You would think that everyone who has a medical degree has been an intern before wouldn’t you? The truth of the matter is though that there are a lot of different types of medical degrees that people can get and not all of those degrees require an internship to be completed prior to graduation. Even students who aren’t required to intern should do so before completing their degrees.

Ideally all students (in any field) should do an internship before graduating. However it’s particularly important for medical students because the work that they do for others is such important work. You need to get hands-on experience to know if you are going to be cut out for the job.

Many students of certificate and associates programs don’t have to get online degrees. For example, students of transitional dpt programs or physician assistant programs may or may not have to complete an internship before being awarded their graduate certificates. If you find yourself in one of these programs then definitely ask the teachers there about the internship opportunities that are available to you. Either you’ll discover that you enjoy the work and are good at it or you’ll realize that you need to do something else with your life. Either way, you and your future patients both benefit.

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Basically, I was doing technical “writing” (there was very little actual writing involved, mostly copy/pasting) for an out-of-state firm that had a contract in my city.  They had been flying their people in every week and having them stay three nights or so at the Sleep Inn in the Denver Tech Center, but of course that was more expensive.  By hiring local writers they saved a lot of money on travel expenses.

I never questioned why they were so quick to hire a liberal arts major straight out of college — I was too excited about the job.  Well, it turned out the owner of the small company was kind of a jerk, and hired only young women fresh out of college with liberal arts degrees — a demographic that really had no expectations for high-paying jobs, and therefore would be relatively easy to control because they genuinely didn’t think they could find anything better.

The job sucked, to say the least.  The boss was a complete control freak.  But it did give me the experience that I needed to launch a career as a freelance writer — on paper, anyway, even if I know all I did was type what our boss transcribed, and then copied and pasted that into a new document.  (And good heavens, his writing was atrocious!)

But it was here that I got my first taste of how nice it would be to work from home.  One day I forgot a jump drive that contained work I had done from home.  (This was before I was totally disillusioned with the job — when I was still motivated enough to work from home.)  I had to drive back and get it.  While I was gone, my boss called the office, and my co-workers lied for me and said I was in the bathroom and wasn’t feeling well.

When I finally got in, my boss called again and sent me home, thinking I was really sick.  I felt rather bad about that, and took my work home with me again.  (Like I said, this was when I was motivated…)

That day turned out to be a pretty good day.  I took my laptop over to the cafe at Barnes & Noble and worked there for a while.  It was my first experience in how nice it is to work from any location I please, rather than being stuck in the same boring office day after day.

I’ve been freelancing full-time for more than three years now, and I have to say I still love it now as much as I did then.  And I’m once again motivated to put in the extra hours needed to get something done, which is a great feeling!

Technorati Tags: freelance writer, Sleep Inn in the Denver Tech Center, technical writer

There are just so many things that I want to do. I want to own and operate a bed-and-breakfast. I want to be a tour guide for river rafting tours or hiking tours. I want to launch a small business selling homemade crafts online. I want to have a garden and to grow things to sell at farmer’s markets. I want to get involved in some aspect of health, working as a cookie doctor or a yoga instructor or a fitness coach.

Of course, I probably won’t turn all of these things into careers. I’ll probably just pick a few of them to really develop. Perhaps I’ll sign up for that yoga certification course and do that job next. I can see making a career out of that for four or five years before moving on to something else. Don’t you want more than just one job for the rest of your life?!

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Part of the growing popularity of working from home is that current technology has made certain things easier than ever.  For instance, super high speed Internet connections enable telecommuters to interface with their employer’s system from home and keep in better touch via email and instant messaging.  I’ve even heard of employers monitoring their employees’ work habits via webcams — strange but true!

Here are a few things you will need in order to telecommute or run your business from home:

• Designated home office space.  In order to be able to work productively, you need to be able to set aside an area to be used exclusively for work — preferrably a room with a door.  Luckily, as working from home becomes more popular, live work homes have too, and you can find many different choices in almost any area — for example,  these Carlsbad lofts.
• A high speed Internet connection.  The faster the better in this case — you want to be sure a slow Internet connection is never an obstacle to doing business!
• A fast computer.  Make sure you have the capabilities to do anything your employer or clients might need you to do!
• Fax capabilities.  These days you don’t have to have a fax machine, though your employer might want you to have one.  You can receive faxes for free online with eFax, and send them online as well for a low monthly fee.

With a computer, a home office, and a bit of technology, you can work from home, either as a telecommuter or as a small business owner.  Isn’t it wonderful what technology makes possible?

Technorati Tags: Carlsbad lofts, live work homes, small business, telecommute, webcams, work from home

We all have a little bit of that “grass is always greener” mentality don’t we? We definitely have this when it comes to work. We usually think that everyone else’s work sounds more interesting than our own but that’s just because we aren’t privy to the drudgery that comes along with different types of jobs and yet we’re intimately familiar with that boring part of our own work.

A friend of mine works in the military. When he talks about his job, it sounds so exciting. Just the other day he was telling me about getting these new Squadcom series headsets with listen only earpieces in a delivery of tactical equipment that they’re going to be using. I don’t even know what that means but it sounds cool. And yet, he frequently complains about how dull his job is.

People do the same thing to me. I work from home and people constantly imagine that this is a really ideal situation with no flaws about it. Although there are definitely some terrific things about working from home, there are also very definite flaws in this kind of career path. I happen to know what they are from doing the job so I can see them clearly. The grass is never really greener.

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This new format of learning was practically unheard of ten years ago, yet it is now an essential facet of almost every college in the country.  With more and more universities offering online classes and entire programs available through the web, it is clear that online learning is much more than a fad.

What an exciting time we now live in when it is not only possible to order food from a computer to be delivered to your home and then rent the latest Spike Lee film to be viewed immediately, but in the same hour you can also work on your Doctor of Health Sciences online degree. 

But do online classes offer the same quality education as their original counterparts?  That is not a question I am ready to answer, nor is it one that I would advise others to ask.  We are all vastly different in our learning styles, and what may be a challenging format to some, may be a conducive environment to others.

Technorati Tags: Doctor of Health Sciences online degree, learning styles, Masters in Health Science program, online learning

Are you relatively new to the world of IT security or are you in a low level security job?  If so, the CompTia Security + certification course may be for you.  Security + introduces you to general security concepts and then moves you on to more advanced concepts.  Communication Security, Basics of Cryptography, Physical Security, Infrastructure, and Implementing Web Security are all covered.  You can also check out the Security Certified Network Professional books available.

Do you already hold a Security + certification and want to move to the next level?  If you are ready to really step it up a notch, then go for the CISSP certification.  Many companies offer a complete CISSP training course covering the 10 CBK domains.  Students receive thorough training and review materials to prep them for the final CISSP certification exam.

When choosing to further your education, choose a resource that can meet all your current and future training needs. 

Technorati Tags: CISSP certification exam, CISSP training course, information technology security training, security certified network professional books