Veterinary

Is a Veterinary Career Right for You? 5 Questions to Ask Before Enrolling

Being a vet tech can be a rewarding, but demanding job. Is it really the right career for you? Here are five questions you should ask yourself before enrolling.

Des Sinkevich

Jul 01, 2026

11 min read

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Reviewed by Megan Chadwick, Penn Foster Veterinary Academy Director.

Working in the veterinary field requires a passion for helping animals, which is one of the biggest things that draw people toward becoming a vet tech. While that passion is important, success in the field requires a bit more since veterinary technicians work in fast-paced environments and often deal with emotional, stressful situations.

Before you take the first step and enroll in a veterinary technician training program, it’s important to make sure that the job and everything that comes with it really is the right fit for you. It can help you to ask these five questions to figure out whether being a vet tech really aligns with your strengths, personality, and career goals.

Key takeaways

Being a vet tech requires more than a love of animals—you need resilience, patience, strong communication skills, and the ability to work under pressure.
The job can be emotionally challenging, involving difficult diagnoses, end-of-life care, and supporting distressed pet owners.
Teamwork is essential, as vet techs work closely with veterinarians, other technicians, and clinic staff in fast-paced environments.
Veterinary medicine is a lifelong learning profession, requiring continuing education and staying current with industry developments.
The career can be physically demanding and messy, involving lifting animals, handling bodily fluids, and working nontraditional hours.

1. Are you comfortable handling animals that may be stressed, scared, or unpredictable?

While a lot of the patients you meet as a vet tech may become your new furry best friends, not all animals handle vet visits well. During your day, you’ll deal with scared, stressed animals that could react in unpredictable ways. That could mean the large dog that growls and tries to bite or the cat that tries to take a swipe at you with its claws. It could be chasing down a frightened but wily kitten who refuses to sit still. You’ll face difficult, frustrating exams when trying to handle and restrain the patient for the veterinarian seems impossible or struggle to take samples for lab work. How would you handle these situations? Ask yourself: can you stay calm, patient, and focused when an animal is resisting treatment or showing signs of distress?

If you’re someone who can remain calm under pressure, then being a vet tech might be a great career for you! You won’t go into the job without knowledge and experience of dealing with these kinds of situations, too. As part of your veterinary technician classes and externship experience, you’ll cover things like proper handling and restraint, techniques for dealing with tough patients, and likely even get hands-on experience dealing with a few difficult situations yourself. The knowledge and use of low-stress handling and Fear Free techniques, as well as knowing when and how to use them in these sorts of situations, will really make a difference. Your training, combined with patience and resilience, can help you excel on the job!

2. Can you handle emotionally challenging situations?

As a vet tech, you’ll be there for a lot of great moments and happy days, the ones where you make a big difference for your pet patients and their people. But you’ll also be there for some dark days, too, the ones where they have to make some really tough, heartbreaking decisions. This can be one of the hardest parts of being a vet tech and leads to a lot of great, talented techs experiencing burn out and compassion fatigue. As a vet tech, you’ll need to be prepared to deal emotionally challenging situations like

Dealing with and helping distressed families.
Talking through tough diagnoses and decisions.
End of life care and euthanasia.
Morally tense situations.

You’ll even deal with situations where you disagree with the choices a client makes about the care of their pet. The emotional weight of all of that – and the deep care of compassion for the animals you help – can really drag a person down. But as a vet tech, this is something you’ll have to deal with regularly. Through all of that, you need to maintain a level of calm and professionalism. While you may want to cry or yell in the moment, that’s not something that you can necessarily do in front of the client.

If you’re considering working in veterinary medicine, you’ll want to ask yourself: Can I remain compassionate while still maintaining composure during emotionally intense situations?

