Reddit man happy with pathology

[odyssey2]

What say you guys

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[Spikebd]

What say you guys

As far as medicine goes pathology is about as good as it gets and it’ll likely look better and better each year

 

[KeratinPearls]

What say you guys

To the original poster. Put your money where your mouth is. I want you to find at least 1-3 GOOD jobs IN A 2 hour radius (preferable one hour) for each of the 20+ residents and fellows looking to stay in my area (tight market). Then we can talk.

Pathoutlines literally has maybe 10 jobs or less advertised. If pathoutlines is a good metric of the job market, where are all the jobs in my area?

Where were all these people bragging about the current job market before Covid? 10 years ago pathoutlines was the complete opposite of what you see now.

I mean if you want to go into Path now’s the time to get in. It surely wasn’t as good as it is now for the past 10+ years and it took a pandemic to make it happen. That says a lot.

Who knows how long this job market is going to last?

 

[Spikebd]

To the original poster. Put your money where your mouth is. I want you to find at least 1-3 GOOD jobs IN A 2 hour radius (preferable one hour) for each of the 20+ residents and fellows looking to stay in my area (tight market). Then we can talk.

Pathoutlines literally has maybe 10 jobs or less advertised. If pathoutlines is a good metric of the job market, where are all the jobs in my area?

Where were all these people bragging about the current job market before Covid? 10 years ago pathoutlines was the complete opposite of what you see now.

I mean if you want to go into Path now’s the time to get in. It surely wasn’t as good as it is now for the past 10+ years and it took a pandemic to make it happen. That says a lot.

Who knows how long this job market is going to last?

Very valid criticisms from KP. Path is good if you find the right fit, but there are a lot of mills out there where you’ll be pushing a lot of glass to get your pay. It’d be nice if people start pushing back against the exploitation and refuse bad deals.

Still, comparing path to other fields in medicine, I don’t see many others that are better. Maybe ophtho or bread and butter urology.

 

[caffeinegirl]

This poster was me early on in my career - before laboratory consolidations and take overs. Independent pathology practices are in the minority compared to the large laboratory landscape. You don't have much autonomy and choice of job location compared to other fields. We provide a service to other clinicians, and our business/livelihood depends on them. You are not paid for your clinical acumen in the majority of private practice settings - only customer service.

 

[KeratinPearls]

Very valid criticisms from KP. Path is good if you find the right fit, but there are a lot of mills out there where you’ll be pushing a lot of glass to get your pay. It’d be nice if people start pushing back against the exploitation and refuse bad deals.

Still, comparing path to other fields in medicine, I don’t see many others that are better. Maybe ophtho or bread and butter urology.

Path is good because you don’t have to deal with patients, other people and the BS that comes with it.

I know people making a lot who are working their a%\es off, meaning Saturdays as well. I know someone making upper 300s working 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week in Path. I know overwhelmed (the exact word she used) pathologists at a busy outpatient lab making the median pathologist salary (275-300).

It’s not as cherry as this guy makes it to be. Sure there are some higher paying jobs with good hours out there. There are also average Path jobs making 250-300k pushing 60-100 cases a day.

Just because you are making 400k, work 35 hours a week and sip martinis at work doesn’t mean most people do. If you get a job like that, good for you. Not everyone is so lucky.

This guy makes it sound like it’s so easy to get a job like this.

Some of these jobs are semirural or rural if that’s your cup of tea. I surely wouldn’t be happy moving my family to a semirural or rural area but there are people who wouldn’t mind it. My wife would be miserable if we had to move rural.

There are plenty of people who do well in Path making great salaries. Be ready to work hard for it. Some areas of the country have a tighter job market than others (just like in every field). You may have to be geographically flexible if you are hell bent in working in these areas. However, you may get lucky like I did or you were in the right place at the right time (I put in the work and called a bunch of places and looked at every job site on the web).

