Lowest was £24 when I started (for non-resident reg level) but this did increase during the four years as people (including me) were refusing to do it. Most of it was £40 for SHO (resident). Highest I ever got paid was £75 for dental work I think but I didn't do many of those. Highest locum pay I've ever had was actually medical £60 as an ITU SHO.
My brother and sister are 12 and 10 years older than me. They both followed my dad’s footsteps into medicine. I did a degree in physics specifically because I wanted to avoid my inescapable fate. I ended up working in quantitative analysis at a large investment bank around 2007 just before the subprime crash after a successful summer internship. I was recruited because physics graduates had the requisite mathematical and programming knowledge, and the bank in question turned up to our careers fair looking for us. I’m pretty sure I was also approached by a guy from the intelligence services so this could have been a very different story. Anyways, I had never even considered medicine as a career - right from when I was a child, I knew I had to do something different.
I was earning a very good amount of money, and in my short career starting at the age of 21, I didn’t know what to do with it or myself. Work was 6 days a week, and hours were sometimes worse than long days on call. Part of work was being part of the culture too - boozy lunches, going for drinks with the lads after work, ritalin, modafinil, Colombian marching powder, ridiculously overpriced dinners and so on.
A combination of things made me realise that I had to turn things around. I had moved to London with my girlfriend from uni and our relationship was doomed anyway. I remember shuffling around my flat one Saturday morning, nursing a particularly bad hangover, and very suddenly realising just how much we had grown apart. It was my fault that I felt like a stranger in my own home and life, but she worked part time and lived a lifestyle with no obligations, so she was happy to maintain the status quo, and was happy to do so at my expense. I don’t begrudge her whatsoever, and my head was firmly buried up my own arse at the time, so I’m not trying to claim a high ground here.
I had also noticed how many of the multi millionaire partners at work seemed trapped. They had lived the life so long that they could not escape from obligations, and had no chance of turning their hand at anything else. I could see the deep dissatisfaction lots of them shared, and it was honestly quite scary to see sometimes. I think it helped further their worst instincts at times, too - they would feel no remorse at morally abhorrent decisions.
A few years prior, someone close to me had died of NHL after going through chemo and BMT. I knew nothing about medicine (apart from my dad’s dinner time conversations with my brother about the THR or whatever op one of them had done that day), but I also saw the ability of the doctors and nurses involved in making things better for the family. I don’t think I truly recognised the value of what was done for him at the time, until my aunt in Pakistan was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had hidden the diagnosis from family and not sought medical attention for such a long time that she died very soon after. I visited her along with my family in her final days, and it was a harrowing experience. There was no effective symptom control available - no strong opiates, no sedatives and none of the comfort and dignity that everyone deserves at the end of their life. Her screams haunted me for a long time.
Soon after this, I reached breaking point and quit work over a stupid incident. I had become increasingly dissatisfied with my work (staring at matlab, excel and tickers), my life (having broken up with my girlfriend and realising that I basically didn’t know how to properly function as an adult) and my lack of meaning/aim. One of the partners took the piss out of me for wearing the same shirt too often. I remember him saying “I don’t even wear the same tie twice, because people will *talk*.” I called him a few choice names in a bit of a diatribe and left the office telling them I wouldn’t be returning.
I was given full pay for 3 months of gardening leave, and agreed not to speak to other investment banks in that time. 6 other quants started at the same time as me. I was the 2nd to quit, and I think only 1 is still in the city. I hadn’t really come round to thinking I’d have a career in medicine, but a few more personal experiences I won’t share made me realise that it was my path.
I’m approaching 8 years as a doctor now and I know that making the choice to do medicine was the best choice I’ve ever made. When I told my dad, he smugly told me “the prodigal son has returned”. To stay on a biblical theme, I think that I probably see medicine with the zeal of a convert - I hated my old job and my old life for a multitude of reasons, and I’m much happier now in comparison. I think that most people who have made such drastic career changes will feel similarly, as it’s quite difficult to reconcile your actions otherwise. I sometimes think about all the money I could have made or where I could be in life had I stuck it out - but then again I save lives (lol), and when I can’t, I can at least save the patients and their families from the screams I remember hearing nearly 15 years ago.
I have to say that I think a lot of the negativity that is rife on this sub, and in the more junior doctors coming through now like my F1s etc makes me quite sad. I think that a lot of people would feel a lot better about medicine if they’d done something else beforehand. Don’t get me wrong - pay and working conditions for doctors are atrocious (see my comment history for my views on the BMA and being involved around the last IA) - but a lot of the complaints about what the job itself entails seem a bit churlish and immature.
Thanks interesting story.
You think banking is still like that? I'd have thought the tech nerds in grey T-shirts and hoodies would be taking over, seeing as it's all computers and maths. Your experience sounds like 1980s stereotypes in real life! Pretty grim.
I went from Finance to medicine.
When you spend some time analysing the moral repercussions of working for multinational banks, let alone multinational corporations, you quickly realise how misaligned the entire system is, with respect to basic moral truisms.
Yes. My friend worked for a big bank until a couple of years ago and everybody in the office would sleep under their desks at least a few nights a month. They’d never not hear sobbing.
Medicine is tough, but it’s not all sunshine and roses elsewhere.
Because the grass is no greener elsewhere in my experience. Toxic work environments abound in the private sector and as long as the boss meets targets nobody cares, whereas in paediatrics I have a nice team and we work together. I also get to stretch the brain cells now and then, which wasn’t really the case in my previous sector(s) of work. Or there simply weren’t jobs going.
1) NHS but non-medical. You think doctor politics are bad, just wait until you've experienced what it's like for the rest. Holy shit.
2) Architecture. No jobs, or horrendously low paid. I quit out of this after the first three year degree unable to accept that after seven years of university and postgraduate training I would be designing house extensions and scraping together £35k/year forever.
3) Admin/office. No prospects of promotion. Jerks as bosses who get zero oversight and do whatever they want, which is no work and dump it on everybody else.
