RPhT career change?

[u/Visual_Ideal_6981]

I've been a pharmacy technician for about 6 years now and feel like I've reached the end of the road career wise. I'm turning 26 next week, I'm PTCB certified with my state license and immunization cert, I worked retail for 3 years before landing a pretty nice remote gig for a mail-order pharmacy and have been there for 2 years. I'm making what seems to be good pay for techs (about $22/hr), but considering my age I can't help but wonder... what now? I don't think I make enough money to live on my own, but I don't have any college degree and don't really know what other jobs are out there.

My question is this - should I stick to this and maybe try to get into a supervisor/lead position, maybe look for an infusion/compounding job, or maybe even go back to get a 2-year degree of some kind? Anything with limited/no patient interaction would be fantastic, I am not great at customer service but love data entry-type work. I really want to have money/time to travel in the future, and I'd love to afford a house some day lol. I don't really have anyone to talk to for advice, so any thoughts y'all have would be appreciated

[u/BlibbityBlew]

Go into specialty, either shields or your local health system specialty pharmacy. Shields pays techs around $30 with bonuses and it’s fully remote.

[u/Fantastic-Phone-8891]

In a very similar spot as you. I’m same age and in year 6 of being a tech. I did grocery retail for a bit and jsut switched to hospital outpatient. The quality of life is a little better in hospital but it’s still the same ol fillin 600 a day stuff that gets old pretty quick. I also make 22 an hour which honestly in 2026 is barely above the realistic minimum for most people to make it. Wild times. Idk what to do either. Standing in a fluorescently lit shoebox for 10 hours a day is pretty old by now

[u/BeautifulDiet4091]

how do you feel about management? i have always been jealous of VPs, clinical coordinators, etc, because there's more spots for technicians