Thinking of changing profession from SWE to a medical doctor
I think I'm very old (25 yo) to go to a med school now and I also like the money that I'm getting now as I like to buy myself stuff. But something seems missing. I don't feel passionate about engineering as much as my coworkers do and feel like becoming a medical doctor. Do you know of anybody who has made a similar switch?
I’d explore the medical profession (shadowing, volunteering, etc.) before making a switch to ensure that you know what you are getting yourself into. Burnout in the medical profession is at an all-time high and it’s a long road (med school, residency, internships) to get where you want to be.
Volunteering does seem like a good start!
Why not be a SWE for a biomedical company?
I hate to be negative: I am an RN with several years experience in acute care & administration, now am a HC consultant). I have many MD & DO friends who regret becoming a physician. Sad. Do it ONLY if you absolutely have passion for helping sick people & a high tolerance for BS. Even then, you will incur massive debt unless you are independently wealthy & can pay for your ed out of pocket, is incredibly stressful (we are losing doctors & nurses to suicide at alarming rates) & the business & government landscape is changing at an unprecedented rate. If you do chose medicine, specialty is where it's at: radiation oncology, cardiac surg/ vasc surg.. these specialized areas however have 8+ years of schooling, residencies, fellowships etc before you can practice independently... I love my physician friends and feel horrible for the issues and pressures they face in their role in healthcare. Best of luck to you. PS: You're not too old BTW :) TC: >150K YOE: 18
I think the average age it new med school matriculates is probably not far off from 25. A friend of mine just quit a PM job at Microsoft to enroll in med school and she seems to be having fun (although not particularly excited about the loss in income/need to pay tuition lol).
Not too old; med school is quite a commitment, make sure there is passion there or you will regret this choice.
"feel like" isn't a good enough reason to make the switch. Chances are you'll find something missing there as well. Your career doesn't have to be tied to what you find meaningful. First figure out what you want your life to be about irrespective of the career prospects. Then see how you can do that either as a career or outside of a career.
The opportunity cost is very high especially you are already employed by Google. You will lost more then 5 years for getting an MD and going through residencies. By the time you are able to practice, you will barely making the same amount of money you do now while short many years of experiences/ promotions and possibly be in debt for all the school related costs. All that is on the assumption you actually get in. My brother same age as you was taking mcat every year and still fails to get to anywhere. He's now feeding on my parents money. Part-time master's degree while part-time in boba tea shop. I'm so glad I chose to go with engineering instead and already got 2 promotions.
so true. my sister also in med school (parents paying), and every time she faces adversity, she just takes a semester off. Life is not going to treat her well. I went back to school same time she did for an MS in CS (fully funded, no parents paying), and she's not even half way through while I finished school and got a promo already. My mind is better suited for software work than medicine anyway.
As a sanity check, ask a few doctors if they would trade places with you. I guarantee many would say yes :) You can do medicine, but you’ll likely make the same TC and work 20 more hours a week. If you’re great, you might double your TC but add 40 more hours a week.
I’m going into bioinformatics. SWE work is pointless in my eyes
I am sure there are good udemy courses online :)