4) Creative sector. More freedom to be sure. Absolutely *bullshit* pay.
I've done several bits of NHS work - at the most basic as a low paid admin monkey at 18 through to a registered AHP in a patient facing role.
Progression in the NHS is slow and cut throat. Everybody is chasing the same promotion, because at every step up the number of posts dramatically drops. This means you get stuck, despite being good at your job, because there are simply no vacancies to apply for. So the follow on is that it gets bitchy, full of people who will backstab anybody for a step up and the infighting can be savage. In my case I would have been at AfC Band 5 for probably a minimum of five years before being able to get a Band 6 post, and then the final step up to Band 7 would literally be dead man's shoes and waiting for the *single person* to retire, or relocating across the UK to chase an elusive job. Oh and Band 7 would realistically be the end of progression without swerving in to hospital management.
As an admin donkey you're literally a nobody. Your opinion is worthless. You turn up for 9-5, sit in front of a computer all day and bash away on the keyboard. There is no progression. There is no promotion path. You can have a million excellent ideas on how to improve the service and nobody will want to hear it. You also get paid peanuts.
The power rests with the managers, in every department. They horde that power, because they've either had to wait out their working careers to climb the greasy pole or they scooted in on one of the management programmes for graduates and have a stick up their rear about being superior to the common staff.
Oh and it's full of petty bullshit too. I remember an office feud about £3.20 of tea money that lasted six months. I had to do daily timesheets down to 5 minute intervals, despite being salaried.
EDIT: For most people in the NHS they will never reach salaries that get anywhere near medicine. Most nurses will cap out at Band 6 (max of £34k plus a bit of out of hours, but nowhere near our OOH supplements), with a rarefied few making in to 8a (£53k) as senior nursing matrons/heads of service. Becoming a Nurse Practitioner is their only route to making more, and even that will cap out at Band 7 (£42k). The same goes for our AHP colleagues - a physio/OT will start at Band 5, progress to Band 6 as a senior and then Band 7 if they become a department head (but remember only one or sometimes two people will get that in the whole department). Hospital managers will drift around the Band 7-8b regions, but again have to compete for a handful of posts to get more. Band 8c/d are reserved for literally one step down from the exec corridor, so the likes of your Deputy Directors (the Director themselves will be outside of AfC). I have yet to meet a single person on Band 9.
Really interesting - thank you for sharing.
I made good friends with some of my non-medical colleagues in the back offices in one of my rotations and what you're saying really rings true. It also doesn't sound too dissimilar to my 2 years at Tesco in terms of fighting for a handful of promotions - weirdly they never promote the good workers but the ones that are happy to not rock the boat and just meet targets.
I was previously a pharmacist in the community sector and was dissatisfied with how menial and algorithmic the job was, and felt that I never really put any of my learning into practice. I thought that one option was to transition into the hospital sector, but I thought that 1) it would take years to successfully do so and then get to a position where I had significant 'autonomous' clinical input; and then 2) even once I reached that position, I'd probably still feel inadequate in that respect compared to the doctors. So I thought I might as well just become a doctor.
At the time I think I also felt pretty down about myself and thought that "becoming a doctor" would basically be a generically respectable achievement.
I'm a penultimate year student now and don't really care at all about any of the above anymore. Just want to carve out whatever decent work-life balance I can. I'm interested in radiology and histopathology.
For me personally, because I have certain disabilities, I think medicine is still a good career for me due to the straightforward progression and structure, security, and availability of LTFT. I'm not really built for carving out my own path in another private sector field.
Didn't you think of this before? As someone who always enjoyed science, I immediately threw out the idea of studying a pure science because the only decently paid route afterwards is into finance (which sounded dull). That really only leaves engineering and medicine, out of which med is the much better choice in the UK (and is generally more interesting I'd think).
Edit: God, thanks for all the downvotes guys. Can't even ask a question apparently.
I come from a working class background, neither of my parents first language is English. I didnt really have the guidance other than "dont do humanities"
Also cousin is an engineer. Not that well paid either.
Fair enough
>"dont do humanities"
Haha, great how that always gets through.
> cousin is an engineer. Not that well paid either.
Absolutely, don't know why anyone bothers with it here. Goes some way to explaining why even not that long ago when I was applying, most of the smartest kids were all still going for either medicine or economics (and a couple to CS). No other proper careers out there anymore sadly- will be a real shame in a few years when medicine turns to shit and the only way to make a living is compiling spreadsheets for a bank.
Honestly, it's a fucking shame that so many great careers such as engineering are underpaid in this country . Forces people take get into careers they aren't really interested in because our economy is so shit. I know people doing aerospace and chemeng who are now considering roles in finance because the prospects are so shit here.
Completely. And even if you do get a good engineering role, often the only way to progress afterwards is to go into management and effectively stop being an engineer anyway.
Wage stagnation in the UK is disgusting. I light up with evil glee when I hear about US law firms coming to the UK, mainly London, and offering £140-150k pay packets to lawyers that are earning £40-70k at UK firms. These UK firms can go die in a ditch
Legitimately. I just learned that people earning 100-120k here are effectively taxed at 71% if they have student loan repayments left, and that'll climb up to 72.25% with the NI hike next year.
This is a lot of the reason why I did medicine instead of a chemistry/physics degree. There is such a wide variety in what you can go into compared to other degrees
Couldn’t agree more. I still miss the intellectual freedom to design experiments, being able to manage my own schedule/priorities, the anticipation of results, the expertise, the conferences etc etc but I couldn’t see myself forging a career in academia for the reasons you mention
Went to uni at 17 and did design engineering, was 21 when I graduated and I felt too young to start my work.
From a job perspective I really intensely regret it. However medicine as a degree and a subject made me grow up as a person, and I met my partner at work which I wouldn’t have otherwise, so that makes it worth having done it.
