The years of hesitation before an engineer became an EMT

A software engineer has described the reasons he put off becoming an emergency medical technician, from the cost and time required to concerns about emergency services culture and the day-to-day work. He says he completed a 28-day NOLS Wilderness EMT course in 2024 and now balances EMS work with software engineering.

The writer says he first became interested in EMS in college, then spent years taking introductory courses and reading about the job before enrolling. His wilderness EMT course cost about US$5,000, excluding travel and other expenses. He notes that more typical courses may cost around US$2,000.

His reservations also included whether he would fit in with other trainees and first responders, and whether he wanted ambulance work at all. He describes concerns about burnout and culture as personal experiences, while noting that his course included enthusiastic younger students and people closer to his age.

The training did not settle whether EMS should become his career. He says full-time EMS was not for him, and that working on an ambulance was not something he had originally planned. He now sees the qualification as a starting point for further learning and teamwork.

The writer says classroom training did not prepare him for everything he encountered on an ambulance, where he saw how much there was still to learn. He also argues that the routine work can be tedious, involving paperwork, cleaning and restocking, but frames that work as part of being ready to help.