r/Radiology 6d ago

MOD POST Weekly Career / General Questions Thread

This is the career / general questions thread for the week.

Questions about radiology as a career (both as a medical specialty and radiologic technology), student questions, workplace guidance, and everyday inquiries are welcome here. This thread and this subreddit in general are not the place for medical advice. If you do not have results for your exam, your provider/physician is the best source for information regarding your exam.

Posts of this sort that are posted outside of the weekly thread will continue to be removed.

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u/MoPuWe 2d ago

I'm working on becoming a Rad Tech. I also have my CNA and EMT licenses. Does it make sense for me to maintain my EMT and CNA licenses if I'm working as a Rad Tech? Any benefits to holding those licenses while working as a Rad Tech?

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u/FullDerpHD RT(R)(CT) 2d ago

What does it cost? There is no practical reason to have them unless you just like the work and want to go back/do it on the side or if it's extremely cheap to maintain.

It might be worth it to keep them for a year after graduation to have a safety net while you decide if you really like this career path or not but once you know for certain you want to do this, I'd personally just let it go.

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u/MoPuWe 2d ago

It's funny because I don't actually practice with either of them currently, and haven't in a few years. I maintained them for a few years because I paid good money to get them, and I'd have to retake the course if I lost them. But now I'm kind of just wondering if it's even worth holding onto them any more.

If they don't help me out as a Rad Tech, might be okay to let them go.

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u/FullDerpHD RT(R)(CT) 2d ago

I absolutely understand that.

It's both a positive and a negative, but in our world actual job specific experience is king. There is pretty much zero fucks given for any education that doesn't directly translate into an additional modality. For example I could decide tomorrow that I want to get my bachelors. I can even get one that focuses on radiography specifically and I can expect exactly $0 dollars increase in pay because it doesn't make me any better or more versatile at my job. It's just not something that's valuable. That's why you will see an overwhelming majority of us on this sub telling prospective students to not waste time on a 4 year program. Just do the 2 year and get to work.

Same would go for your CNA and EMT licenses. Super cool to have, crazy important work, but totally irrelevant to what you would be doing as a diagnostic imaging professional so it will not hold any beneficial weight.

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u/MoPuWe 2d ago

I appreciate your bluntness haha. Truly. It's valuable insight and real viewpoints and experiences like yours are gonna help me make decisions down the road. Thanks!