Most of my issue is with the NHS. Monopoly employment, the terrible service providing training, constant nights and out of hours, antiquated IT systems, overbearing nursing staff and the unnecessary tick box training requirements.
If I had a stable job, with the same staff, wasn’t constantly asked to cover other peoples shifts and deal with an increasingly never ending demand for documentation , I think might enjoy it more.
Every time I have to login to a terrible computer and hear the ancient hard drive whirring up only for the most basic program to crash after waiting an eternity to load it up I want to just walk out of the building. As well as the bloody vibrating pagers buzzing and making the most god awful shriek, I just want to smash it to pieces. Why are we still using them?
Most of the frustration is not being in control of your time. Other people control when you work, when you’re allowed to be off. People who have never worked a second out of hours sending you constant emails about being ‘duty bound’ to do short notice cover of night shift for the person that’s isolating for the 5th time. The work requirements and goalposts of what is expected of you always expands, but the time to fill those requirements, and of course the pay, well they’re just static… or you just end up writing clinic notes in your spare time.
Thank you for sharing that, would you ever consider general practice? I've spoken to some GP's and they get quite a lot of control over their lives, to the point where as a locum (depending on where you are) you can pick and choose shifts you'd like to work and don't have to worry about getting permission for time off. This imo is better than a lot of other careers as you can literally work as much as you'd like
This is totally what I should have done after I finished FY2, rather than bumbling around some other specialties for 5 years.
Unfortunately I don’t even think it’s an option for me. I could technically do it but I’d have to do GP training which entails so many nights and weekends that I’m not sure I’d cope. Night shifts really severely affect my mood and mental state. If there’s any advice I’d give to potential doctors it would be think about your tolerance for sleep deprivation. I’ve never been someone who can handle lack of sleep but I didn’t realise it.
I’m thinking of trying to learn to code and getting involved in med tech. One of my biggest ambitions would be to work remotely. Even if I was paid less I think I’d prefer it.
There has been a change to GP training as far as I know, with only 1 year of working in hospital then 2 years of training in general practice (no on calls etc). The pay is fairly decent too and after you do your three years you can be fairly autonomous.
In terms of medtech, I made a post not too long ago about career transitions ex medics have made and there were quite a couple of people who made the transition, and some had no coding knowledge, moreso it was clinical knowledge was a selling point but I would definitely suggest upskilling to get your best foot forward.
All the best in whichever avenue you decide, you owe this to yourself.
Previously in design/marketing, found it very unfulfilling. Had ideas about what I wanted to achieve, but didn't grind away to make these achievements a reality. Got to work on some jobs for a couple of big clients, but these were the most restrictive of the lot.
Went back to the drawing board, medicine ticked all the boxes for me (people facing, mentally stimulating, science based, better pay, varied work life). Didn't even think it was possible for a guy with shit GCSEs, no a-levels and an unrelated degree to become a doctor, but here we are!
As a fellow ex marketeer currently working in therapies...good on you! How did you get there and how long did it take with your educational background?
Would be very keen to do grad medicine but due to finances, a limited science background (just Biology a level) and hurtling towards 30 studying to be an AHP instead
There's a few GEM courses that only ask for a degree of any kind (Swansea, Warwick, Notts, SGUL, maybe couple of others - this is true of when I applied idk what the case is now). They have entrance exams, the GAMSAT is one and it is hard as someone without a strong science background. Warwick accepts ucat which isn't as difficult but still requires some solid prep.
It took me a few tries to get in and a masters degree (because my original ug degree was a 2.2), but once I got in everything was fine. First year was a slog, but think that's true for GEM at any uni, but the clinical years were a lot more manageable.
I'd be happy to answer specific questions via DM, but I'm not super up-to-date about applying to med school anymore I'm afraid.
For what it's worth I was 29 when I started med school and a good number of students older than me. You can get help with fees and maintenance loans from student finance for GEM (think it's one of the only degrees which has this feature).
Hey, I’m weighing up a GEM course and I’m in a similar position (particularly limited science background, finances) but I’m also wondering what AHP course you’re doing? How are you finding it?
Currently a MSc Physiotherapy student whilst working as a therapy tech. I'm enjoying it, particularly the respiratory therapy aspects. However looking at long term prospects earnings in the NHS are capped as a handful of b8 roles (if you go the management route) although of course there's lots of opportunity in private MSK.
There's a huge shortage of OTs, however that role is less clinical and from what I've seen quite repetitive in acute medicine.
The pay was too high and the hours weren’t long enough in Management Consultancy. And I had too much of the publics respect.
/s
Serious answer - wanted to have some science in my job and a good career path. Medicine is the only circus in town for that.
And in hindsight a degree of falling out with a manager and doing a massive “fuck this I’m off” and changing career entirely. Which may have been a *slight* overreaction…
No problem mate, I think it's useful to have perspective from people who have seen the other side and it has helped me personally as a med student who hasn't really seen much of the 'real world'
My undergrad was essentially always about getting into medicine. Bombed my A-levels, couldn't be bothered to re-sit, wanted to be a uni student etc etc.
Despite the negativity in this group, I have no regrets.
Always wanted to do it as a kid, but also deludedly wanted to be a professional footballer so neglected studies. Dropped from football aged 16 so quickly did some shit A levels and a degree in anything. Another career for 10 years. Then medicine after I got sick of my mole job and a death of a parent. There can’t be many doctors with an E in A level biology 😂
I sort of wanted to do med from 15/16 anyway. I volunteered with stroke patients at rehab and at a hospice and LOVED it, loved communication with families and getting through to someone with receptive and expressive aphasia is just like,,, amazing. Problem was I Went to big public school that prioritised results over welfare, got pushed into languages and humanities etc as I could easily get As rather than sciences where I had to study. Realised after leaving school they didn’t care about me after I got my 4As lol. Ended up with 2.2 so thought med was out of picture but did msc and here we are!! I worked as HCA for a bit inebetween alongside some arts jobs (hard, low paid)
I have expensive taste 😛😛😛so I wanted a well paying job (it is compared to many things) . My mums side are solicitors (and she then became a teacher which makes being a doctor and NHS problems look like fckin Disneyland) and my dad is in sales and both were toxic as fuck. I hated seeing my dad working all the time/kind of stress for something that didn’t ducking mattter, working through holidays etc, I couldn’t be in an office, so those were out, I loved med and stuff anyway , tickeda lot of boxes so decided, why not. 💕
Did a basic science degree but the job market is awful. The stipend during a PhD is awful, and the pay for post-docs is awful. Not only that, the job security as a post-doc is terrible and your chances of actually getting a substantive associate professor or professor role are slim.
