Majors/careers for a kid who wants money and work/life balance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

That’s the dream! Don’t be jealous you didn’t think of this.

Dermatologist or orthodontist. Hard to get into but the careers aren’t as stressful as other kinds of medicine. But you make bank.

Dermatologists and orthodontists who have their own practices tend to be the creators of income for everyone else downline.

If you take vacation, it hits your own bottom line since there's only so much your support staff can do in your absence.

Yes. Running a business is a whole other thing; this should not be downplayed. Med, dental, law schools don't teach you how to run a practice and don't tell you how much time and money it takes. Sure, you can make good money, but it's a job on top of a job until you get it running efficiently and profitably. Not everyone is cut out for or wants to employ others, finance the property and equipment, do marketing, payroll, manage employees, etc.

Most private practices are large group practices, sometimes multispecialty with multiple locations. We hire a CEO and have a handful of docs rotate through executive positions to lead with the CEO. We are smart; most of us can learn what we need to on the job the first few years as partner, from the senior physicians and from the CEO and CFO/accountant. It is not that difficult, frankly, unless you are trying to start a practice from scratch. That is quite rare. Instead you look for medium to large metropolitan area and interview at practices that have retiring docs. Every couple of years the big ones have someone retiring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

That’s the dream! Don’t be jealous you didn’t think of this.

Dermatologist or orthodontist. Hard to get into but the careers aren’t as stressful as other kinds of medicine. But you make bank.

Dermatologists and orthodontists who have their own practices tend to be the creators of income for everyone else downline.

If you take vacation, it hits your own bottom line since there's only so much your support staff can do in your absence.

Yes. Running a business is a whole other thing; this should not be downplayed. Med, dental, law schools don't teach you how to run a practice and don't tell you how much time and money it takes. Sure, you can make good money, but it's a job on top of a job until you get it running efficiently and profitably. Not everyone is cut out for or wants to employ others, finance the property and equipment, do marketing, payroll, manage employees, etc.

Most private practices are large group practices, sometimes multispecialty with multiple locations. We hire a CEO and have a handful of docs rotate through executive positions to lead with the CEO. We are smart; most of us can learn what we need to on the job the first few years as partner, from the senior physicians and from the CEO and CFO/accountant. It is not that difficult, frankly, unless you are trying to start a practice from scratch. That is quite rare. Instead you look for medium to large metropolitan area and interview at practices that have retiring docs. Every couple of years the big ones have someone retiring.

Someone had to start from scratch at some point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

That’s the dream! Don’t be jealous you didn’t think of this.

Dermatologist or orthodontist. Hard to get into but the careers aren’t as stressful as other kinds of medicine. But you make bank.

I don't see him wanting to go through medical school or residency.

He will NEVER make it thru. My kid who is a resident doctor put in 120 hours last 7 days. That's like 17 hours/day in avg. I don't see OP's kid willing to do that.

Physician here. This is not typical any longer. I did my residency at Stanford, and even back then it wasn't like this. Now, many residents are unionized, get Uber vouchers after call, 80-hr max, etc. Besides, residency isn't the issue. The burnout comes much later, mid career, and not at all related to long hours.

Regardless, I agree about avoiding medicine.

Also a physician who did residency at Stanford - I am in a specialty that has 9-5 pm hours with very little call. But agree with you - would avoid medicine!

Why avoid Medicine?

[Anonymous]

OP here,

What about cybersecurity? Anyone have insights into salaries and work/life balance?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here,

What about cybersecurity? Anyone have insights into salaries and work/life balance?

There are at least 2 tracks within CyberSecurity.

One involves more technician skills, although staff might have a BA CS or BA in IT. This has solid starting pay and predictable hours. The work can be repetitive. Many of these are in cyber defense. There usually is a glass ceiling on salary, but that would likely be in the $150k-$200k range.

Another requires much more knowledgeable people, often a BSCS or BS ComputerE or a grad degree. This has leas of a glass ceiling. Work is both more difficult and more interesting. This often involves finding new vulnerabilities.

There probably are other variations also.

[Anonymous]

Op, it’s hard to have such demands without coming off at least a little entitled.

