What would your job/career be if you didn’t go into medicine?

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CidHighwind

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Thread title. I know a lot of people say that medicine isn’t great or they regret going into it. So I ask what field they would go into and what they would be doing right now if they weren’t in medicine/about to graduate
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Id be making 100K doing random paper pushing. I'd probably get laid off during this downturn , and find another job paying 80k.
Eventually I would realize that I have to work for myself.
 
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libertyyne said:
Id be making 100K doing random paper pushing. I'd probably get laid off during this downturn , and find another job paying 80k.
Eventually I would realize that I have to work for myself.
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Paper pusher in what? What company? How would you get the job? What degree would you have gotten, how do you know you’d be making 100k or 80k and not 40-50k?
 
If I didn’t do medicine I’d have stuck with doing firefighting/EMS. I have no regrets though, med schools been fun and I’m looking forward to residency. Don’t let the negativity on SDN drag you down too much.
 
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CidHighwind said:
Paper pusher in what? What company? How would you get the job? What degree would you have gotten, how do you know you’d be making 100k or 80k and not 40-50k?
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I was making that much before i went to medical school in the job i did before. It was related to organizational QI, I worked at a fortune 500.
 
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Nutrition/Fitness related. I’m an avid gym-goer and most of the time I eat a strict diet.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to combine my passion for medicine and fitness and make money off it. Maybe books or speaking not sure yet.
 
Pop star. I tried the pro musician thing for a while, but it didn't work out. The dream's still here though...
 
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Computer programmer. Would probably be riding the AI research wave right now. I'd also be a research ghostwriter for hire.

Starting a collection of exotic cats is another option.
 
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OnePunchBiopsy said:
Computer programmer. Would probably be riding the AI research wave right now. I'd also be a research ghostwriter for hire.

Starting a collection of exotic cats is another option.
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Would the collection also include a harem for yourself?
 
I was a high school teacher before med school. I really liked the school I was at, so I’d probably be working there still. That’s the practical answer. If I had to pursue a new “dream”, I’d probably do something with astronomy.
 
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Welfare slob

Why work a job you hate while slowly coming to terms with the fact that your dreams are dead and you have nothing to live for when you can embrace that fact up front and just sit around all day drinking beer on the tax-paying suckers' dollar?

Incidentally, Bernie 2020 :banana::banana::banana:
 
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Chef!
CGM means Certified Grill Master lol my latest job at Red Lobster... too bad I am starting residency in July, i am going to miss my kitchen!
 
iqe2010 said:
Nutrition/Fitness related. I’m an avid gym-goer and most of the time I eat a strict diet.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to combine my passion for medicine and fitness and make money off it. Maybe books or speaking not sure yet.
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Brain swoll and body swoll
 
Research or international development, depending on what job prospects for biomedical PhDs looked like at that time.

So probably international development.
 
libertyyne said:
I was making that much before i went to medical school in the job i did before. It was related to organizational QI, I worked at a fortune 500.
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How did you like that job? Did you see yourself or someone else staying in it long term? Would you be able to job-hop easily?
 
Well I was an E-6 in the Navy before I got accepted. So I may have just stayed in and made Chief. I was also thinking about getting out and going to law school. My dad does immigration law, and I’ve published on Cuban immigration law. It’s really interesting to me. I also have a math degree and an interest in stats and epidemiology. So who knows.
 
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I would wanna be Olivia Benson from law and order svu or one the FBI agents on criminal minds.
 
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zero0 said:
Welfare slob

Why work a job you hate while slowly coming to terms with the fact that your dreams are dead and you have nothing to live for when you can embrace that fact up front and just sit around all day drinking beer on the tax-paying suckers' dollar?

Incidentally, Bernie 2020 :banana::banana::banana:
Click to expand...

Better get busy and start pumping out kids to be a welfare daddy.
 
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I'd probably be a "consultant" in "tech" or "finance" making $200K like every SDN member's friend right out of college.
 
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I think I would be working for Lockheed, or Northrop Grumman, or another defense contractor making cool weapons.
 
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Making close to nothing in chemistry research and probably switch to industry after a successful post-doc. It would still be high five figures until I was there for a while. Granted that phd - post doc - industry would’ve taken at LEAST 6-7 years I’d rather be a doctor.
 
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The pipe dream: children's book illustrator. The realistic answer: clinical psychologist.
 
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Emmet2301 said:
How did you like that job? Did you see yourself or someone else staying in it long term? Would you be able to job-hop easily?
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I hated the job. Felt like I did nothing and brought no value to anyone, I also felt that i wasnt making a difference or improving my organization. Thats why I chose to leave behind a cushy
9-5 to go into medicine.
 