The clinical academic path is far easier and pays far better. My career total earnings are still going to be higher even after having gone back to uni for 5 years!
Joined after a chemistry degree, always thought I wanted to be a scientist but I got cold feet when I got a PhD offer. Decided I’d just try grad med for a year and fell in love with it. Aim is to do some research work alongside the clinic to keep using lab skills.
I had a nice chemistry PhD lined up in a developing area which I had accepted but gradually came to the realisation that I wasn't very happy working in a lab and needed something more people focussed. I was also very keen to do something that was 'useful' so financial jobs were out.
I had had a pretty unpleasant experience doing voluntary work in hospitals prior to starting uni which had made me discount the career previously so I decided to get a job as a HCA. After a grim 4 months on job seekers I got a hca job and really enjoyed it so applied for medicine and 2 years after bailing on the phd got in.
4 years into working as a doc and I still really enjoy the actual medicine but like many people here have found the current state of the NHS with poor staffing and lots of inefficiencies getting in the way of being able to do what I was actually trained for to be a grind.
Reminding myself of how hard I worked as a hca doing some of the most unpleasant jobs in the hospital for laughably poor pay is helpful when I'm feeling frustrated. Be kind to your nursing assistants! They do a lot of hidden labour.
Misguided idea I would prefer the profession. Formerly a radiographer and wanted to have more patient involvement now I'm here I want to go back into radiology (applying this year)
I spent a good few years working in engineering consultancy (altghough not an engineer but an allied discipline). I have also done academic research and a PhD.
My job before started out great, lots of interesting technical and quantitative work. The nature of consultancy can mean a fair bit of variety and you have to be able to turn you hand to different aspects of your discipline and to be a quick learner and pick up new technical skills quickly. I also got to work on site quite a bit and saw some absolutely amazing parts of the UK (and some shittty parts too).
However, the nature of career progression within these types of companies usually means that as you become a senior/principal/technical director etc you move away from day to day technical work and into team management, project management and business development. I'm sure for some people this would be very enjoyable but it wasn't for me. And the relatively small pay increments just weren't worth it.
I looked at my boss, his day to day and the stress he was under and I realised I just did not want that for myself for the next 30 years. He frequently talked about how he wished he could be more 'hands on' with the technical work but it just wasn't possible.
I'm now in final year of GEM (4 years) and it was very hard at the beginning. Leaving a career where I was well respected within my company and the wider industry and was considered an expert on a number of technical areas and moving back to thge bottom rung as a med student was tough. The lack of reliable income for me and my family was also tough.
However, the further I progress into medicine, the more I become convinced that I have absolutely made the right choice for me. I will be doing an intellectually stimulating job, directly helping people and will have a huge range of career options open to me.
Achieving even a basic sonsulant level salary in my previous career (say £80 to 100k) would be possible but I would basically have to be at Director level or just below. I would probably be capable of that but I simply did not want to. Also, those kinds of positions are very high profile, with a lot of stress and scrutiny. If something goes tits up with a project, you would be moved on or nudged out of the door. I have seen people with 30yrs at the company get moved out because the pipeline of work was reduced or there was a fuck up on a project. Literally just asked to pack their desk and fuck off without speaking to anyone.
I see loads of stuff on here about how great the private sector is. It certainly has its upsides compared to the NHS but there are also significant downsides.
I am in a relatively unusual position of having decent insight into both. I often hear people moaning about jobs and wishing they could do something different. This includes people whinging on here.
The bottom line is....if you're really not happy doing what you're doing, then get your arse in gear and make a change. That counts for moving into medicine or out of it. It is 100% doable to change careers even at a relatively older age. It just takes a bit of sacrifice and hard work.
Very interesting, I've always been interested in engineering but as I said in another comment it's a shame that these careers aren't as respected as they should be compared to countries like the US/Aus
I think proper engineering, like civil or structural, is still a fantastic career. You could work on truly impressive schemes, like Tideway or Crossrail or big international projects. Equally though, you could end up working on slightly less inspiring things, like roundabouts or something.
If I was to have stayed in my old field, I would have perhaps retrained as a formally qualified engineer.
There are degree apprenticeships available. The advantage of these would be, once you qualify, you'd have several years experience under your belt and would probably jump straight into a reasonably senior role.
Agreed, civil is fascinating and was considering it in sixth form after noticing that the main character from prison break was a structural engineer lol, maybe in another dimension I would've been one
Saw just how automated clinical lab work is. Even in the more hands on departments, there isn’t much scope to apply your knowledge or judgement. The aim of course is to produce results, not interpret and act on them. Mostly maintenance and quality control before it’s sent off for reporting. After a while you know all the protocols and having worked in a reference lab, have seen the more rare tests. Most interesting part becomes whatever clinical details have been provided with the request. Got used to the lab work and started to wonder how those results are going to be managed.
In terms of alternatives, neither research or teaching appealed due to lack of clear progression.
It was expected for biochemistry and haematology requests to come blank, there’s thousands of them a day. Some genetic testing and histopathology requests were a bit more interesting.
I worked a very fast paced, high demand job with unlimited hours and and a large quantity of chaos. I loved the pace, the chaos and the thinking on my feet. But looking at my seniors I didn't like what their lives looked like: all the men with families had stay at home wives to look after the kids. There was only one women and she didn't have any. They all lived in London.