If you aren’t geographically restricted you will find a job somewhere. In tighter markets, you have to take what you can get. Don’t expect employers to be coming looking for you or desperate to hire you. It’s the other way around. I felt the pinch when looking for my job.

Just to give you an idea how tight the market is around me: If I were to lose my job tomorrow, I would most likely have to move away to another city hours out or maybe to a different state (which I wouldn’t be happy with but would have to because I have no choice).

I also have a friend tell me how lucky current grads are now compared to 10 years ago when there were only few jobs posted weekly on pathoutlines.

 

[KeratinPearls]

I’ll say this. From talking to my friends and my own experience, you just need one good stable job, which you can work until the day you retire.

You can be happy in Pathology.

If you aren’t happy at your first job for whatever reason (location), you can always build experience, make CONNECTIONS and look for a better job down the line.

But all it takes is for you to find that ONE job.

 

[odyssey2]

Path is good because you don’t have to deal with patients, other people and the BS that comes with it.

I know people making a lot who are working their a%\es off, meaning Saturdays as well. I know someone making upper 300s working 10+ hours a day, 6 days a week in Path. I know overwhelmed (the exact word she used) pathologists at a busy outpatient lab making the median pathologist salary (275-300).

It’s not as cherry as this guy makes it to be. Sure there are some higher paying jobs with good hours out there. There are also average Path jobs making 250-300k pushing 60-100 cases a day.

Just because you are making 400k, work 35 hours a week and sip martinis at work doesn’t mean most people do. If you get a job like that, good for you. Not everyone is so lucky.

This guy makes it sound like it’s so easy to get a job like this.

Some of these jobs are semirural or rural if that’s your cup of tea. I surely wouldn’t be happy moving my family to a semirural or rural area but there are people who wouldn’t mind it. My wife would be miserable if we had to move rural.

There are plenty of people who do well in Path making great salaries. Be ready to work hard for it. Some areas of the country have a tighter job market than others (just like in every field). You may have to be geographically flexible if you are hell bent in working in these areas. However, you may get lucky like I did or you were in the right place at the right time (I put in the work and called a bunch of places and looked at every job site on the web).

If you aren’t geographically restricted you will find a job somewhere. In tighter markets, you have to take what you can get. Don’t expect employers to be coming looking for you or desperate to hire you. It’s the other way around. I felt the pinch when looking for my job.

Just to give you an idea how tight the market is around me: If I were to lose my job tomorrow, I would most likely have to move away to another city hours out or maybe to a different state (which I wouldn’t be happy with but would have to because I have no choice).

I also have a friend tell me how lucky current grads are now compared to 10 years ago when there were only few jobs posted weekly on pathoutlines.

Would you say it's easy to get these plum jobs if you graduate from a top (T10) residency?

 

[KeratinPearls]

Would you say it's easy to get these plum jobs if you graduate from a top (T10) residency?

I wouldn’t say it’s easy. Sometimes it’s luck. You don’t even need to be from a top tier residency. If you aren’t geographically restricted you should be able to find a community hospital job somewhere in this country for 400K. I can’t guarantee you will be working 35 hours and sipping martinis but there are jobs out there if you are willing to move.

I saw a job in southern Ohio for 400k salary (community hospital) a few months ago. I wouldn’t be happy there (I did a Google image search of the city) but for some people they wouldn’t mind it.

I interviewed for a job 350k with 50k sign on bonus. I didn’t get it but jobs are out there if you look hard enough like I did. But realize there are other applicants applying for the same job so it’s the employers duty to make sure who is the best fit for the job.

That’s what I’m saying. If you are willing to move anywhere You can get a great high paying job (if $$ is your thing) somewhere in this country. If you are geographically restricted near a tighter market your options are much less and you got to take what you can get.

 

[Med Director New England]

What say you guys

Where do they practice !?
400k salary just a couple of years out and a light schedule. It’s rare for a path to make this type of salary those who do generally work hard.

