What Career Path Did You Choose That You Strongly Advise Against?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Physician
The work is intellectually interesting and I feel like I am doing something worthwhile. Additionally, most of the patients are delightful (or at least interesting) and they teach me so much.

BUT as time has gone on the system has evolved so that the administrators have proliferated, and they have consolidated and expanded their power. So basically I work for idiot administrators who have a business degree with no understanding of medicine (if they compare us to “highly trained technicians - like a plumber or mechanic” one more time I am going to freak out), make slightly MORE money than us (one admin said she “would not get out of bed for what they pay doctors here”), work 9-5 (and g-d forbid they work a holiday! But they’d be delighted to report me if it takes me >15 minutes to reply to a page on a holiday), and just view us as numbers (RVU generators). They also won’t come in during covid (apparently every single admin is immunosupressed?), but are happy to send us 6000 useless emails a day, I guess to prove they are actually “working” from home. But then I have to yank off all my PPE and reply to their dumb emails “in a timely fashion” so they don’t report me. The higher level admins have also begun “encouraging” the older/middle aged docs to leave, and replacing them with MDs straight out of training and PA/NPs because the old guys cost too much money. Apparently competence and experience are of no value anymore. Because $$$. And if we make more money then we can hire more administrators!

Also I have 9 years of training after college and about 15 years experience, and I make less than my friends who are govt lawyers. So, stop with your complaining lawyers!

Well, that turned into a rant. But if things continue this way then being a physician won’t make sense anymore, which is sad, because medicine can be rewarding and fun - and on a great day you can even save someone’s life. Which is pretty cool.

Thanks for posting. That was very educational to me (as someone not in the medical profession). It sounds outrageous that these administrators are making more than the doctors who are on the frontline of healthcare. I hope things improve, as the current system does not sound good for the healthcare workers, or the patients.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started as a PhD scientist with a specialty in organic chemistry. It was miserable. So many huge egos. No HR for students or post docs. It was legit abusive. I had to vacuum and dust my advisor's office, pick up his dry cleaning and work as a coat check when he held a party at his home. I was essentially his slave for $15k/year. The lab working conditions were also far from safe. Another student in a next door lab died of chemical burns for lack of safety equipment. (This was at UCLA.) I'd never push my kid to go into a lab science.

Now I'm a lawyer. Law school was cake. My clerkship was amazing, literally the best job ever. Biglaw wasn't perfect, but was millions of times better than an academic research lab. Fewer hours. Less pressure. More HR rules. Less psycho behavior. I eventually moved in house and love my job. I think most employed lawyers who complain are whiners. (Those with big loans and no jobs have a point.)

Why were you willing to do this? Could you have just reported it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Educated cop

I have a master degree, went into “law enforcement “ to make a difference.

Did child abuse/homicide most my career.

Started with a training officer who taught how to legally beat people if you are in a bad mood.

Spent evenings with extreme racists, short men with Napoleon complex, people with little understanding of the law or constitution.

Best part was making friends with 7-11 workers, Dunkin’ Donuts workers, gas station workers, etc.

Spent most my life with people going through the worst days of their life and thankful I had a masters in psychology.

Frustrated that I had a better understanding of law than most prosecutors, judges are the most ego driven group I have ever dealt with ... most lawyers and judges I dealt with had seriously unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

Watched “tiger teams” be formed ever time a white woman was killed, while I alone worked on the rest of the cases. Journalists would demonize my POC victims and paint white victims as heroes and white perps as “mentality ill” when they were just down right evil or selfish.


You get the idea.

You sound like the youngest cop on Blue Bloods. You should watch it. He went to Harvard Law and became a beat cop for the NYPD. But he comes from a family of cops so...at least he has his brothers?

This is an interesting observation. Both DH and I are lawyers (and we both are fortunate to like our jobs and make good money). But I follow the topic of problem drinking among lawyers because my DH kind of falls into that category. One study conducted by the American Bar Association (granted based on a small survey) concluded that 28 percent of lawyers are problem drinkers, compared with 7 percent of the general population. It seems like the type of profession that can lend itself to drinking because, depending on the type of law, you spend a lot of time by yourself in your office while writing and reading. Maybe writers/journalists have the same problem? I think that, if a person is at all inclined toward heavy drinking, he/she might want to choose a profession where you're always with people and having to perform on your feet (to deter you from day drinking, for example).

[Anonymous]

I told my kid that whatever they choose to do, do not follow my steps and become a chef. Just, no.

[Anonymous]

NY Times Business section has an article about how robots are going to blow out accounting, medical, and legal jobs. One question though, robots don't buy groceries, clothes, or cars. How does the economy operate with millions of high paying positions going away? Executives of course will always get their money. Hope they like living in gated communities with armed guards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marketing. You will always be one step away from the chopping block due to things entirely outside of your control.

I spent 10 years in marketing due to a very specific communications degree and finally got someone to take the chance on me breaking out of the field. I work in business development for a foreign government now.

Paid Russian/Chinese troll farm, amirite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Rodeo arts. Dangerous, angry animals, no respect from humans, high costs for equipment, clothing, props. A LOT of fun, but so many negatives.

This post wins the thread.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NY Times Business section has an article about how robots are going to blow out accounting, medical, and legal jobs. One question though, robots don't buy groceries, clothes, or cars. How does the economy operate with millions of high paying positions going away? Executives of course will always get their money. Hope they like living in gated communities with armed guards.