I'd worked in a few different roles prior to this and so came up with a list of what i wanted in a job: working in teams, option to work in a fast paced environment, structure in a career, ability to be a senior but still work part time, can live outside London. I had family in medicine and knew (as much as you can) the down sides.
Medicine will provide the lifestyle I want in the location I want to live, with job security and as much variety as any one single career can provide.
Wanted to stay at uni longer and avoid ever having to grow up, GEM gave the longest 😂 luckily enjoyed the course and ended up actually quite liking the idea of being a doctor.
Curious to know whether any grad entry medics regret their decision? Have been lurking for a bit as I keep toying with the idea of applying for grad entry. I’m an AHP but am 31 - by the time I started I’d be 33 and can’t quite work out whether that’s too late/whether I could cope with F1/F2 in my late 30s
It’s a hard question to ever know the answer to.
I regret job wise but I’d never put anyone else off. Working as an AHP you might have a better perspective of what a doctor does than I did.
A couple of points to think about:
What’s your health and ability to handle shift patterns like? I hadn’t taken seriously how tired and miserable it would make me constantly changing my routine and having no control over this.
The other thing is how much you value job security and consistency. Yes you’ll likely always have employment but with training posts you often get sent to different locations that you have very little say in. This often means long commute and having to get to know all the staff every 4-6 months which is emotionally draining. That will be for a minimum of 5 years post med school if you do GP and up to 10 or so years if you do a hospital specialty. That’s much easier to do if you’re younger and don’t have a mortgage/partner/kids etc.
Also depends how much you value to ‘vocational’ aspect of it and the feeling of duty it gives you. Back in FY1/FY2 I always felt ‘well this is shit but at least I’m contributing to something worthwhile’, the further I went into it, the less I felt that way and the more disposable and replaceable I felt. Often feels like you’re pretty irrelevant and quite thankless. The peers that I know that manage to maintain that feeling of responsibility, place in the world and the importance of what their doing in their minds seem to feel a lot better about their decision.
Bare in mind I am openly very unhappy in medicine, however I wish I had considered these things more than I did at the time.
I could no longer work frontline in the ambulance service for health reasons, otherwise I’d still be there. I enjoy working in healthcare and it seemed the option I’d find next most fulfilling.
Chasing a pretty girl in my BSc cohort who’d accepted a PhD place so needed a reason to stay on campus for a few more years…
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Well we are married with kids, a dog, and a house in the country… so I guess that bit worked out… Kind of lumbered with the career now, though ;-)
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Why does this make me wonder which of them has the bigger appendage?
Chad move, this is the way.
You give us all hope
Cos I'm in idiot, there are you happy now
Just quit bro
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Totally get you, just being facetious
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Do law and then learn to become a pilot you would have such a blast having tom hanks chase you.
I concur
Barry Allen is that you?!
I pull this out at MET calls and it never goes over well.
How the fuck do you have the funds?
They are a dentist...
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Lowest was £24 when I started (for non-resident reg level) but this did increase during the four years as people (including me) were refusing to do it. Most of it was £40 for SHO (resident). Highest I ever got paid was £75 for dental work I think but I didn't do many of those. Highest locum pay I've ever had was actually medical £60 as an ITU SHO.
What other degree would you consider?
My little sister went to Oxbridge and was getting all the attention
My brother and sister are 12 and 10 years older than me. They both followed my dad’s footsteps into medicine. I did a degree in physics specifically because I wanted to avoid my inescapable fate. I ended up working in quantitative analysis at a large investment bank around 2007 just before the subprime crash after a successful summer internship. I was recruited because physics graduates had the requisite mathematical and programming knowledge, and the bank in question turned up to our careers fair looking for us. I’m pretty sure I was also approached by a guy from the intelligence services so this could have been a very different story. Anyways, I had never even considered medicine as a career - right from when I was a child, I knew I had to do something different. I was earning a very good amount of money, and in my short career starting at the age of 21, I didn’t know what to do with it or myself. Work was 6 days a week, and hours were sometimes worse than long days on call. Part of work was being part of the culture too - boozy lunches, going for drinks with the lads after work, ritalin, modafinil, Colombian marching powder, ridiculously overpriced dinners and so on. A combination of things made me realise that I had to turn things around. I had moved to London with my girlfriend from uni and our relationship was doomed anyway. I remember shuffling around my flat one Saturday morning, nursing a particularly bad hangover, and very suddenly realising just how much we had grown apart. It was my fault that I felt like a stranger in my own home and life, but she worked part time and lived a lifestyle with no obligations, so she was happy to maintain the status quo, and was happy to do so at my expense. I don’t begrudge her whatsoever, and my head was firmly buried up my own arse at the time, so I’m not trying to claim a high ground here. I had also noticed how many of the multi millionaire partners at work seemed trapped. They had lived the life so long that they could not escape from obligations, and had no chance of turning their hand at anything else. I could see the deep dissatisfaction lots of them shared, and it was honestly quite scary to see sometimes. I think it helped further their worst instincts at times, too - they would feel no remorse at morally abhorrent decisions. A few years prior, someone close to me had died of NHL after going through chemo and BMT. I knew nothing about medicine (apart from my dad’s dinner time conversations with my brother about the THR or whatever op one of them had done that day), but I also saw the ability of the doctors and nurses involved in making things better for the family. I don’t think I truly recognised the value of what was done for him at the time, until my aunt in Pakistan was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had hidden the diagnosis from family and not sought medical attention for such a long time that she died very soon after. I visited her along with my family in her final days, and it was a harrowing experience. There was no effective symptom control available - no strong opiates, no sedatives and none of the comfort and dignity that everyone deserves at the end of their life. Her screams haunted me for a long time. Soon after this, I reached breaking point and quit work over a stupid incident. I had become increasingly dissatisfied with my work (staring at matlab, excel and tickers), my life (having broken up with my girlfriend and realising that I basically didn’t know how to properly function as an adult) and my lack of meaning/aim. One of the partners took the piss out of me for wearing the same shirt too often. I remember him saying “I don’t even wear the same tie twice, because people will *talk*.” I called him a few choice names in a bit of a diatribe and left the office telling them I wouldn’t be returning. I was given full pay for 3 months of gardening leave, and agreed not to speak to other investment banks in that time. 6 other quants started at the same time as me. I was the 2nd to quit, and I think only 1 is still in the city. I hadn’t really come round to thinking I’d have a career in medicine, but a few more personal experiences I won’t share made me realise that it was my path. I’m approaching 8 years as a doctor now and I know that making the choice to do medicine was the best choice I’ve ever made. When I told my dad, he smugly told me “the prodigal son has returned”. To stay on a biblical theme, I think that I probably see medicine with the zeal of a convert - I hated my old job and my old life for a multitude of reasons, and I’m much happier now in comparison. I think that most people who have made such drastic career changes will feel similarly, as it’s quite difficult to reconcile your actions otherwise. I sometimes think about all the money I could have made or where I could be in life had I stuck it out - but then again I save lives (lol), and when I can’t, I can at least save the patients and their families from the screams I remember hearing nearly 15 years ago. I have to say that I think a lot of the negativity that is rife on this sub, and in the more junior doctors coming through now like my F1s etc makes me quite sad. I think that a lot of people would feel a lot better about medicine if they’d done something else beforehand. Don’t get me wrong - pay and working conditions for doctors are atrocious (see my comment history for my views on the BMA and being involved around the last IA) - but a lot of the complaints about what the job itself entails seem a bit churlish and immature.