 

[Alteran]

Where do they practice !?
400k salary just a couple of years out and a light schedule. It’s rare for a path to make this type of salary those who do generally work hard.

I would love to know that too. Been doing this close to a decade, in a really good practice, and I don't make that kind of scratch.

 

[deleted314957]

Would you say it's easy to get these plum jobs if you graduate from a top (T10) residency?

No. When i was hiring it depended much more on what i thought of you post interview. so called” top ten” kids were usually trying to tell me how great they were.

 

[octopusprime]

This person is the ***** who goes to the car dealership and buys a car no-questions asked because the dealer told him "he got a great deal".

"Dermatopathology can get you 500+K if you are honestly want to live that luxury lifestyle."

Lol. >$500k is "luxury lifestyle"? This is clearly written by a newb who hasn't visited the White Coat Investor forums, the Physician on Fire forums, or any other physician forums.

Please break down $500k for me after 30-32% effective Fed tax, ~5% state tax, 3 kids, $350k med school debt, and a $600k mortgage and explain to me how that's luxurious, particularly if you want to save 20% of that for retirement, and don't live in a rural low-cost-of-living city.

What a joke.

 

[octopusprime]

wow we're so sensitive on SDN that m0r0n is blocked?

 

[cmz]

$500K if most of it comes through your S-corp vs being 100% W2.. big diff-y.

 

[deleted314957]

This poster was me early on in my career - before laboratory consolidations and take overs. Independent pathology practices are in the minority compared to the large laboratory landscape. You don't have much autonomy and choice of job location compared to other fields. We provide a service to other clinicians, and our business/livelihood depends on them. You are not paid for your clinical acumen in the majority of private practice settings - only customer service.

And in academia it seems to be practiced by committee, thus the strong paths carry the weak ones, all nod and smile, and Dr. John Azzopardi’s principle of “ divided and diminished responsibility “ is alive and well.

 

[Spaziergängerin]

Would you say it's easy to get these plum jobs if you graduate from a top (T10) residency?

Yes, I had 10+ offers just a couple years ago all in the >200K range. Some well over. I stopped taking interviews because I was tired of visiting places. The market has changed a lot from pre-Covid and people are retiring everywhere. Now is the time to get a good job. This will not last long term when the retirement wave settles down.

 

[KeratinPearls]

Yes, I had 10+ offers just a couple years ago all in the >200K range. Some well over. I stopped taking interviews because I was tired of visiting places. The market has changed a lot from pre-Covid and people are retiring everywhere. Now is the time to get a good job. This will not last long term when the retirement wave settles down.

You applied to 10+ jobs? Why so much? You must not be geographically restricted and willing to work anywhere in the US. Were you thinking that you might not get a job hence you applied to more jobs?

 

[Zarniwoop]

This person is the ***** who goes to the car dealership and buys a car no-questions asked because the dealer told him "he got a great deal".

"Dermatopathology can get you 500+K if you are honestly want to live that luxury lifestyle."

Lol. >$500k is "luxury lifestyle"? This is clearly written by a newb who hasn't visited the White Coat Investor forums, the Physician on Fire forums, or any other physician forums.

Please break down $500k for me after 30-32% effective Fed tax, ~5% state tax, 3 kids, $350k med school debt, and a $600k mortgage and explain to me how that's luxurious, particularly if you want to save 20% of that for retirement, and don't live in a rural low-cost-of-living city.

What a joke.

Totally agree.

What is going on that you need to earn in the top 1% to live a lifestyle that is just upper middle class?

 

[08082018]

Does anyone know how long this wave will last? Will it will die down by say 2030, when I finish 2 fellowships?

 

[KeratinPearls]

Does anyone know how long this wave will last? Will it will die down by say 2030, when I finish 2 fellowships?

Without a doubt. We are in the golden age of Pathology (sarcasm).

Short answer: no one knows. I have a friend who has done 7 freaking years of training. I’m like thinking to myself “You don’t want to get a job bro?”

