Answer to Question #4175 Submitted to "Ask the Experts"

I'm thinking about pursuing a degree in health physics as a potential career change option. I currently work as a CAD administrator, having earned a degree back in 1982 as an agricultural engineer. I am hoping that the company I work for will be open to paying for much of my tuition. I'll be 48 years young in July. Can you comment on the career outlook for someone who obtains a Master of Health Physics degree at age 52?

I'm told that most adults are likely to experience 2 or 3 different careers during their working life times.  If this is indeed true then your interests are not unusual. You would have at least another 12 to 15 years ahead of you in a new career and perhaps even more depending on the rigidity of retirement rules. The advantage a seasoned worker might be expected to bring to the work force would include well developed skills in communication, leadership, and diplomacy.  Often age also brings enhanced decision making capability.  I suspect that you may be a valued asset to your employer.

The discipline of health physics, like most other professions, is facing a likely shortage of qualified people as the baby-boom cohort retires.  Presently, we are not recruiting new talent into the profession as rapidly as individuals are being lost to retirement.  Based upon these observations, it appears that there should be a strong job market for individuals entering the health physics labor pool over the foreseeable future.  The job market in the United States, although strong, appears at this time to be regionalized and somewhat sporadic.  This probably reflects the very tight fiscal  management style that appears to have been adopted across the country.  Those responsible for managing health and safety by and large are being asked to accomplish more with fewer resources.  If an individual is mobile and willing to seek employment in different regions of the country and willing to begin at lower cost entry level positions, the market is really good.  It appears more restricted with respect to the mobility of senior workers.  It may well be that this changes over the next several years.

The demands on the profession, and the developments of the discipline promise to maintain health physics as a challenging profession.

Richard. R. Brey, PhD, CHP