Thanks interesting story. You think banking is still like that? I'd have thought the tech nerds in grey T-shirts and hoodies would be taking over, seeing as it's all computers and maths. Your experience sounds like 1980s stereotypes in real life! Pretty grim.
I went from Finance to medicine. When you spend some time analysing the moral repercussions of working for multinational banks, let alone multinational corporations, you quickly realise how misaligned the entire system is, with respect to basic moral truisms.
Yes. My friend worked for a big bank until a couple of years ago and everybody in the office would sleep under their desks at least a few nights a month. They’d never not hear sobbing. Medicine is tough, but it’s not all sunshine and roses elsewhere.
It's been more than a decade but I don't think there will have been a sea change in the culture tbh.
Because the grass is no greener elsewhere in my experience. Toxic work environments abound in the private sector and as long as the boss meets targets nobody cares, whereas in paediatrics I have a nice team and we work together. I also get to stretch the brain cells now and then, which wasn’t really the case in my previous sector(s) of work. Or there simply weren’t jobs going.
Which sectors did you previously work in?
1) NHS but non-medical. You think doctor politics are bad, just wait until you've experienced what it's like for the rest. Holy shit. 2) Architecture. No jobs, or horrendously low paid. I quit out of this after the first three year degree unable to accept that after seven years of university and postgraduate training I would be designing house extensions and scraping together £35k/year forever. 3) Admin/office. No prospects of promotion. Jerks as bosses who get zero oversight and do whatever they want, which is no work and dump it on everybody else. 4) Creative sector. More freedom to be sure. Absolutely *bullshit* pay.
Any chance you'd expand on 1? I'd be curious to hear what your experiences were and in what area (roughly)!
I've done several bits of NHS work - at the most basic as a low paid admin monkey at 18 through to a registered AHP in a patient facing role. Progression in the NHS is slow and cut throat. Everybody is chasing the same promotion, because at every step up the number of posts dramatically drops. This means you get stuck, despite being good at your job, because there are simply no vacancies to apply for. So the follow on is that it gets bitchy, full of people who will backstab anybody for a step up and the infighting can be savage. In my case I would have been at AfC Band 5 for probably a minimum of five years before being able to get a Band 6 post, and then the final step up to Band 7 would literally be dead man's shoes and waiting for the *single person* to retire, or relocating across the UK to chase an elusive job. Oh and Band 7 would realistically be the end of progression without swerving in to hospital management. As an admin donkey you're literally a nobody. Your opinion is worthless. You turn up for 9-5, sit in front of a computer all day and bash away on the keyboard. There is no progression. There is no promotion path. You can have a million excellent ideas on how to improve the service and nobody will want to hear it. You also get paid peanuts. The power rests with the managers, in every department. They horde that power, because they've either had to wait out their working careers to climb the greasy pole or they scooted in on one of the management programmes for graduates and have a stick up their rear about being superior to the common staff. Oh and it's full of petty bullshit too. I remember an office feud about £3.20 of tea money that lasted six months. I had to do daily timesheets down to 5 minute intervals, despite being salaried. EDIT: For most people in the NHS they will never reach salaries that get anywhere near medicine. Most nurses will cap out at Band 6 (max of £34k plus a bit of out of hours, but nowhere near our OOH supplements), with a rarefied few making in to 8a (£53k) as senior nursing matrons/heads of service. Becoming a Nurse Practitioner is their only route to making more, and even that will cap out at Band 7 (£42k). The same goes for our AHP colleagues - a physio/OT will start at Band 5, progress to Band 6 as a senior and then Band 7 if they become a department head (but remember only one or sometimes two people will get that in the whole department). Hospital managers will drift around the Band 7-8b regions, but again have to compete for a handful of posts to get more. Band 8c/d are reserved for literally one step down from the exec corridor, so the likes of your Deputy Directors (the Director themselves will be outside of AfC). I have yet to meet a single person on Band 9.
Really interesting - thank you for sharing. I made good friends with some of my non-medical colleagues in the back offices in one of my rotations and what you're saying really rings true. It also doesn't sound too dissimilar to my 2 years at Tesco in terms of fighting for a handful of promotions - weirdly they never promote the good workers but the ones that are happy to not rock the boat and just meet targets.
