If you’re interested in becoming a vet tech, I can’t stress the importance of speaking to those who have worked in the profession and can give you first-hand advice and answers to your specific questions. I recently spoke with a vet tech friend of mine to ask her some general questions about her career. Without further ado:
Q: Why did you decide to become a vet tech?
A: I initially went to vet tech school so that I could work as a credentialed technician while working on my BS, as I was pre-vet at the time. I later decided to NOT go to vet school, and go into technician education instead.
Q: What’s your favorite part about the job?
A: I love that moment when you bring out a formally ailing pet to their owner to go home, and the absolute glee on the faces of both the owner and the pet. Helping people and and keeping pets healthy is by far the most rewarding part of the job. Not everyone has a job where they get the opportunity to make a difference every day. It’s something I really enjoy and value about my career.
Q: What’s your least favorite part about the job?
A: Convenience euthanasia requests. Some people request euthanasia before we recommend it, simply because they are no longer willing to care and provide for their pets. In some cases we turn these people away but in many cases we cannot. This sort of thing can take a lot of you and make work much more emotional and stressful.
Q: How has the career changed since you first started?
A: I became a veterinary tech in 1996. Since then, we are becoming more recognized and more recognizable by the general public. And the same goes for being recognized and utilized more by DVMs. Also there are quite a few specialties available now for technicians. The number of tech programs has grown, to include quite a few very good distance education programs, which has greatly increased the number of credentialed technicians in the work force. Happily state veterinary medical boards are also getting on board with the laws to regulated what we can do, as compared to on-the-job trained staff, which is a very good thing
Q: How do you think the career will change in the next 10 years?
A: The future looks bright! I think we will continue to grow, and hopefully we will have some sort of national rules and regulations, much like human nurses. As we can organize ourselves better we can secure ourselves better benefits, more responsibilities, and higher pay. That’s what I hope anyway 
Q: What advice can you give to people who are interested in becoming vet techs?
A: The three things I tell potential students: a – do not go into veterinary technology for the money because there isn’t any, we do this because we love veterinary mediciane. b – don’t go into veterinary technology if you hate people, every Fluffy and Spot comes with a human. c – veterinary technology is about science and advocating, NOT about playing with puppies and kitties (that’s just a perk), our classes are hard science, blood, guts, and critical thinking. The best thing to do is to observe credentialed technicians working.