[blueridge]

In the US you can ride along at almost any fire department or private EMS company for a 12 hour day shift. They won't let you ride over night, but you can come back for multiple ride-alongs.

If you're more interested in the fire side, you can get on an engine. You'll respond to structure fires, car accidents, lightning strikes, and all sorts of well-being checks for people who just need help getting up off the floor.

If you're interested in medical stuff, you can get on an ambulance. You'll run 911 calls and get some real exposure to the human condition. It's a great way to learn about pre-hospital and emergency department care. It's also a great way to get a reality check on how the US healthcare system works, and how it helps or hinders the people who need care the most.

In many parts of the country fire and EMS are part of the same service and system, so you'll get exposure to a little bit of everything. I'd highly recommend fire and EMS as an alternative career path for anyone who is looking for something different, other than tech.

[imadethis]

EMT here: highly recommend this! If you’re in the US, there’s a pretty big need for EMTs everywhere. A 3 month community college course will get you an intro job essentially no questions asked. From there you can pivot to fire if you’re physically capable, or go the paramedic route (2 more years of school). The starting pay for an EMT will be garbage, but firefighters and paramedics can make pretty good salaries depending on location.

The most important part to me was feeling like I was actually making a difference in people’s lives. I’ve done more for others in a single shift than in 5 years of one of my tech jobs. It doesn’t put food on the table, but it does help me sleep at night.

And if you are working in tech, there’s some interesting crossover applications. I’ve applied knowledge from EMS to working on EMRs for instance.