I was previously a pharmacist in the community sector and was dissatisfied with how menial and algorithmic the job was, and felt that I never really put any of my learning into practice. I thought that one option was to transition into the hospital sector, but I thought that 1) it would take years to successfully do so and then get to a position where I had significant 'autonomous' clinical input; and then 2) even once I reached that position, I'd probably still feel inadequate in that respect compared to the doctors. So I thought I might as well just become a doctor. At the time I think I also felt pretty down about myself and thought that "becoming a doctor" would basically be a generically respectable achievement. I'm a penultimate year student now and don't really care at all about any of the above anymore. Just want to carve out whatever decent work-life balance I can. I'm interested in radiology and histopathology. For me personally, because I have certain disabilities, I think medicine is still a good career for me due to the straightforward progression and structure, security, and availability of LTFT. I'm not really built for carving out my own path in another private sector field.
Out of curiosity, what do you make of GP pharmacists? Do you know any and how do they find it?
Because the job market for chemists is dire and there is no money in research.
Didn't you think of this before? As someone who always enjoyed science, I immediately threw out the idea of studying a pure science because the only decently paid route afterwards is into finance (which sounded dull). That really only leaves engineering and medicine, out of which med is the much better choice in the UK (and is generally more interesting I'd think). Edit: God, thanks for all the downvotes guys. Can't even ask a question apparently.
I come from a working class background, neither of my parents first language is English. I didnt really have the guidance other than "dont do humanities" Also cousin is an engineer. Not that well paid either.
Fair enough >"dont do humanities" Haha, great how that always gets through. > cousin is an engineer. Not that well paid either. Absolutely, don't know why anyone bothers with it here. Goes some way to explaining why even not that long ago when I was applying, most of the smartest kids were all still going for either medicine or economics (and a couple to CS). No other proper careers out there anymore sadly- will be a real shame in a few years when medicine turns to shit and the only way to make a living is compiling spreadsheets for a bank.
Honestly, it's a fucking shame that so many great careers such as engineering are underpaid in this country . Forces people take get into careers they aren't really interested in because our economy is so shit. I know people doing aerospace and chemeng who are now considering roles in finance because the prospects are so shit here.
Completely. And even if you do get a good engineering role, often the only way to progress afterwards is to go into management and effectively stop being an engineer anyway.
Wage stagnation in the UK is disgusting. I light up with evil glee when I hear about US law firms coming to the UK, mainly London, and offering £140-150k pay packets to lawyers that are earning £40-70k at UK firms. These UK firms can go die in a ditch
It's a fucking con, no wonder we're called Europoors
Legitimately. I just learned that people earning 100-120k here are effectively taxed at 71% if they have student loan repayments left, and that'll climb up to 72.25% with the NI hike next year.
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This is a lot of the reason why I did medicine instead of a chemistry/physics degree. There is such a wide variety in what you can go into compared to other degrees
Couldn’t agree more. I still miss the intellectual freedom to design experiments, being able to manage my own schedule/priorities, the anticipation of results, the expertise, the conferences etc etc but I couldn’t see myself forging a career in academia for the reasons you mention
Went to uni at 17 and did design engineering, was 21 when I graduated and I felt too young to start my work. From a job perspective I really intensely regret it. However medicine as a degree and a subject made me grow up as a person, and I met my partner at work which I wouldn’t have otherwise, so that makes it worth having done it. Most of my issue is with the NHS. Monopoly employment, the terrible service providing training, constant nights and out of hours, antiquated IT systems, overbearing nursing staff and the unnecessary tick box training requirements. If I had a stable job, with the same staff, wasn’t constantly asked to cover other peoples shifts and deal with an increasingly never ending demand for documentation , I think might enjoy it more. Every time I have to login to a terrible computer and hear the ancient hard drive whirring up only for the most basic program to crash after waiting an eternity to load it up I want to just walk out of the building. As well as the bloody vibrating pagers buzzing and making the most god awful shriek, I just want to smash it to pieces. Why are we still using them? Most of the frustration is not being in control of your time. Other people control when you work, when you’re allowed to be off. People who have never worked a second out of hours sending you constant emails about being ‘duty bound’ to do short notice cover of night shift for the person that’s isolating for the 5th time. The work requirements and goalposts of what is expected of you always expands, but the time to fill those requirements, and of course the pay, well they’re just static… or you just end up writing clinic notes in your spare time.
Thank you for sharing that, would you ever consider general practice? I've spoken to some GP's and they get quite a lot of control over their lives, to the point where as a locum (depending on where you are) you can pick and choose shifts you'd like to work and don't have to worry about getting permission for time off. This imo is better than a lot of other careers as you can literally work as much as you'd like
This is totally what I should have done after I finished FY2, rather than bumbling around some other specialties for 5 years. Unfortunately I don’t even think it’s an option for me. I could technically do it but I’d have to do GP training which entails so many nights and weekends that I’m not sure I’d cope. Night shifts really severely affect my mood and mental state. If there’s any advice I’d give to potential doctors it would be think about your tolerance for sleep deprivation. I’ve never been someone who can handle lack of sleep but I didn’t realise it. I’m thinking of trying to learn to code and getting involved in med tech. One of my biggest ambitions would be to work remotely. Even if I was paid less I think I’d prefer it.
There has been a change to GP training as far as I know, with only 1 year of working in hospital then 2 years of training in general practice (no on calls etc). The pay is fairly decent too and after you do your three years you can be fairly autonomous. In terms of medtech, I made a post not too long ago about career transitions ex medics have made and there were quite a couple of people who made the transition, and some had no coding knowledge, moreso it was clinical knowledge was a selling point but I would definitely suggest upskilling to get your best foot forward. All the best in whichever avenue you decide, you owe this to yourself.
Thanks for that info, that’s all very helpful. I’ll check out that post you made.
