outside of Podiatry, Pediatrics, and Family med docs that work 40 hour workweeks, most doctors are making over the 200K mark. Ortho makes on average 500K/year, Emergency med 300K, etc.
While I think tech is an excellent field and the skills acquired no doubt have real world application, when the economy turns down, what is to stop the tech companies from cutting staff and hiring overseas help? Cant really outsource a podiatrist. Medicine is pretty recession proof. Optometry not so much, pharmacy has saturation, and dental can get hit with recessions. Not sure about pod, certainly elective procedures would go down during a recession, but if someone needs a toe amputated before it reaches their leg, they wont wait.
I think Podiatry is worth the investment, even if you conservatively estimate you will only make 150K-200K during your lifetime (roughly 100-140K take home), even with 300K student loan debt. Where I think medicine should be reconsidered is when Debts exceed the 400K+ mark like a lot of dental schools have. Podiatry school hasnt gotten there.....yet. Some DO schools have exceeded this threshold for the total cost of attendance.
Keep in mind, there are pods out there making 250-300K.
And dealing with feet can be very rewarding, you get to help people walk again! In some cases, you might even save a life dealing with a festering foot.
Also need to include internal medicine which hovers around 200 k and includes a huge majority of primary care docs. Those are all the 3 year residency routes. The others you are not only competing to get a spot but youre also spending 2-3 years more in residency.
Even if youre a genius who gets into harvard medical school youre still going to have no guarantee of an ortho residency. So realistically youre going to have to outshine the smartest to get those kinds of high paying specialties. (Neurosurgery, ortho, derm, em even though salaries arent thatt high)
If you go into medical school, based on statistics and numbers of specialities out there, youre probably going to end up in the 200 k range.
Well thats for mds an dos , podiatry prospects are more abysmal. The top 25% is making more than 200 k. The top 5% makes more than 300.
Youve got a 75% chance to make 100-200 k for life by the time youre 30 (if you started young)
Sorry but the deal just isnt worth it.
In a solid tech company if you work hard and are willing to take on more responsibility you will be able to climb fast and make significantly more money. Anyone who crosses level 5/6 at google will make more than 800k. Its a 15 year process. Software is flexibile. If you plan your entire life around just recessions it shows youre unable to grow into anything big and will remain small. People who get laid off during recessions are not good enough, and they will probably not survive any medical school including podiatry
The largest tech companies were all started in recessions . If you have any skill at all you will get a new job (however at the same time the company will keep you on board). As i said people are lazy. The kid next to me comes in at 10 am , eats breakfast for half an hour, works until 12 , then takes a 2 hour lunch break, comes back at 2 , goes on reddit for a half hour, works until 6 then goes home. He makes 170K a year and has been at this routine for about 2 years in august. Your competition is low with these kinds of leeches crawling around. In podiatry hospitals can acquire your group , and the orthos can say bye bye to all your funstuff while youre trimming nails and doing wounds. Or you could literally just graduate Average in your class and be stuck with a 100 k salary in some crappy podiatry clinic where even crnas, nps, and pas mAke higher than you.
Again, im 23 making close to 150 k, and as long as i dont slack, the numbers will keep climbing to atleast 350 k by the time im 30, if i keep at it numbers can reach 4-5 million/ year in your late 40’s. (Thats a google director salary and they have hundreds of those all over the place). Never in a lifetime does podiatry in its current state make sense financially. Not when you invest 7 years of your life to literally be paid dirt, be the butt of medicine, and have no flexibility in your speciality like your md/do colleagues