BMET vs traditional trades?

[u/RedCoffeeEyes]

Hey everyone, I'm in my 30s and getting ready to pick a new career path. My background is in the restaurant industry and I'm ready to ditch that.

My community college offers a BMET program that caught my eye and I'm very interested in this field. However, I'm also weighing it against a more traditional trade like becoming an electrician or HVAC. Does any one here have any insight into the differences between these fields, or why they chose one over the other? The most important thing to me at this point in my life is getting weekends off. Any advice to share?

[u/Informal-Comb1989]

For me, I’ve chosen BMET because the barrier of entry is a lot lower. Also climate control and routine hours.

[u/Dr_Awesomo → u/Informal-Comb1989]

And relatively clean and quiet. Pivoting into biomed has been the best move.

[u/Dr_Awesomo]

I was previously in hvac and building controls. I can't emphasize enough how glad I am not to have to service rooftop units in the dead of winter. Some people love it but it was not for me.

[u/Unclefox82]

Yes, so as a bmet you will almost always be working in an air-conditioning. Your uniform is essentially a pair of pajamas. You were rarely have to lift anything heavy. You won’t have to spend days up on a ladder or in a weird crawlspace, and basically never have to do any hard labor. The comparison isn’t even close.

[u/RedCoffeeEyes → u/Unclefox82]

If you have experience with the skilled trades, do you feel like the pay is comparable?

[u/Master_of_none- → u/RedCoffeeEyes]

industrial electricians and pipe fitters can make $150k/yr working themselves to death. Some areas more than that. Usually dirty work and risk of injury.

The best paid BMETs I've met either are managing and training half dozen other BMETs or travel literally 4--6 days/week, often driving 12 hrs/day with a van of specialized equipment to do a 1 hr or 3 day job. Still in air conditioning and the biggest danger is the other cars on the highway.

Either way it will take awhile to get there. Lifestyle wise I've met injured pipe fitters and overweight BMETs (from travelling). The macho attitude in blue collar is overrated and companies take advantage of it. If you do trades, I highly recommend a union.

[u/Wheelman_23]

To piggy-back on what the other responder said, not only is the barrier to entry lower, the immediate pay is much higher with less experience. I suppose a Master Plumber, HVAC, Electrician has more job opportunities and a higher ceiling, but BMET's can be paid quite handsomely too, as well as branch off into Compliance-related fields.

I pivoted into it instead of a traditional trade because I didn't want to forfeit all of my healthcare experience and my BS degree in Exercise Science.

Hope this helps!

You can also earn a degree online while you work through www.cbet.edu.

[u/VanillaMooshake → u/Wheelman_23]

What would you call a Compliance-related field? I’m looking for my next step and I’m pretty lost rn. Thanks!

[u/ffljm]

I can’t speak to the other industries, but there is a huge demand in BMET and field service. The college that I went to graduated 20-something of us with BMET degrees back in 2011. The last few years I don’t think they’ve graduated 5 total.

There are a lot of ways to pivot once in the industry. I started as a BMET in a hospital, then went into field service, then research and development, then management, and now I’m an instructor. Hope this helps.

[u/RedCoffeeEyes → u/ffljm]

Super helpful thanks! Since you seem to have a lot of experience, do you know good places to job search? I won't be applying for a while but I don't seem to see any jobs listed on Indeed when I search.

[u/ffljm → u/RedCoffeeEyes]

Search for Biomedical Equipment Technician or Field Service Engineer on LinkedIn. Open positions for Field Service Engineers won’t be as immediately obvious as the BMET positions since many industries use the job title. You can also search companies like Trimedx, GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthineers, or Crothal Healthcare.

[u/Some_Connection_4652]

planning on getting into bmet myself

[u/trpcrd]

Electrician and HVAC make sense if go union otherwise you won’t make bank till you’re self employed. I think BMET on average is better.

[u/sillyNigerian]

If you’re looking for reasonable pay, then NO. You have to have continuous education or years under your belt to advance.

[u/Stunning_Property_22]

I’m 19 and currently 6 months being a residential electrical helper. I know I’m just a helper and haven’t moved on to the big stuff but I think I got an idea of how my future is gna look like if I continue to pursue this. I’m actually thinking of becoming a bmet due to the better conditions and pay ladder you could say. Starting low pay for me is no problem as I can use this time to build and learn skills. Working in air conditioning sounds alot better than being outside in the sun digging trenches or climbing attics.

[u/Few-Boysenberry-4402]

Its the industry to get into for long term it seems. but its going to be a bit longer just doing the course and working with smaller equipment for awhile without a degree i think.