Like others have said, I'd consider the route of doing both if you can. Medicine as the day job and CS in your spare time, over time you'll carve out a niche at the intersection of both. Both industries are obviously not going away anytime soon, so actually you'll be in a strong position.
If it's of use, I'm older than you, and studying CS in my spare time and my day job is not writing code. I'm starting to carve out a niche for myself, plus I simply enjoy building things with code.
I'd be cautious of the advice of 'doing what your heart wants', I think much better advice is do what is at the cross section of what you are good at, what people are willing to pay your for, and if possible what you enjoy.
I enjoyed Freedom by Sebastian Junger, I actually read it twice. I like the directness of his writing plus I've always admired the general sense of humanity he portrays. I reread The Road by Cormac McCarthy, for me his writing style is simply a different dimension to other writers, I tend to read this every year or so.
Negotiate a 4 day work week or compressed hours so you do 5 days over 4 days. Enjoy three day weekends immediately and see it as a step towards retirement right away. PS why do you want to retire now?
I'm 3 months into a 3 year part time Software Development university course. First module is Java and using Eclipse. Can someone recommend something else I should be learning in line with this article/your view?
I would add a couple of considerations, more fundamental rather than metrics;
1. Is your business easily replicable by someone else or can you build metaphorical moats around it e.g. by having exclusive customer contracts, or that you solve a very difficult technology/problem, or the business is otherwise significantly better than what's out there and will be for a while.
2. Total addressable market; what is the total value of the opportunity if the business can scale significantly.
3. Is the business profitable or have a clear and achievable path to profitability.
Glad to hear of your experience too. I wonder if there is any research being done in this area? Seems like an interesting opportunity to explore and understand memory in a new way.
I had an interesting VR experience, I bought the Oculus during lockdown when I had some time off work. I played a lot of hours over a few days to complete the Walking Dead Game. What I felt was most curious, was afterwards I now have visual memories of being in the apocalyptic town fighting zombies. Almost like, a fake memory of it. I think because VR is total visual immersion, there could be some memory link unlike that which can be found from film or monitor based games.
Great question. I have been able to build things already without formal training in the field and a busy working week, but the reason I chose to study is I was plateauing in my ability and was also missing the fundamentals/best practice. My view is that I only need to be able to build MVP's, which I think can be done with limited time. Should any MVP show promise, I could hire in talent to take it to the next level, and, have a good understanding of the technical side to do so.
Im in a very similar position to you in age, career, & industry. I moved from a career in banking to a tech consultancy company (into a non technical but senior role) and have just started a part time Masters Degree in Software Development to learn to program. I agree with the pros and cons you mentioned. Another couple of pros in my mind are; 1. Gaining the skills to build my own digital products and services in my own time (to scratch an entrepreneurial itch), 2. Given enough practice, I think it'll be easier for me to contract as a programmer in future rather than with my current skillset, meaning I can look to work less (e.g. 6 months on, 6 months off etc.) which is something else I'd like to do. 3. I just generally enjoy the technology and building things.
I have this nihilistic thought experiment that's it's already too late, and we should otherwise prepare for the inevitable. I hope I'm wrong, but nonetheless, maybe we can't fight it.
I had a month of between jobs this year, and as it was peak covid I couldn't travel. I ended up hiring a WeWork so I had somewhere to go, and working on personal projects. If there's something you've wanted to build and didn't have the time it's a great thing to do. However, I think there's a strong case just to take the month off and relax! Rest, eat well, get some exercise. We don't always have to be productive.
London's good, fintech is doing well. Plenty of interesting things to do and see in the city, lots of different industries all collide here, plus the regulators are all here too. Very international city. Cost of living is expensive like almost all big cities.
I'm in my mid 30s and decided to move country, I gave myself almost a year to get sorted (find a job, house, etc) and it's given me something to look forward to. It's also a challenge that's kept me busy. This might not be suitable for your situation, but something to consider.
I find I'm competitive with myself rather than trying to do better than others, consistently trying to be better than I was. I think it's partly as I have stretching goals I want to achieve in life, partly because I didn't have much growing up, and deep down I recognise it's probably seeking validation.
Just commenting to say I have just applied for an online masters (part time 3 years) in software development. It's a conversion course for people without a computer science undergrad. It's around $10,000. From a respected university in the UK.
High volumes of chargebacks are an indication of fraud which is a larger issue than the fees. Especially if a processor uses a big bank to use the payment rails, the bank will monitor fraud levels of the processors and will exit a processors business altogether if it's too high, meaning the processor is out of business. That's why processors won't work with high chargeback risk businesses, keeps the average low.