 

[08082018]

Without a doubt. We are in the golden age of Pathology (sarcasm).

Short answer: no one knows. I have a friend who has done 7 freaking years of training. I’m like thinking to myself “You don’t want to get a job bro?”

Thanks for responding. I’m grieving because I really wanted to do hemepath. I’ll do rads instead

 

[shikimate]

This kind of job exists in Canada, but you'll get paid in Canadian dollars lol, not to mention a million taxes and sky high housing price.

 

[Spaziergängerin]

You applied to 10+ jobs? Why so much? You must not be geographically restricted and willing to work anywhere in the US. Were you thinking that you might not get a job hence you applied to more jobs?

I wanted to see what the options are and to explore before deciding. Some of them invited me to visit without me applying.

 

[PATHDOCNYCNJ]

I’ll say this. From talking to my friends and my own experience, you just need one good stable job, which you can work until the day you retire.

You can be happy in Pathology.

If you aren’t happy at your first job for whatever reason (location), you can always build experience, make CONNECTIONS and look for a better job down the line.

But all it takes is for you to find that ONE job.

I thought like that once when I worked at a community hospital in one of the NYC boroughs. For ten years I had stability. This was my first real full time job out of residency. Suddenly the tertiary care hospital from Manhattan decided to buy out the hospital and slap its name on the entrance. All big promises about how great this was. The pathology department took the biggest hit as all pathologists were fired with really no heads up that your job was kaput by Dec 31. The only indication that you were canned was when you looked on path outlines and found your job being advertised! I applied to my own job, but never even got a courtesy of a response. I never thought when I entered medicine that you would be treated like an expendable drone in a hostile takeover. I tried finding a job in another city in the Northeast but nothing ever panned out. I spent several years going from one toxic job to another in NY and NJ before quitting the Northeast for good.

 

[Napoleon1801]

I thought like that once when I worked at a community hospital in one of the NYC boroughs. For ten years I had stability. This was my first real full time job out of residency. Suddenly the tertiary care hospital from Manhattan decided to buy out the hospital and slap its name on the entrance. All big promises about how great this was. The pathology department took the biggest hit as all pathologists were fired with really no heads up that your job was kaput by Dec 31. The only indication that you were canned was when you looked on path outlines and found your job being advertised! I applied to my own job, but never even got a courtesy of a response. I never thought when I entered medicine that you would be treated like an expendable drone in a hostile takeover. I tried finding a job in another city in the Northeast but nothing ever panned out. I spent several years going from one toxic job to another in NY and NJ before quitting the Northeast for good.

Nearly this exact same story has happened twice to me now. For my first job, I was employed by the hospital and couldn't be happier. The C-suite made the decision to sell off all outpatient lab services to Quest which came as a major surprise to everyone. A good portion of my role was outsourced and I saw the writing on the wall. I bailed out with an excellent job offer with a pathologist owned group. Barely 6 months later, Labcorp takes one of our major hospital contracts with little to no explanation why from the system.

It's a crazy world out there and there are some pretty large shifts in the marketplace happening right now. Despite all the nice words exchanged with admin, I would not take any situation for granted this point. Loyalty is non-existent in healthcare.

 

[KeratinPearls]

I thought like that once when I worked at a community hospital in one of the NYC boroughs. For ten years I had stability. This was my first real full time job out of residency. Suddenly the tertiary care hospital from Manhattan decided to buy out the hospital and slap its name on the entrance. All big promises about how great this was. The pathology department took the biggest hit as all pathologists were fired with really no heads up that your job was kaput by Dec 31. The only indication that you were canned was when you looked on path outlines and found your job being advertised! I applied to my own job, but never even got a courtesy of a response. I never thought when I entered medicine that you would be treated like an expendable drone in a hostile takeover. I tried finding a job in another city in the Northeast but nothing ever panned out. I spent several years going from one toxic job to another in NY and NJ before quitting the Northeast for good.

