A little career letter
Find Your Flow
find what moves you, one small step at a time
Vol. 15 · Sunday, June 28
Start here · the headline
Occupational therapy assistant
You work alongside an occupational therapist and do the hands-on part: coaching people through the exercises and daily-life skills that make them independent again. Warm, active, one-on-one, and you watch people get better in front of you. No degree beyond a two-year associate, and no needles.
A place you could work
Rehab clinics & hospitals
Help people recover after surgery, an injury, or a stroke, rebuilding strength and motion step by step. It is busy and physical and you see real progress every week, which is exactly the kind of feedback that keeps you going. A team around you, never alone at a desk.
A place you could work
Older adults & senior care
Help seniors keep doing the things they love and stay independent in their homes. It is patient, kind work with people who genuinely appreciate you, and there is endless demand as the population ages. A good fit for your warmth and your patience.
The higher-pay lane
Home health (top pay)
Drive to patients in their own homes, one visit at a time. It is often the highest-paying OTA lane, you are out and about instead of in one building all day, and you set your own rhythm between visits. Independence plus the best pay in the field.
The lifestyle
Specialize, and take it anywhere
Once you are licensed you can specialize, hand therapy, rehab, and earn more, and OTAs are needed in every city, so the career travels with you. Move to a mountain town or a new state and there is work waiting. A licensed, portable, recession-resistant skill that is active, not a desk.
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How to get qualified (the real path)
No bachelor’s. You need a two-year associate from an ACOTE-accredited OTA program, then you pass the national NBCOT exam and get your Colorado COTA license. That license is the whole ballgame.
The cost-smart option: Pueblo Community College runs the only public OTA program in Colorado, 18 months of classes plus 16 weeks of hands-on fieldwork. Public tuition keeps it affordable, and it is fully accredited.
Pueblo Community College OTA program ›The option with family nearby: GateWay Community College in Phoenix has an accredited OTA program too. If a two-year move makes sense, you would have family right there, and it is a public community college just like Pueblo. Genuinely worth weighing alongside the Colorado route.
GateWay (Phoenix) OTA program ›Honest note: Pueblo and Phoenix both mean a temporary move, so weigh that. Either way, the science prerequisites can be done at a community college near home first, and the Colorado OT association lists every approved school if you want to compare.
All Colorado OT/OTA schools ›A real job in this field, and what it pays
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant, Denver
This is the real, licensed career waiting at the end of the two years, not a placeholder. Denver has well over 150 OTA openings right now; home-health and PRN roles pay at the top of that range, and a lot of them list $5,000 sign-on bonuses. The ask is simple: graduate an accredited OTA program, hold a Colorado COTA license, and have CPR. Browse the current Denver listings to see the pay for yourself.
See live OTA jobs & pay in Denver ›You do not have to map your whole life today. One step, opening the Pueblo program page to see what the classes actually are, moves you forward more than a week of thinking about it. Small steps are still steps.
Made with love, just for you. Reply any time and we will chase down whatever sparks your interest. xo