Did I make the right choice?

[DR. Tran]

Hi everyone,

I am turning 34 soon (female) and I am two quarters from completing my masters in computer science with a 3.85 gpa. I have a job waiting in July thank goodness.

In undergrad I had some mental health issues mainly depression that messed with my grades. So I needed up with a 3.32 cGPA and probably a 3.0 sGPA.

I chose computer science because it is intellectually stimulating and as I developed psychosis from the long term depression (which is very well managed now) I didn’t think I could become a doctor anymore.

But reading this forum has made me started thinking that maybe I gave up on this dream too soon. I am happy with CS but I just don’t feel like it’s a calling like how many people view medicine. If I work for a few years as an sde I would save enough money for medical school and be able to have kids. At this point does it even make sense to think about medical school?

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[lanzhou_lamian]

It really depends on your goals.

You said CS doesn't feel like the calling that "many people view medicine." Do you view medicine as calling? Do you think your career has to be your calling?

There are great career options in CS that can provide financial stability, intellectual rigor, and help a lot of people. Not to mention, in CS, you wouldn't need to do anymore school in order to reap these benefits. What would a career in medicine give you that a career in CS won't?

Logistically, it is possible for you to become a doctor, but it would require 2 years of post-bacc class, 4 years of med school, and 3+ years of residency. Is that added benefit from medicine worth starting an entirely new career trajectory that will likely take at least 10 years to complete and leave you without an income during that time?

If I were you, I'd try to shadow a few doctors and start doing some clinical volunteering. Spend time learning the day-to-day of doctoring and decide if the realities of the profession are worth what you'd be sacrificing.

 

[DR. Tran]

Thank you for your insightful response. I do believe that everyone should have a calling and purpose in life. I am just not sure how that would change for me with children. I work as a medical interpreter and have seen first hand when doctors love their job it’s an amazing and fulfilling career. Which is why some choose to work beyond retirement age.

Anyone in here who changed from tech to medicine can give me some insight? I am excited for the tech world but it’s definitely not a calling. I feel like people burn out when they don’t recognize a purpose in their work which is something I want to avoid. I use to have a lot of passion for medicine. Working as a medical interpreter dampened that a bit because I know the reality now as well. But parts of that passion is still there.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Thank you for your insightful response. I do believe that everyone should have a calling and purpose in life. I am just not sure how that would change for me with children. I work as a medical interpreter and have seen first hand when doctors love their job it’s an amazing and fulfilling career. Which is why some choose to work beyond retirement age.

Anyone in here who changed from tech to medicine can give me some insight? I am excited for the tech world but it’s definitely not a calling. I feel like people burn out when they don’t recognize a purpose in their work which is something I want to avoid. I use to have a lot of passion for medicine. Working as a medical interpreter dampened that a bit because I know the reality now as well. But parts of that passion is still there.

I switched from tech to medicine, though I was not in an engineering role at my former company.

You noted in an earlier post that you don't see people in CS treating it as a calling like some doctors do for medicine. I'm going to push back on this commonly accepted idea that it's necessary or better to have a "calling." Some people do and it makes them happy, but it is certainly not a requirement for a meaningful/purposeful life. Some of the most content people I know have a routine 9-5 that they kind of care about, but they derive their happiness from what they do with the other 128 hours of the week: kids, pets, travel, friends, community service, faith, athletics, hobbies.

You're 34 right now. How many prerequisites do you have left to take? You have extensive medical interpretation experience, so that takes care of your clinical hours. You still need a few hundred hours of community service. Depending on how long it takes you to volunteer, complete your prereqs, and take the MCAT, you could still be a few years away from starting medical school. Then 3-7 years of residency. This timeline is going to be even slower if you choose to work full-time while taking your prerequisites. Are you so interested in medicine that you'd be willing to reach your attending years in your mid-late 40s? Kids may not realistically work for you on that timeline.