We ALL want a nice income & a moderate amount of work & stress. It’s like saying I want a very attractive & intelligent spouse with a big trust fund.

Usually it just doesn’t turn out that way, so it’s fine to WANT these things, but I hope kid wont be shocked if they end up with a life other than the one aspired to.

[Anonymous]

Eh, I think it’s ok the way OP asked it. She’s not saying her kid is asking, “how can I get rich without working hard”, she’s just asking for career ideas.

Most of us are severely limited in what we know about career paths and only are familiar with those of people around us or maybe our family’s career paths.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With respect to major, consider data science. The many branches of career opportunities available from this major can be explored as this student progresses through his undergraduate studies.

I have been told that just having a Bachelor's degree in data science won't cut it. Kids need to have at the very least a Master's degree. Not in the field so I don't know if it's true. Anyone cares to weigh in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, it’s hard to have such demands without coming off at least a little entitled.

We ALL want a nice income & a moderate amount of work & stress. It’s like saying I want a very attractive & intelligent spouse with a big trust fund.

Usually it just doesn’t turn out that way, so it’s fine to WANT these things, but I hope kid wont be shocked if they end up with a life other than the one aspired to.

OP here,

At least in our circles, this doesn't seem true. When I look at the other young people I know, they all plan to choose a career starting with something they love. For example, he has a brother who wants to make stuff. He has been a maker since he was tiny, and he can't imagine being anything else. So, he's looking at careers in mechanical engineering. Is it possible he'll end up UMC? Sure, but that's not the driving goal. He's pretty clear he'd rather make things, work 80 a week, and live in a tiny apartment, than work in an office and go home to a SFH in Bethesda.

I'm the same way. I have a career I love that doesn't pay a ton, but it lets me have time with my children. Doing work I feel passionate about, and having time for family were important to me. I'm happy with my little house in Wheaton. Happier than I would be working in finance and having a million dollar house.

So, I don't think that everyone wants the same thing. I also don't think that his vision for what he wants is more "entitled" than any other.

I'll also say that "attractive" and "trust fund" weren't anywhere close to the top for me when thinking about what I wanted in a spouse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a sophomore who would like to have a comfortable lifestyle. He’s a smart kid, who does well in school, who likes a comfortable lifestyle. He thinks he would be happier with a job he “didn’t hate” that gave him $ to do what he likes on the weekends, than a job he loves with uncertain income, or one with long hours.

He does well in school, math comes easily to him. He’s wondered about careers in data, finance, etc . . . Someone told him patent attorney is a good choice if you want interesting work and a good life style.

Any suggestions for majors and careers that might be a fit?

Dentist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With respect to major, consider data science. The many branches of career opportunities available from this major can be explored as this student progresses through his undergraduate studies.

I have been told that just having a Bachelor's degree in data science won't cut it. Kids need to have at the very least a Master's degree. Not in the field so I don't know if it's true. Anyone cares to weigh in?

No job for data scientist right after college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So he basically wants money but doesn’t want to work hard? Isn’t that what you are really saying, OP?

Marry a lawyer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With respect to major, consider data science. The many branches of career opportunities available from this major can be explored as this student progresses through his undergraduate studies.

I have been told that just having a Bachelor's degree in data science won't cut it. Kids need to have at the very least a Master's degree. Not in the field so I don't know if it's true. Anyone cares to weigh in?

I think that's fair but the other issue is that someone with a masters or phd in physics or computational biology can likely do everything a data scientist can do and more. You don't have to have a data scientist-specific background for data science jobs, at least not now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With respect to major, consider data science. The many branches of career opportunities available from this major can be explored as this student progresses through his undergraduate studies.

I have been told that just having a Bachelor's degree in data science won't cut it. Kids need to have at the very least a Master's degree. Not in the field so I don't know if it's true. Anyone cares to weigh in?

No job for data scientist right after college.

Mostly disagree. I know of several places locally that will hire someone with only a (newly minted) undergrad degree.

However, one eventually would need a Masters degree if one wants to avoid hitting a glass ceiling in one's career. This MS degree might be done while working.

[Anonymous]

Many "data scientist" jobs really are mostly what we used to call "statistician" jobs. Both involve use of tools like R or SAS to find patterns in data sets.