, and I'd have still have had to something afterwards.

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 08:54:33 GMT

I once worked with a Kiwi veterinary surgeon who'd come over here. He'd had 2 years working in NZ, and far prefered the system here, where he worked for 1 boss, who was also a veterinary surgeon. This was in the late 80s, so I'm not sure what he'd think of corporate practice! Anyway, he said that working for a committee of lay people was bad - and if you were unfortunate enough to work for a committee who disagreeed amongst themselves it was a hundred times worse.

Wynne

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Anthony Todd — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 08:07:24 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]

I would definitely do it again

Wynne

[/quote]

+1, what's changed here, if not in NZ ,is the higher social regard here than in NZ where a vet was regarded as a slightly more educated farm worker in many circles, I mean nowhere near as lofty as a doctor, which was the ultimate.

"Why didn't you become a proper doctor?" was asked quite often...

It was the Club system, farmers paid a levy on butterfat production and 10 shillings for the first animal and one shilling for each additional animal so you could spend an hour paring foot cracks on 4 friesians for 13 bob!

The equivalent of minimal A levels was all that was needed and most passed the rather disorganised interview in Wellington. We had a choice of Sydney Uni or Brissy and, as the interviews started from A, and nobody wanted to go to Brissy uni, it was decreed that the interviewees starting from Z would go to Brissy, so that's where I went.....

Re: Simple Poll - would you do it again

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:13:34 GMT

No, I'd do an office job 9-5. No responsibilities. No OOH. Possibly a better pay.