Don't discount the safety in a structured, routine, low-key career like computer engineering if you suffer from major mood disorder. Medical school and residency in particular are extraordinarily high-stress environments, and even the most mentally healthy trainees are negatively impacted by the process. Some people who enter medical school with a history of depression or other mental illness end up in very bad shape. Given the severity of your mental health history, you need to work very closely with your psychiatrist and PCP should you ultimately decide to pursue a medical education.

Personally, I think you should give CS a chance. You've worked so hard to get to where you are, I think you should at least see it through. If you end up in a company you like, with people you like being around in a place you like to live, it can provide you a really nice life. There are some good, high paying, and flexible jobs in tech. It's much easier to find a working arrangement that's family/kids friendly in CS. On the contrary, medical school and residency are notoriously family-unfriendly. If kids are a priority for you, CS is 100% the better option for that life choice.

 

[DR. Tran]

Thanks that makes a lot of sense. I do want kids and to be an active parent. Maybe a better route is to find development work that is closely related with medical research.

 

[drwild111]

I worked for the government for almost 10 years and just got accepted into a DO school at 34 years old. Never too late

 

[Goro]

Hi everyone,

I am turning 34 soon (female) and I am two quarters from completing my masters in computer science with a 3.85 gpa. I have a job waiting in July thank goodness.

In undergrad I had some mental health issues mainly depression that messed with my grades. So I needed up with a 3.32 cGPA and probably a 3.0 sGPA.

I chose computer science because it is intellectually stimulating and as I developed psychosis from the long term depression (which is very well managed now) I didn’t think I could become a doctor anymore.

But reading this forum has made me started thinking that maybe I gave up on this dream too soon. I am happy with CS but I just don’t feel like it’s a calling like how many people view medicine. If I work for a few years as an sde I would save enough money for medical school and be able to have kids. At this point does it even make sense to think about medical school?

Some of my all time best students have been in their 30s and 40s. I graduate a stellar one at age 50 and she's now an attending in CA.

You will need not only reinvent yourself (see: Goro's advice for pre-meds who need reinvention), but take the MCAT, shadow doctors, get clinical exposure, and engage in nonclinical volunteering.

 

[ProReduction]

You absolutely made the correct decision in choosing CS over a clinical career.

I am in the final stages of transitioning from a clinical career to a career in research and tech. This was a long, challenging process for me where I went back to school to obtain multiple graduate degrees in CS/engineering. The reward is that I get to interact daily with brilliant, creative people in CS/engineering and that I get a career with intellectual fulfillment and an exit from the assembly line of clinical care. Every single engineer I know has and had the ability to be a physician. Very, very few doctors that I know could make it through a CS bachelor's degree.

You say that CS is not a calling. Maybe not if you are a SWE at Meta working on advertisements. But what if you are an embedded systems engineer at a neurotech start-up working on brain-computer-interfaces for memory restoration? What if you are a Deep Learning Engineer working on green energy projects? What if you are a Data Scientist working on social networks and graph theory to stop human trafficking?

Every doctor I know wishes that he/she had an exit into engineering, tech, or business.

 

[DR. Tran]

You absolutely made the correct decision in choosing CS over a clinical career.

I am in the final stages of transitioning from a clinical career to a career in research and tech. This was a long, challenging process for me where I went back to school to obtain multiple graduate degrees in CS/engineering. The reward is that I get to interact daily with brilliant, creative people in CS/engineering and that I get a career with intellectual fulfillment and an exit from the assembly line of clinical care. Every single engineer I know has and had the ability to be a physician. Very, very few doctors that I know could make it through a CS bachelor's degree.

You say that CS is not a calling. Maybe not if you are a SWE at Meta working on advertisements. But what if you are an embedded systems engineer at a neurotech start-up working on brain-computer-interfaces for memory restoration? What if you are a Deep Learning Engineer working on green energy projects? What if you are a Data Scientist working on social networks and graph theory to stop human trafficking?

Every doctor I know wishes that he/she had an exit into engineering, tech, or business.

That is a very interesting point. I just don’t know how feasible it is to find jobs like that? I do like the intellectual aspect of CS.

Can you expand more about the assembly line aspect of Medicine?