3. Are you motivated by helping animals and their owners more than financial rewards?

Vet tech jobs can offer a relatively stable career with plenty of job opportunities. Right now, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that job openings for vet techs are expected to grow 9% over the next decade, which is much faster than average for other jobs. As of June 2026, the median salary for a veterinary technician in the United States was $45,980, or $22.11 per hour. It can be good starting pay, but many vet techs don’t go into the field for the salary; their passion for animals and making a difference are the biggest motivators.

Outside of the pay, the biggest rewards of being a vet tech are knowing you’re making a difference for the pets you help, improving animal health and well-being, building relationships with pet owners, and doing work you truly love.

Obviously, you want a job that can allow you to support yourself and meet your needs, but you also want to ask yourself if the emotional and personal rewards of being a vet tech are enough for you to balance the pay.

Watch: How Kelsy Found Her Path as a Mom, Military Spouse, and Future RVT

Opportunities to make more money as a vet tech

Remember, too, that once you become a veterinary technician, that’s not the end of the road for your vet career. You can always advance or take different pathways that could allow you to earn a higher salary money over time. For example, you could eventually pursue a Veterinary Technology Bachelor’s Degree and further credentials, allowing you to specialize in higher paying roles. Veterinary surgery technicians, for example, can make as much as $78,000 per year.

Or if you want to take on a leadership role and focus on the business side of the practice, you can consider becoming a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager (CVPM). You’ll need to get some additional education and credentials under your belt, but it can be worth it if you’re looking to earn more because CVPMs can make $82,000 per year.

4. Do you enjoy working as part of a team in a fast-paced environment?

Working in a veterinary clinic isn’t a solitary job. You’re part of a team, no matter what your role is. From the front desk to the veterinarian, everyone works together to support the clinic and give the patients the best care possible. As a vet tech, you’ll work closely with everyone on the team, and everyone needs to manage their priorities and tasks to make sure the clinic runs well, especially during busy days.

How vet techs work with other team members

Depending on the clinic or hospital you work at, you’ll likely work a bit with everyone on the team. For example, on a normal day, you’ll likely work with the front desk staff (receptionists or veterinary assistants, depending on who is assigned administrative work) to manage patient appointments and take patients back to the exam rooms. You’ll also work with other vet techs to divide the day's work to make sure no one is overwhelmed with tasks. If your clinic has a practice manager, they may be responsible for assigning different roles and duties to the staff. Besides other techs, your closest working relationship will probably be with your veterinarian, as you’ll be assisting them with exams throughout the day. If your clinic has multiple vets, you may bounce between them, assisting with exams and procedures as needed.

That’s all assuming everything goes smoothly, everyone is at their best and nothing stressful happens ever. But that’s not how real life works. Someone is going to forget something, a coworker may not be the best at their job or drop the ball on something, and you need to pick up the slack. People will get frustrated with you and you may get frustrated with them. An emergency case may come in and then it’s all hands on deck to help the patient. But whatever the clinic, whatever the case, it all comes down to this: at the end of the day, you need to be able to function in a team setting as a team player.

What skills do vet techs need to work as a team?

To be a team player and an asset to a vet clinic, you need more than knowledge, credentials, and technical skills. You also need to be adaptable, empathetic (to humans, as well as animals), and have strong communication skills. You need to be willing to work with others, even if you’re not their biggest fan and you need to be willing to step back and let others shine. You also need to be able to be open to feedback, and be willing to share with your team when you’re struggling. Your team is strongest together and you can find the most success – and give the best care to your patients – if you support and work within the team.

So, when you’re considering working as a vet tech, you want to ask yourself: are you okay working with others or do you prefer to work alone? Are you able to adapt and communicate even during frustrating, fast-paced, and sometimes overwhelming days?

Are you willing to keep learning even after you earn your degree?

