Becoming a doctor for the money

Don't become a doctor for the money. Become a lawyer or banker for the money. Become a doctor for the chicks.

I am IT consultant, married to a doctor and since I downgraded from management position to a purely technical role(that's where my heart is in) we make similar money.

Her's earned harder for sure, although no night shifts anymore but day and late shifts.

Both fields are perfect for life long learning and both our jobs also are our hobby and pastime.

Seems that many doctors take advantage of the good pay to work part time. And in the medical field the CVs are certainly more fragmented than in office jobs, without negative connotation.

Another device rep giving advice out of their scope. Classic.

I feel I should expand. Sure, annoying patients are going to be our most common complaint. That’s who we deal with all day, right? Well honestly, reps might be tied for our biggest complaint, but I digress. Regardless, you aren’t hearing about the good experiences the doc had with 28/30 patients that day in clinic. That’s not entertaining and isn’t going to come up. And even if some, or most, doctors truly dislike the patient interactions could they not still get satisfaction from the process of diagnosis, treatment, and following outcomes, which is obviously a net positive for society?

OP - there are worse things you could do strictly for money; for example; being a medical device rep.

A physician needs to be decisive. You have posted about this a few times over months. You are waffling. How long will the place in medical school offered to you in the UK remain available? Shadow a few physicians from different specialties to see if you like it and could see yourself working as one. I know the life of a physician in the UK is different from that in the US.

I am a retired US physician and can say I had a very emotionally rewarding career.

Good luck.

Go to med school and aim for radiation oncology.

You'll need an MD/PhD at a minimum for rad onc. You're committing to a 10 year training path just to get in the rad/onc door. Probably not the smartest move for someone in their 40s.

I run with a couple of these people. As I recall, they both got physics masters degrees.

I would like to see your electrician or plumber save your life when you have heart a attack or other life threatening condition.

My Dad is a Doctor. Like the op, he started later than most. It did not affect his career earnings. Early on I learned Patients and work always came first, even on holidays and birthdays. He made a lot of money and that allowed me, my siblings and mom a pretty comfortable life. Got to experience trips and sporting events and a life style as a kid that would leave most people envious.

Even as a little kid people would ask if I wanted to be a Doctor and the answer was always,no. My Dad worked too much and it has pretty much destroyed our relationship as adults. People hear my last name and ask if my Dad or uncle was Doctor......they all say the same things. They talk about how helpful and wonderful he was and was there when they or a family member needed him the most.

The reason I am sharing these personal details with you is because you can not be a great or even good Doctor if you are only in it for the money. You will not last. It is not a job but a lifelong lifestyle.

To the OP good luck with what ever you decide to do.

The reality of starting a new career at middle age is that's when those who have been in the profession are laid off for cheaper, stronger, ambitious, better looking, and more compliant younger professionals. This is true for programmers, engineers, lawyers, and accountants. For those in the trades or the military middle age is when their bodies start to break down from carrying tools all day and accumulating injuries over the years.

90% untrue. NOBODY wants to see the same patient for the same problem over and over. There are waitlists up to a year to see many docs. It's far more gratifying to treat and get a good result. The hardest thing we do is see the same patient with mysterious issue we cant figure out over and over. Also, its not that ALL patients are what doctors hate the most, its the 10-15% that show up late every time, don't show at all, take up an hour of your time and say you didn't spend enough time with them, and don't do what you recommend and want a fix. For most that's not the case.

I’m 2 years into a relationship with a doctor. I’m an executive with an engineering degree, and have worked in engineering my whole life. For lots of irrelevant reasons (not divorce) we met in our mid 40s. Prior to meeting her, I didn’t know and doctors personally. Something shocking to me is the large proportion of the profession who are complete train wrecks in their personal lives. Alcoholism, light drug use, instability of relationships, and more than often than not, divorce. I theorize that many spent their 20’s & 30 doing medical school / residency/ fellowships and didn’t get the real world training on relationships or general living that those of us who started working at age 25-26 did. Then you turbo charge that immaturity with a bunch of $ and prestige, and a need to ‘make up for missed fun time.’

I've noticed you posting here now on your dilemma for what seems like 5 yrs. I just don't understand why you can't find lucrative employment with a physics degree.

I was fortunate to work at a leading consulting firm for 3 years in London during the 90's. The office and many of our clients were full of British physics, math, computer science and engineering majors all making 100,000 pounds +. Granted most were Oxford/ Cambridge grads,but not all.

The starting package now for wall Street and consulting for us ba's is $200k or more, with the best quant jobs paying $400k to 22 yr olds.

With a 1 yr masters program at Columbia of even London School of Economics you could enter this arena. Even a traditional 1 yr mba at a program like insead could move you in this direction much faster than a long commitment to med school and residency that you aren't happy about. Good luck.

Come to the US and become a plumber. You can clear $1000 bucks a day replacing 2 water heaters.

I’m a doc. 20+ years in. I still enjoy my job.

I am also a part time entrepreneur, and have a undergrad degree in business. Although I have made a lot of money as a doc, had I pursued business full time (and invested the sort of time and energy required for med school and residency into that business), I would have made far more money. But that is not what I wanted to do.

There are so many ways to make money. If THAT is you primary goal, forget about medicine.

as someone who grew up poor i have no problem with people choosing a profession to be comfortable. what america struggles with is precisely how much you get to extract. we allow bosses/owners to have a higher multiple of their workers, who may do a lot of the work for the business. now, doctors do a lot of the work, and serve an important purpose, but we spend way more on medicine than most countries for worse average outcomes. so it's precisely how much for money you become a doctor.

Definitely not 5 years as I didn't run back in 2018, but I get your point.

I didn't go to Oxbridge, LSE or Imperial or certain other universities, so that would make it very difficult for me to get a job in banking or consultancy in the city of London. I could do an MSc in finance (I already have an MSc in nuclear engineering but it was full funded through a stipend), but masters at LSE, Oxbridge etc. are £20K at least and living in London for a year would be another £15K... I don't have that much money. I have about £25K in savings. In fact, the following course is quoting £45,000 for an MSc in finance.

lse.ac.uk

MSc Finance (full-time)

London School of Economics and Political Science

Gain a comprehensive foundation and subsequent depth in the field of finance with this full-time masters.

Open link

To the guy who said move to the USA and become a plumber, I'd love to, but I've no idea how to move over there and get a job.