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Comment by whorleater | Hacker News Reader

Slightly off topic, but I'm curious if there's anyone on HN who "pivoted" into being a doctor. I'm started to be tempted by the idea and I'm flirting with going to med school part time while I work as an software dev.

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The doctors I know are not enjoying it as a career path. It's crushing - tons of debt for medical school (like >$100k), two week stints working nights in the ER or other major hospital, little choice over your true career path due to matchmaking, etc. I'd only go into medicine if it's your passion, because it has so many downsides that it may crush you otherwise.

Maybe I'm missing something but it seems like medicine close to ideal once you're in your late 30s and have paid off med school debt. You've got insane job security (due to the extremely high barriers to entry), high pay, location independence (in the sense that you can find employment in whichever city you'd like to move to without taking a significant pay cut), and you don't need to worry about ageism unless you're in surgery. I'd also think there's probably less pressure to stay up to date with new developments or risk irrelevance than there is in tech.

Honestly, seems pretty ideal. Anything I'm missing, other than the debt? And that might not be that much of an issue for someone transitioning from having spent some time in tech, as they'd probably have built up enough savings to not have to incur significant med school debt?

Just had a convo last week w/ 70+yo ER doc on this very topic. Outside of a private practice, the beauracracy is stifling(perhaps in private, too, IDK). Your actions are dictated by a/the committee. Your hands are tied if the insurance provider does not cover certain procedures or patient is un/under-insured. You will be held accountable if someone elses' dictate proves erroneous or damaging. Your earnings will erode with each new policy adjusment and never-ending growth of regulatory costs and re-ed requirements. You will be over-worked as budget cuts pile more load onto your already burdened workload. And the cherry on top, the mountains of paperwork you can complete on your off-time b/c you never have time to do it when on duty. Also, read "The House of God" for some of the other down-sides.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_God

I've long thought I should have gone into medicine instead of tech. But not necessarily as a doctor, but rather some other medical technician position.

The pay wouldn't be that high, but that's OK: the job security in tech is the pits, and the high-paying jobs in tech are located in extremely high-cost-of-living locales like Silicon Valley. Making $60-70k as a medical tech in a low cost-of-living city would easily make up for that. And I wouldn't have to worry about unpaid overtime either, unlike tech.

Married to a doctor. Yes, you can make good money, but like with most other things that pay well, the are significant downsides. Namely:

- cost of medical school - "the match" (Google it) - recertification every 10 years - most time spent on paperwork - still report to retarded business people - you will be sued

Brother is currently in med school. I can confirm these things. It was mind blowing to learn of "the match" with the relative freedom we have in tech.

There is no part time as a med student. I was md/phd and dropped the md because no time to do both reasonably well. You can eventually be a part time doctor but have to pay many years of dues giving 100% effort. It's not dissimilar from being a startup founder.

Med school is super dissimilar to being a startup founder. If you pass, dead last or at the top of your class, you will be known as Doctor untilHellbanned. Also, you will most certainly have a job and lots of debt post med school, unless you can afford a couple hundred thousand dollars to finance your md. In the end, I think the risk (financially) of med school is WAY less than that of a startup founder.

I have to agree. Although the life of a medical professional may be crushing (workload+debt), it is far less risky overall compared to that of a start up founder. People will for the foreseeable future surely need doctors, and not so much your product.

They will need medical care. The government could decide to break the doctor's cartel at any moment. There's also pressure from the administrative side- hospitals would rather empower cheaper nurses and the technical side- it looks like radiology, long a super high paying specialty, may get eaten by automation.

I didn't say anything about risk. My comment was exclusively about effort level.

> tempted by the idea

Hearing from people who want to talk about their ailments is probably at the bottom of the wishlist for most here.

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