I wanted to become a budtender and slowly work my way up in a cannabis company until I could get a junior position at a cannabis growing facility.
Before I started work in the medical cannabis industry as a budtender or medtender, I was primarily a retail associate at a large department store for over 10 years. While I managed to get several raises during my years at that company, I wasn’t really offered any upward mobility in the form of promotions to places like supervisor or lower management roles. It became clear to me that I wouldn’t be satisfied in life until I found a job in a different industry. The hours at this store were all over the place, and my own managers weren’t particularly kind to me throughout the years when I was verbally assaulted by customers. You can only take so much of this stress before it completely consumes you and spits you out on the other side. I’ve been a marijuana smoker for a number of years and always dreamed about one day working as a marijuana grower. However, I never had a plan in mind for how to achieve that dream. When my state legalized medical marijuana in 2016, I saw an opportunity. I wanted to become a budtender and slowly work my way up in a cannabis company until I could get a junior position at a cannabis growing facility. However, being a budtender wasn’t too different from the retail job I had before. There were a lot more angry and disgruntled customers at the cannabis dispensary than I could ever imagine. That’s when I asked to be put in the cultivation facility, and I have never looked back. I finally achieved my dream of becoming a marijuana grower and I couldn’t be happier working for the medical cannabis dispensary.