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Ultimate dream job would be an NHL TV play-by-play commentator but that's incredibly ideal. More realistically I'd probably want to work with the airline industry in some way, like an airline/aviation consultant or something.

efle said:
Comp sci in the Valley
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I'll never forget the days on surgery clerkship when I would wake up at 4:15 AM CST and my friends from back home would still be up because they usually got to work at like 10 or 11. I don't deny that their work can be pretty tough at times and I realized long ago that I'm not cut out for a CS career, but I do sometimes envy their 45-50 hour work weeks with weekends off, free lunch every day, vacation "whenever you want", etc even at startups people haven't heard from. The tech world is something else
 
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CidHighwind said:
People here think it would be an easy transition but don’t realize that those companies are harder to get into than medical school.
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Eh, maybe depends on the med school. My SO works at Facebook and the vibe is just so much less intense I cannot imagine those people grinded their way through college to the degree that most of my med school classmates grinded. And my nontrad classmates who spent years in fields like finance and Big 4 consulting say this is just as hard too
 
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efle said:
Eh, maybe depends on the med school. My SO works at Facebook and the vibe is just so much less intense I cannot imagine those people grinded their way through college to the degree that most of my med school classmates grinded. And my nontrad classmates who spent years in fields like finance and Big 4 consulting say this is just as hard too
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Facebook is one company. I know some people in tech companies that work 80-100 hour weeks when they’re getting close to deadlines. I know most of us think there are tons of jobs where people are making 200k working 40 hours a week, but it just isnt reality
 
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CidHighwind said:
Facebook is one company. I know some people in tech companies that work 80-100 hour weeks when they’re getting close to deadlines. I know most of us think there are tons of jobs where people are making 200k working 40 hours a week, but it just isnt reality
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That's the thing, I'm surrounded by people that regularly put in 80 hours/week in college (and continue to do so in medical school) because they're built to grind. They'd slay it.

Facebook isn't an outlier. The Googleplex is right around the corner too and is very similar. One of her friends left to Uber for their even better offer recently. There absolutely are tons of young folks out here making high 100s to low 200s doing M-F 9-5.

Cost of living is high, but after witnessing the Valley first hand, I'd choose her gig over primary care 100%. Skip all the training and make similar to what a pediatrician or hospitalist makes anyway? That's a no-brainer. Since I am also lifestyle-oriented myself, I honestly think the only edge my MD gives me is via the highly lucrative private ROAD gigs that make a stable >400k.
 
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efle said:
Facebook isn't an outlier. The Googleplex is right around the corner too and is very similar. One of her friends left to Uber for their even better offer recently. There absolutely are tons of young folks out here making high 100s to low 200s doing M-F 9-5.
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My friends at Tesla and Facebook (n = 2) are young, but they are not pulling those figures or working those few hours. Low 100s and 50 hour weeks is probably closer to the average for most valley folk.

Admittedly, stock options and bonuses can make a big impact.
 
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Kardio said:
My friends at Tesla and Facebook (n = 2) are young, but they are not pulling those figures or working those few hours. Low 100s and 50 hour weeks is probably closer to the average for most valley folk.

Admittedly, stock options and bonuses can make a big impact.
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Have they gotten their first promotion yet? SO was hired at 90k base plus benefits and bonus, but that jumped to 160k base within a couple years
 
Kardio said:
My friends at Tesla and Facebook (n = 2) are young, but they are not pulling those figures or working those few hours. Low 100s and 50 hour weeks is probably closer to the average for most valley folk.

Admittedly, stock options and bonuses can make a big impact.
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sister was lead project design at facebook. high 100s and can work for home - go into work whenever as long as she got things done. She quit cause she hated it and went back to a startup she helped as a project manager w/ hiring capabilities.
 
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efle said:
Have they gotten their first promotion yet? SO was hired at 90k base plus benefits and bonus, but that jumped to 160k base within a couple years
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Kumorebi said:
sister was lead project design at facebook. high 100s and can work for home - go into work whenever as long as she got things done. She quit cause she hated it and went back to a startup she helped as a project manager w/ hiring capabilities.
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I don't know about the Facebook friend, but the most recent salary I heard was low 100s (not including bonuses or options). It could be more.

The Tesla friend has been there a few years. Tesla has not exactly been raking in cash, so probably the lower-paying of the big tech companies.

They're also different kinds of engineers.
 
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Law enforcement most likely
 
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Kardio said:
I don't know about the Facebook friend, but the most recent salary I heard was low 100s (not including bonuses or options). It could be more.

The Tesla friend has been there a few years. Tesla has not exactly been raking in cash, so probably the lower-paying of the big tech companies.

They're also different kinds of engineers.
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Low level engi at facebook is pulling 115k base so they probably haven't gotten the bump yet.

E5 (two promotions) is high 100s base and ~350k total compensation if you include stock.

These all kick bay area physicians' asses unless they're in one of the most lucrative specialties
 
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efle said:
Also rather than trading anecdotes we can go to this site and see a big pile of anecdotes

levels.fyi

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efle said:
Low level engi at facebook is pulling 115k base so they probably haven't gotten the bump yet.

E5 (two promotions) is high 100s base and ~350k total compensation if you include stock.

These all kick bay area physicians' asses unless they're in one of the most lucrative specialties
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Yep, low 100s (base) is the starting point. Great gig and beautiful area of California. Frankly, I'm a bit jealous of their lifestyle.

Financially, if the tech gravy train keeps going, I think many of them will end up in a better situation than most physicians.

There are also MAJOR personality difference between their engineers and medical students.
 
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