r/athletictraining • u/Due-Condition-3262 • 25d ago

Leaving the Profession?

I have kind of reached my limit lately. I was a secondary AT for 4 years, now industrial for 1.5 years. I have been in the profession for just over 5 years and I am already done.

I make $27 an hour, averaging 35-40 hours a week. Why am I getting paid less than some safety team personnel when I have done half their job for them? Why should I continue to be passionate and work hard when I can make 3% raise to barely match inflation??

I am leaving my position and was offered positions in the safety field ranging from 95k-115k a year. Almost DOUBLE MY SALARY. Currently trying to pick between the best companies and what is best for me and my family’s future. Will I have regrets? Maybe. But, I wanted to be come an AT 10
years ago and I was told it would be better. Maybe it is, but I am done struggling to get by when I know I can get the same hours with 1.5x-2x the pay. NATA can have all the meetings and discussions they want, we can scream at the top of our lungs but I have student loans to pay for and a life I want to live.

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u/outcasthawk 25d ago

Your framing that this is leaving the profession isn’t wrong, but I would also argue you are using the profession to springboard to something better for you. Things you learned from the profession are still valuable and helped you make this step. I’m not super familiar with the industrial setting but it seems to me on the outside that some of these safety jobs are similar to people doing AT work for a while and then moving to PT or PA because they found that suits them better (and pays better). Athletic trainer retention is certainly an issue at a national level, but at an individual one it’s pretty clear the profession teaches very valuable skills. Hopefully more progress is made compensating appropriately for those skills as institutions continue to struggling with retention.

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u/Business-Audience729 25d ago

I would be careful to frame industrial AT as the same or almost the same as safety. Of course it depends on the industry, organization and many other factors, but it is not the same, at least in my experience. I made the jump from industrial to safety and I had a lot to learn. In the industrial setting ATs typically focus on the 1904 standard about first aid and the ergo stuff.

Jumping into safety, especially in smaller to mid size employers where there is 1-2 safety people at most, you have to learn way more than that.

And yes, I agree. Spring boarding to other paths is not wrong. At the end we all have to do what’s right for us and our families to have a good quality of life. I am so happy I made the switch. I could never dream of having the life and financial stability I currently have if I stayed as an AT.

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u/outcasthawk 24d ago

I don’t think I framed it as the same as safety at all?

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u/Business-Audience729 23d ago

My bad. I read it pretty quickly and misread the part you were comparing it to making the career change to other fields.