After you get your veterinary technician degree, pass the Veterinary Technician National Exam (VTNE), get credentialed in your state, and start working, your learning and education doesn’t stop there. You’ll continuously learn on the job from more experienced vet techs and veterinarians, picking up tips and skills on the go. You’ll also want to keep informed about the latest news and developments in the industry. Like human healthcare, veterinary medicine changes and adapts as new technologies and discoveries influence diagnoses, treatments, and tools. To be the best at your job, you need to stay on top of all of that – and your clinic will likely expect you to.

Besides that, to retain your credentials, you’ll have to renew them regularly. That’s usually every two years but can vary based on the regulations in your state. To renew, you’ll need to complete a specific number of approved continuing education (CE) hours before the two years are up. These CE hours are often done through approved classes that expand your clinical or professional knowledge as a vet tech.

A lot of times, your employer may cover some or all the costs of the classes you need to maintain your credentials, but that’s not always a guarantee, so keep in mind that you may need to pay to keep learning. Before enrolling into a vet tech program, you’ll want to ask yourself: am I willing to devote the time (and potentially money) to keep learning, even after I get a job? Am I interested enough in this field to be motivated to keep learning?

Other things you might want to consider before signing up for vet tech training

Enrolling in a college program – online or in person – is a big commitment, so you want to make sure that you are as confident as possible that it’s the right move for you. With that in mind, here are a few other things you want to consider before enrolling in vet tech training.

Being a vet tech is physically demanding

Being a vet tech can come with a lot of physical demands. You should be prepared to

Be on your feet most of the day, standing or walking.
Lift or restrain large animals. It’s recommended that you be comfortable lifting at least 40lbs.
Do repetitive physical tasks.
Risk getting scratched or bitten by patients.

Vet techs should be comfortable with science and medicine

Vet techs don’t just love animals, their skilled healthcare professionals! Part of that means being able to understand biology, anatomy, and medical information. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to be perfect at it – not everyone will love every part of this. But you should at least enjoy or be willing to work at learning things like

Understanding medications and treatments
Anatomy and physiology
Medical terminology
Running diagnostic tests

Being a vet tech means dealing with the messy parts of the job

Vet tech work isn’t all kitten cuddles or saving lives; there’s a lot of unglamorous work that goes into it, too. In fact, a lot of your tasks will probably be on the messy side. If you’re hoping to become a vet tech, you should also be willing to

Clean kennels and exam rooms
Handle bodily fluids and waste
Assist with surgeries
Care for severely injured or sick animals

Vet techs don’t always work a 9 to 5

If you’re looking for a standard Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 job, being a vet tech might not be for you. Many vet techs work nontraditional hours like

Evenings
Weekends
Holidays
Emergency shifts

You might work early morning hours, getting up before the sun and you may even work 12 hour days. It really depends on the clinic you work at.

How to tell if I should be a vet tech

You might want to consider becoming a vet tech if

You’re passionate about animals and their welfare
You can handle a physical job
You enjoy learning, and like subjects like biology, anatomy, medical terminology, etc.
You like being part of a team at work
You want a job where you can make a difference
You’re not afraid of getting a bit messy on the job
You’re patient, calm, and adaptable
You’ve got strong communication skills
You like a fast-paced work environment
Scrubs are your ideal work uniform
You don’t mind a quirky work schedule

If being a vet tech is your dream, take the first step with an online vet tech school

Being a veterinary technician is no easy job. It can be physically and emotionally draining, the long days can take their toll, and it requires a real commitment to the work. But when you’re truly passionate about what you do and you know that you’re making a difference, the hard days can really be worth it in the end. If your passion for helping animals is stronger than anything and you know that your dream is to really make a difference in the lives of pets and their families, the first step toward becoming a veterinary technician is getting your vet tech degree. With Penn Foster’s AVMA-accredited Veterinary Technician Associate Degree, you can learn the skills that can help you prepare to be a successful vet tech online and prep for the VTNE.

If you’re ready to get started, you can enroll online 24/7. If you’ve still got questions or want to talk more about whether or not this career path and program is right for you, you can fill out our secure information form and our Admissions Specialists will reach out to help!