Civil Engineer vs. Dentist

[snowboarder14]

Hi everyone! I am at a major cross-roads in my career and facing a huge dilemma. I'm curious to hear people's thoughts. Anyone is welcome to comment, especially engineers and practicing dentists!!

I have been working as a civil engineer for two years now. I like the work and find it interesting, however I am working 50 hours per week and making 45k. This is very frustrating. I understand that I am still entry level, but when I look at the more experienced engineers I know they are working similar hours and only making about 78k after a lot of time climbing the ladder. Therefore I'm debating a career change.

I recently applied and was accepted to dental school. It was a lot of work to apply, and I'm happy to have gotten in. However I am not totally excited to become a dentist. My brother is a dentist and he makes 175k working 3.5 days a week, and he is only 2 years out of school! That is very tempting! I've shadowed a lot and I see potential for me to enjoy the work, but I'm mostly excited about the pay and hours.

I like being an engineer, but I think the lifestyle of a dentist could be much more rewarding. I can't say I have any strong passion to be a dentist, but maybe this could grow as I learn more about it?? I'm not looking to become wealthy, I just want a stable income to support of family and 3 kids. I'm curious to hear opinions: ENGINEER or DENTIST???

If you are an engineer or dentist, I'm curious to know your experience in the profession. Specifically: work schedule, income, job satisfaction, lifestyle, overall impression, etc. Please give me your thoughts!!!

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[Mary1984]

I am an engineer too. I have Master's degree in electrical engineering, working 40 hrs/ week making 90K and I am thinking about changing my career to dentistry. Any suggestions????

 

[snowboarder14]

I am an engineer too. I have Master's degree in electrical engineering, working 40 hrs/ week making 90K and I am thinking about changing my career to dentistry. Any suggestions????

How long have you been an electrical engineer? That's a good salary and good hours. My brother in law is an electrical engineer, he just graduated and got his first job at 60k for 40hrs/week, he seems to like it. My question for you is why do you want to change your career to dentistry??

Following up on my previous post: I decided to give up civil engineering and enroll into dental school, I just started my second semester. Dental school is very very difficult and I went into my first semester with a very poor attitude. I wasn't totally committed and it made things much more difficult. My grades and personal life suffered as a result. I would advise you to be sure that you want to do it, because I was not sure and it made me miserable. I am doing a little better now but I look back everyday and wonder what would have happened if I stayed and engineer. What is/are your reason(s) for switching and how motivated are you???

 

[Mary1984]

How long have you been an electrical engineer? That's a good salary and good hours. My brother in law is an electrical engineer, he just graduated and got his first job at 60k for 40hrs/week, he seems to like it. My question for you is why do you want to change your career to dentistry??

Following up on my previous post: I decided to give up civil engineering and enroll into dental school, I just started my second semester. Dental school is very very difficult and I went into my first semester with a very poor attitude. I wasn't totally committed and it made things much more difficult. My grades and personal life suffered as a result. I would advise you to be sure that you want to do it, because I was not sure and it made me miserable. I am doing a little better now but I look back everyday and wonder what would have happened if I stayed and engineer. What is/are your reason(s) for switching and how motivated are you???

I got this job right after my Master's degree graduation. but I had almost 4 years of experience before gettin gmy Masters.My reason is that I am not getting a much more higher salary than probably $110k after several years of experience. I live in California, and paying a lot tax out of my salary. I think that dentists make much more than me. So my main reason is higher income and probably owning a business.
Why did you choose dentistry and why don't you quit dental school if you don't like it? Is it really more difficult than engineering? Do you mind if I ask you which dental school are you going to?

 

[snowboarder14]

Our situations are similar. My main reason for choosing dentistry was the money, but I also had other reasons. I wanted: to be in healthcare profession, to start off closer to the top of the food chain, to have business opportunity, to have better flexibility and job security, to not have to deal with a bullying boss and kiss ass for promotions, etc.

I really liked being a project engineer, but my lifestyle was not very good. I constantly felt overworked and underpaid. My income was 45k working ~50hrs per week.

I was an engineer for two years and saw there was a massive amount I needed to learn. It didn’t seem worth it to invest all that time gaining experience to slowly climb the ladder. And I feared getting laid off or fired and struggling to find a new job with my highly specific/specialized skills. When the economy dips so does the job market for civil engineers.

The worst part for me was comparing myself to other people I knew who studied business/psychology/communications etc. in college. I was making the same money as them and working even more!! Then I thought: ‘maybe I just got a crappy job.’ Turns out all my friends from engineering school were in the same boat. And looking up at the senior engineers I knew, all of them worked a lot for a modest income.

My story is pretty long and complicated, but basically I was disappointed with my lifestyle as an engineer and wanted something better, so I rolled the dice on dentistry. I’m staying in dental school because I am hopeful it will get me somewhere better.

Comparing the curriculums: both are hard, but in different ways. Engineering school is a lot of mathematical models and problem solving. Dental school is mass memorization of a huge volume of information. I find dental school is a little harder. I attend dental school in New York, and I don’t want to specify which school because I don’t want my classmates/professors to read my personal blogs.

