IT's an incredible honor.
But PD is a tough job. I say this sincerely as someone who almost never left academia. My pay is so much better being out of academia and academia has become harder and harder. I find it unfair to good professors making about $180-200K a year to work about 60 hours a week when I work less than this and make over 2x as much.
I still endorse people work in academia a few years because residency doesn't teach enough by the time you graduate. That all said unless the program puts a good future for you, you might as well leave. I say this in a pro-community sense as the community needs good providers and university programs aren't often times efficient with their own practice.
Along with my increased income I do see a hell of a lot more people, helping them and helping society more on that angle. I remember back as a professor they wanted me to do my own prior authorizations and secretarial work despite me telling them over and over again that the institution would make more money and we'd help more people if they streamlined and outsourced this to an employee instead of letting the doctor be bogged down with work someone being paid $18/hour could do.
It never made sense. I could see 2x as many people, the organization would make more money, I'd be happier, we'd be adding to the economy another job, more sick people would get better adding to the economy cause now these people could work and university bureaucracy stood in the way.
This is a classic case of an organization not being able to hold it's bottom line and often times the bottom line does have merit. If an organization cannot financially sustain itself it can mean they aren't being efficient enough and then the argument arises, then maybe it shouldn't exist. (Yes I know there's exceptions). Of course I endorse academia as a whole but the financial processes going on in colleges and universities are at historic and alarming levels of problems. Professors are paying for it in terms of increased hours and less pay.
The biggest reason why I left academia was because I felt I was subsidizing what I nicknamed "loserdom." That is I was working my tail off bringing about 3x what they were paying me and they took this money, put it into an organization that was paying me the same amount as colleagues not justifying their pay and letting them continue with their poor practice while not getting me an assistant that if anything would've doubled my work efficiency.
I had no problem working, making less money with top people who also worked effectively, at one institution, but a later institution it was too in my face broken.