NYC can really eat you up. You either love living there or you hate it.

 

[KeratinPearls]

Nearly this exact same story has happened twice to me now. For my first job, I was employed by the hospital and couldn't be happier. The C-suite made the decision to sell off all outpatient lab services to Quest which came as a major surprise to everyone. A good portion of my role was outsourced and I saw the writing on the wall. I bailed out with an excellent job offer with a pathologist owned group. Barely 6 months later, Labcorp takes one of our major hospital contracts with little to no explanation why from the system.

It's a crazy world out there and there are some pretty large shifts in the marketplace happening right now. Despite all the nice words exchanged with admin, I would not take any situation for granted this point. Loyalty is non-existent in healthcare.

Yeah that’s how I feel with my current position. Who knows when my position will be axed or the whole company sold to someone else.

 

[Alteran]

Nearly this exact same story has happened twice to me now. For my first job, I was employed by the hospital and couldn't be happier. The C-suite made the decision to sell off all outpatient lab services to Quest which came as a major surprise to everyone. A good portion of my role was outsourced and I saw the writing on the wall. I bailed out with an excellent job offer with a pathologist owned group. Barely 6 months later, Labcorp takes one of our major hospital contracts with little to no explanation why from the system.

It's a crazy world out there and there are some pretty large shifts in the marketplace happening right now. Despite all the nice words exchanged with admin, I would not take any situation for granted this point. Loyalty is non-existent in healthcare.

So, is Quest and LabCorp now into the frozen section business and ROSE? Because last time I checked they only wanted to extract the specimens from hospitals and not have to man any facility other than their sweatshops.

 

[Napoleon1801]

So, is Quest and LabCorp now into the frozen section business and ROSE? Because last time I checked they only wanted to extract the specimens from hospitals and not have to man any facility other than their sweatshops.

Their primary game right now is to capture the easy automated CP business, but I'm definitely seeing Labcorp expanding their scope to professional services in my market. Once all the simple testing is taken, I think this is just the natural progression of where their business will go.

 

[B***F*****]

I personally think going into pathology was the best decision after being in practice for more than a decade. My career has taken twists and turns, initially dealing with the stupidity of academics and then going into more private ventures. Money is key and I intensely sign out cases for a few hours a day then make supplemental income by trading stocks....who caught the bull market in 2021?

Granted, I don't know how long the conditions are going to last for with respect to pathology. So making the most money per unit time in the short term is the name of the game for now.

 

[B***F*****]

I wouldn’t say it’s easy. Sometimes it’s luck. You don’t even need to be from a top tier residency. If you aren’t geographically restricted you should be able to find a community hospital job somewhere in this country for 400K. I can’t guarantee you will be working 35 hours and sipping martinis but there are jobs out there if you are willing to move.

I saw a job in southern Ohio for 400k salary (community hospital) a few months ago. I wouldn’t be happy there (I did a Google image search of the city) but for some people they wouldn’t mind it.

I interviewed for a job 350k with 50k sign on bonus. I didn’t get it but jobs are out there if you look hard enough like I did. But realize there are other applicants applying for the same job so it’s the employers duty to make sure who is the best fit for the job.

That’s what I’m saying. If you are willing to move anywhere You can get a great high paying job (if $$ is your thing) somewhere in this country. If you are geographically restricted near a tighter market your options are much less and you got to take what you can get.

A lot of it is luck IMO. You do play a role in making that luck happen though...these things don't just land in your lap.

 

[mike-sheree]

Robert Michal (Dark Report) just referred to the “great resignation “ of boomer and gen-x paths and that what worked to recruit them in the past won’t work on millennials.
From my experience, a one-to-one replacement of boomers with millennials will leave the field very short. The millennials do not seem anxious to sign out 10k cases of “all comers” per year AND run a clinical lab. I don’t know many boomers who would find that scenario perturbing.