In regards to your situation, 90k-110k for 40hrs/week doesn’t sound that bad. Keep in mind dental school is 4 years and ~300k of debt (depending where you go). It’s a long term investment, but it’s worth it if you’re dedicated. So my advice to you is don’t be greedy and do it solely for the money, cause in my opinion you already have a good salary.

Btw thank you for posting!! The discussion is interesting and helpful to hear opinions and self reflect.

 

[DocJL]

OP, good honest post.

In my dental school class we had many 2nd career students, and several of them were engineers. One benefit of an engineering degree is that it is pretty universally respected, as in, when you meet someone and find out they are an engineer, you assume they are pretty smart, lol.

I will give you my perspective as a dentist with over a decade of private practice experience.

There are days I love my job. There are days I hate my job. Most days I like it.


But EVERYDAY - I love my family.

And I appreciate the income, free time, and lifestyle dentistry allows me to provide for my family, while having a good work/life balance to take lots of time off to spend with my kids as they grow up.


THAT, IMO, is one of the best parts of being a dentist.

Hope this helps.

 

[MedicalEngineerDoctor]

IMO engineering is the way to go if you're over at least 6'2. Do you have any muscle mass? Is there any chance you could be considered a Jockgineer? If not then you're most likely a lawyer and belong in some type of prole profession - have you considered law school?

 

[Dmd1994]

First time in this forum but I think I can make a few meaningful comments. Graduated 1982 with a physics degree, held engineering position for 6 years then decided to attend dental school. Graduated dental school 1994. First off dental school is tough, much more difficult than physics or engineering. The practical aspects are extraordinarily difficult to grasp for some. Has nothing to do with academic capability, it's all about developing a skill set you don't have. For some this is next to impossible. When I graduated in 94 private practice was the place to be. For the most part that is true until about 2007. I'll provide a few details, some will disagree, but please remember I have probably seated in excess of 5000 crowns, delivered hundreds of dentures and restored probably over 15,000 teeth. i'm an established dentist who is willing to share the facts other dentists simply won't, so here it is:
If you have to go into debt, either student loan or buildout/practice overhead it's probably a bad idea. Anyone who tells you you can be a successful dentist with a $500,000 (probably $800,000) startup debt is deceiving you. Practices are extraordinarily difficult to start and they get very expensive very quickly. Also, money is very difficult to come by in 2014, not as difficult as in 2008, but still hard to find.
HHS is going to regulate insurance benefits in accordance to the ACA. Benefits have been drastically reduced during this inflationary period.
Would I go into private practice again. Hell no. I love dentistry, but the successful dentist is like hens teeth. My advice: if unmarried go into the military. Retire 20 years later, get yourself a $4,000 month retirement and move into the VA system. While in the VA join a military reserve. You'll be golden. If married or want to be married I don't think the military is ideal.
VA is very difficult to get into, but possible if your an active military dentist about to retire in good standing.
Dentistry has several problems; it's very difficult to become established and it's awfully difficult to sell if you want out. One can't sell 500 sq ft of the office if business is slow. The office and it's overhead is in your life. Not a good thing, I assure you. Unlike a corporate job, when things go bad it's very difficult to pickup your dental office and move 2,000 miles for a better opportunity.
The money that is discussed on this forum is laughable. Sure from 1995-2007 dentists were rock stars. Those days are gone. I don't know a single general dentist in private practice who feels fulfilled and is living the life they dreamed about. The money is not in the communities, home values have declined as much as 40% in some areas, and many sectors of the economy are dead flat. Not a good omen for the private dentist. The money is gone, don't anticipate living large on the general dentists income. Those ADA and BLS are not true, dentists are sucking wind. 20 years out in private practice you may not be making $140,000 but 90% of you colleagues will be.
Some of the more secretive aspects of dentistry are rarely discussed. One of the biggest problems dentists have is keeping money. I hate to say this but dentists in the 1950's to about 1995 were tax cheats. Everyone used a simple ledger book and insurance companies were rarely part of the equation. Nowadays virtually 100% of revenue is entered into the accounts electronically. In other words no one is paying cash like they did in 1965. Back then dentists simply pocketed patient fees and picked up the groceries on the way home. That's how it was! This equates to a 40% loss in income from the way dentistry was practiced 50 years ago. Fees have not increased enough to compensate for the new legitimacy of the modern dental practice.
Dentists have few tax write offs. We can't practice out of our homes anymore, and we can't write off a company car. These issues deeply impact our financial wellbeing.
Of course the orthodontists are sipping the champagne of their brilliant decision to be an orthodontist. If you want to be a dentist, go into ortho, the decision to complete 3 years of residency (2 in some schools), will provide more bang for the buck than anywhere else in the world of higher education. Ortho is going to win big with the ACA.
Pedo, if you can tolerate lots of kids and helicopter parents this is also a winner.
Oral surgery is great, but you've got to complete the residency. Not an easy thing to complete.
Prosthodontics - why?
If I were to do this over I'd take my physics degree and attend a law school.
I'll be happy to enter into a discussion, but my message is simple. Dentistry is about a lifestyle, it is not about an income. Only the specialists are making $200k or more, and general dentists are earning much less than the public believes.

 

[deleted659902]

If I were to do this over I'd take my physics degree and attend a law school.

With all due respect, your credibility was instantly lost when you said the above.