Online shopping. It may not be all robots, but it certainly involves some robots replacing functions previously filled by humans. Once drone delivery becomes a reality, you may not need people at all for online grocery and clothing purchases. I won't be surprised when the day comes that you can buy a car online and it shows up at your door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NY Times Business section has an article about how robots are going to blow out accounting, medical, and legal jobs. One question though, robots don't buy groceries, clothes, or cars. How does the economy operate with millions of high paying positions going away? Executives of course will always get their money. Hope they like living in gated communities with armed guards.

Online shopping. It may not be all robots, but it certainly involves some robots replacing functions previously filled by humans. Once drone delivery becomes a reality, you may not need people at all for online grocery and clothing purchases. I won't be surprised when the day comes that you can buy a car online and it shows up at your door.

That’s not what PP was trying to get at...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NY Times Business section has an article about how robots are going to blow out accounting, medical, and legal jobs. One question though, robots don't buy groceries, clothes, or cars. How does the economy operate with millions of high paying positions going away? Executives of course will always get their money. Hope they like living in gated communities with armed guards.

That is why the idea of minimum income have strong support from technology companies.

[Anonymous]

* Guaranteed minimum income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Physician
The work is intellectually interesting and I feel like I am doing something worthwhile. Additionally, most of the patients are delightful (or at least interesting) and they teach me so much.

BUT as time has gone on the system has evolved so that the administrators have proliferated, and they have consolidated and expanded their power. So basically I work for idiot administrators who have a business degree with no understanding of medicine (if they compare us to “highly trained technicians - like a plumber or mechanic” one more time I am going to freak out), make slightly MORE money than us (one admin said she “would not get out of bed for what they pay doctors here”), work 9-5 (and g-d forbid they work a holiday! But they’d be delighted to report me if it takes me >15 minutes to reply to a page on a holiday), and just view us as numbers (RVU generators). They also won’t come in during covid (apparently every single admin is immunosupressed?), but are happy to send us 6000 useless emails a day, I guess to prove they are actually “working” from home. But then I have to yank off all my PPE and reply to their dumb emails “in a timely fashion” so they don’t report me. The higher level admins have also begun “encouraging” the older/middle aged docs to leave, and replacing them with MDs straight out of training and PA/NPs because the old guys cost too much money. Apparently competence and experience are of no value anymore. Because $$$. And if we make more money then we can hire more administrators!

Also I have 9 years of training after college and about 15 years experience, and I make less than my friends who are govt lawyers. So, stop with your complaining lawyers!

Well, that turned into a rant. But if things continue this way then being a physician won’t make sense anymore, which is sad, because medicine can be rewarding and fun - and on a great day you can even save someone’s life. Which is pretty cool.

Thanks for posting. That was very educational to me (as someone not in the medical profession). It sounds outrageous that these administrators are making more than the doctors who are on the frontline of healthcare. I hope things improve, as the current system does not sound good for the healthcare workers, or the patients.

My husband is a physician, and I can confirm that the high level admins are terrible and he vents about them almost daily! They send ridiculous emails just to look like they’re doing work. Probably took a vaccine early on, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special ed teacher

I can’t believe how miserable this job is now. You have to do the same amount of teaching as other teachers yet you have to do hours and hours of paperwork for IEP’s and attend an endless amount of IEP meetings. While most parents are great to work with there are about 10-20% of parents that are extremely difficult to work with either because they never respond and you have to track them down or because they expect you to spend 25% of your working hours dedicated just to their child, or their child is barely behind yet want a massive amount of services, or expect the whole system to shift. In theory it shouldn’t be the special Ed teachers problem it should be the districts. But the district throws special Ed teachers under the bus and expect them to meet unrealistic expectations on IEP’s that they agreed to based on how they staff positions.
Then you also have to deal with aggressive students who intentionally or unintentionally assault you and paras who are MIA.

This! And to add, the general education teachers who think you’re a glorified teacher assistant and refuse to co-plan with you if you’re the inclusion teacher assigned to co-teach that class.

[Anonymous]

I don’t want to add a lot of blue by quoting but the physician post was very enlightening. I heard there was a high level of depression amount doctors and I certainly see that at my internist group. The staff all seem happy but the doctors seem in a simmering unhappy anger. Clinically they are fine but personally. Yikes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Physician
The work is intellectually interesting and I feel like I am doing something worthwhile. Additionally, most of the patients are delightful (or at least interesting) and they teach me so much.

BUT as time has gone on the system has evolved so that the administrators have proliferated, and they have consolidated and expanded their power. So basically I work for idiot administrators who have a business degree with no understanding of medicine (if they compare us to “highly trained technicians - like a plumber or mechanic” one more time I am going to freak out), make slightly MORE money than us (one admin said she “would not get out of bed for what they pay doctors here”), work 9-5 (and g-d forbid they work a holiday! But they’d be delighted to report me if it takes me >15 minutes to reply to a page on a holiday), and just view us as numbers (RVU generators). They also won’t come in during covid (apparently every single admin is immunosupressed?), but are happy to send us 6000 useless emails a day, I guess to prove they are actually “working” from home. But then I have to yank off all my PPE and reply to their dumb emails “in a timely fashion” so they don’t report me. The higher level admins have also begun “encouraging” the older/middle aged docs to leave, and replacing them with MDs straight out of training and PA/NPs because the old guys cost too much money. Apparently competence and experience are of no value anymore. Because $$$. And if we make more money then we can hire more administrators!

Also I have 9 years of training after college and about 15 years experience, and I make less than my friends who are govt lawyers. So, stop with your complaining lawyers!

Well, that turned into a rant. But if things continue this way then being a physician won’t make sense anymore, which is sad, because medicine can be rewarding and fun - and on a great day you can even save someone’s life. Which is pretty cool.

You must work for either inova or Hopkins. Leaning towards Inova..

All the doctors I see there PCP seem very angry and depressed.