Yes, very tough to work hard and long and have very limited options for decent income as a podiatrist (even less choices of locations for those). It shouldn't be that way.
All I can really say to anyone in resident/associate jobs is to just keep calling and calling and looking and calling. The good jobs aren't coming to you (like they do for MD/DO/RN), and they're usually not even posted - usually gone if they are. However, it only takes creating
one 200k+ rural hospital or decent MSG position or even toughing out a supergroup gig for a couple years to be life-changing in podiatry (make good money there and/or save up for own office).
Even if it's a middle-of-nowhere hospital or IHS... or doing nursing homes or WCC to make ends meet until a startup office gets a bit busy, that's a start. Making $250k+ most hospital/owner DPMs make versus the ~$150k-200k that most associates make is a GIANT difference (assuming living expenses are kept similar and one doesn't just foolishly increase standard of living). The bigger earner has maybe only 50-100k more on paper, but after living expenses and taxes, that's about
twice as much more money to knock down debt and put away towards investing. Associates are often buried as they have almost nothing left after living expenses and minimum student loan pays. Very impactful to get income up.
It's not a end-all solution to get a fair-paying DPM job (admins change, team changes, you can get overworked).
It's also not a panacea to have one's own pod office (hard work early on, tempting to take little/no vaca, other DPMs competition).
Still, with the hospital jobs, you'll have a pretty fair salary. Being an office owner/partner, you'll keep $50 or even 60+ of every $100... as opposed to $35 or 40 per 100 collected that associates do (and as owner/partner, nobody lies to you about how many 100s there are
).
Either way, keep setting goals and keep calling. Keep scouting practice ideas and planning and saving up. It's too bad it has to be that way, but it's all you can really do. Whatever you do, don't give up, don't buy a house as an associate, don't settle... the DPM associate-for-life plan a terrible plan. Again, it's a very saturated profession with limited options... but all it takes is one breakthrough.
