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Jana Meyer-Wilmes with the shepherd dog Anuk: "I've always loved animals"
Photo: Christoph Motzkau
The start into working life is exciting, exhausting - and often completely different than planned. In the series
"My first year in the job"
young professionals tell how they experienced this time.
This time: Jana Meyer-Wilmes, 25, has been working as an employed veterinarian in her mother's veterinary practice since spring.
Can that work - and how stressful is your job?
»I've always loved animals, especially horses, small animals and actually everything that has fur.
As a teenager I still had other plans for the future, so I wanted to become a cosmetic surgeon.
But that was over quickly.
"No weekends, a maximum of one vacation per year, working at Christmas - I know that from both of my parents"
Veterinarian Jana
My parents are both independent vets, my mother has a practice for small animals, and my father is a veterinarian for horses.
That also means: no weekends, a maximum of one vacation per year, work on Christmas.
I know that from both of them.
This profession enormously restricts personal freedom.
If there is an emergency, you have to go immediately.
Of course, I've wondered if I want this for my own life.
But helping animals has always been the most important thing for me.
After graduating from high school, I studied veterinary medicine in Hanover.
It was a very intensive study.
During the lecture period, I had a lot of so-called incoming and outgoing certificates and oral learning controls, plus the exams at the end of each semester, the pre-physics and the physics.
But I consider this burden to be important at the university because it prepares you for what awaits in professional life.
If the pressure were less during your studies, it would hit you all the harder later in your job.
More episodes of "My first year in the job"
Starting a job as a vocational school teacher: "In the middle of the corona crisis, I got a job where I can hardly be quit" Recorded by Sebastian Maas
Career entry as a biologist: "I wanted to show that it can be done without a title" Recorded by Wiebke Bolle
Career entry at youth welfare office: "You don't learn empathy at university" Recorded by Manuel Biallas
The practical year shows how diverse the job is
I completed my internship in a practice specializing in small animals near Osnabrück.
Of course, I already had an insight into the job through my parents' work and the theoretical part of my studies, but the time there made me want more.
In practice there were other options than in my mother's, for example a cardiac ultrasound.
I got to know the possibilities of further treatments in a completely different way.
I was only 23 during the PY, plus I'm short and blonde.
I had the feeling that the owners of the animals were looking more critically at my fingers than the doctors.
But I could hardly make mistakes because I had someone behind me every second.
This is different now, in real professional life.
Eating animals is also part of it
I've been working in my mother's practice since spring and writing my doctoral thesis on the side.
My mother has been running the practice for 15 years, she built it up with a lot of love, ambition, courage and tears.
And she set me an example of what it's like to be a veterinarian.
It was clear to me from the start that I wanted to treat small animals like them.
It was therefore a logical step for me to join her and continue the practice - her life's work.
I never doubted that - even if the pay for employed vets in the small animal sector is often really bad at the beginning.
The Federal Association of Practicing Veterinarians recommends remuneration of at least 2420 euros gross per month for the first half of the career, and of at least 2860 euros in the second half of the year.
After five and a half years of study, that's a slap in the face.
I earn more in my mother's practice.
The salaries of veterinarians who look after farm animals or work in the public sector are usually higher.
And yet I know: I don't want to do any other job.
"I had to and must learn that people cry and are angry when an animal dies"
Veterinarian Jana
Working with my mom is great.
She gives me a lot of freedom, but also makes sure that I do not experience any situations that I am not yet able to cope with.
Often, for example, she still takes over the acute emergencies or euthanasia.
Euthanasia is still difficult for me, especially with dogs.
They are often firmly integrated into family structures.
I had to and must learn that people cry and are angry when they have to let go of an animal.
That they ask, 'Why?' When someone is really upset, I often don't know how to respond most skillfully to best help.
I have great respect for these moments.
"No, I don't want to go to you"
I don't have 20 years of professional experience, so I have to think about some things 30 times.
I once did a blood count on a dog.
When the animal and its owner were gone, it occurred to me that I would have had to settle another blood test for diagnosis.
It was then logically at the expense of the practice, and I had to answer for it.
These are small things, but they still make me dissatisfied.
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Jana Meyer-Wilmes with the dogs Anuk and Barney
Photo: Christoph Motzkau
Medicine is an incredible matter of trust.
When treating their own animal, many people look for absolute trust.
I have to work that out first.
›No, I don't want to go to you‹, that comes towards me from the waiting room almost every week.
People would prefer to see my mother then.
Of course it's tough, and I haven't found a way to handle it well either.
In moments like this I am always a bit shocked and also personally hurt because I don't understand the reason.
My mom always says I shouldn't take this personally.
That's still very difficult for me.
With all the stress, of course, my job also has extremely beautiful sides.
When therapy works, when someone comes back and says that the previous treatment has done the animal good, then that makes me happy.
I am proud when I diagnose something that has not been found before.
For example, recently I recognized a rare metabolic disease in a dog.
To explain to people exactly what is lacking in their animal, to have the feeling that they can help - that is really wonderful. "
Have you just started your career and would like to tell us about it? Then write to us at
SPIEGEL-Start@spiegel.de
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