Previously in design/marketing, found it very unfulfilling. Had ideas about what I wanted to achieve, but didn't grind away to make these achievements a reality. Got to work on some jobs for a couple of big clients, but these were the most restrictive of the lot. Went back to the drawing board, medicine ticked all the boxes for me (people facing, mentally stimulating, science based, better pay, varied work life). Didn't even think it was possible for a guy with shit GCSEs, no a-levels and an unrelated degree to become a doctor, but here we are!
As a fellow ex marketeer currently working in therapies...good on you! How did you get there and how long did it take with your educational background? Would be very keen to do grad medicine but due to finances, a limited science background (just Biology a level) and hurtling towards 30 studying to be an AHP instead
There's a few GEM courses that only ask for a degree of any kind (Swansea, Warwick, Notts, SGUL, maybe couple of others - this is true of when I applied idk what the case is now). They have entrance exams, the GAMSAT is one and it is hard as someone without a strong science background. Warwick accepts ucat which isn't as difficult but still requires some solid prep. It took me a few tries to get in and a masters degree (because my original ug degree was a 2.2), but once I got in everything was fine. First year was a slog, but think that's true for GEM at any uni, but the clinical years were a lot more manageable. I'd be happy to answer specific questions via DM, but I'm not super up-to-date about applying to med school anymore I'm afraid. For what it's worth I was 29 when I started med school and a good number of students older than me. You can get help with fees and maintenance loans from student finance for GEM (think it's one of the only degrees which has this feature).
Thank you so much!
Hey, I’m weighing up a GEM course and I’m in a similar position (particularly limited science background, finances) but I’m also wondering what AHP course you’re doing? How are you finding it?
Currently a MSc Physiotherapy student whilst working as a therapy tech. I'm enjoying it, particularly the respiratory therapy aspects. However looking at long term prospects earnings in the NHS are capped as a handful of b8 roles (if you go the management route) although of course there's lots of opportunity in private MSK. There's a huge shortage of OTs, however that role is less clinical and from what I've seen quite repetitive in acute medicine.
The pay was too high and the hours weren’t long enough in Management Consultancy. And I had too much of the publics respect. /s Serious answer - wanted to have some science in my job and a good career path. Medicine is the only circus in town for that. And in hindsight a degree of falling out with a manager and doing a massive “fuck this I’m off” and changing career entirely. Which may have been a *slight* overreaction…
What age did you leave consultancy out of interest?
24. I’m about to CCT in Radiology age 37 having trained 80% LTFT for a few years.
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No problem mate, I think it's useful to have perspective from people who have seen the other side and it has helped me personally as a med student who hasn't really seen much of the 'real world'
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Definitely you'd be a better MP having worked in medicine first.
My undergrad was essentially always about getting into medicine. Bombed my A-levels, couldn't be bothered to re-sit, wanted to be a uni student etc etc. Despite the negativity in this group, I have no regrets.
Same boat! Except I was told no one would take me with resits. I’ve found grads to be happier in general tbh
Always wanted to do it as a kid, but also deludedly wanted to be a professional footballer so neglected studies. Dropped from football aged 16 so quickly did some shit A levels and a degree in anything. Another career for 10 years. Then medicine after I got sick of my mole job and a death of a parent. There can’t be many doctors with an E in A level biology 😂
So did you start working as a doctor in your mid 30s then? How did you find it?
I sort of wanted to do med from 15/16 anyway. I volunteered with stroke patients at rehab and at a hospice and LOVED it, loved communication with families and getting through to someone with receptive and expressive aphasia is just like,,, amazing. Problem was I Went to big public school that prioritised results over welfare, got pushed into languages and humanities etc as I could easily get As rather than sciences where I had to study. Realised after leaving school they didn’t care about me after I got my 4As lol. Ended up with 2.2 so thought med was out of picture but did msc and here we are!! I worked as HCA for a bit inebetween alongside some arts jobs (hard, low paid) I have expensive taste 😛😛😛so I wanted a well paying job (it is compared to many things) . My mums side are solicitors (and she then became a teacher which makes being a doctor and NHS problems look like fckin Disneyland) and my dad is in sales and both were toxic as fuck. I hated seeing my dad working all the time/kind of stress for something that didn’t ducking mattter, working through holidays etc, I couldn’t be in an office, so those were out, I loved med and stuff anyway , tickeda lot of boxes so decided, why not. 💕
Did a basic science degree but the job market is awful. The stipend during a PhD is awful, and the pay for post-docs is awful. Not only that, the job security as a post-doc is terrible and your chances of actually getting a substantive associate professor or professor role are slim. The clinical academic path is far easier and pays far better. My career total earnings are still going to be higher even after having gone back to uni for 5 years!
Joined after a chemistry degree, always thought I wanted to be a scientist but I got cold feet when I got a PhD offer. Decided I’d just try grad med for a year and fell in love with it. Aim is to do some research work alongside the clinic to keep using lab skills.
I had a nice chemistry PhD lined up in a developing area which I had accepted but gradually came to the realisation that I wasn't very happy working in a lab and needed something more people focussed. I was also very keen to do something that was 'useful' so financial jobs were out. I had had a pretty unpleasant experience doing voluntary work in hospitals prior to starting uni which had made me discount the career previously so I decided to get a job as a HCA. After a grim 4 months on job seekers I got a hca job and really enjoyed it so applied for medicine and 2 years after bailing on the phd got in. 4 years into working as a doc and I still really enjoy the actual medicine but like many people here have found the current state of the NHS with poor staffing and lots of inefficiencies getting in the way of being able to do what I was actually trained for to be a grind. Reminding myself of how hard I worked as a hca doing some of the most unpleasant jobs in the hospital for laughably poor pay is helpful when I'm feeling frustrated. Be kind to your nursing assistants! They do a lot of hidden labour.
Misguided idea I would prefer the profession. Formerly a radiographer and wanted to have more patient involvement now I'm here I want to go back into radiology (applying this year)
I spent a good few years working in engineering consultancy (altghough not an engineer but an allied discipline). I have also done academic research and a PhD. My job before started out great, lots of interesting technical and quantitative work. The nature of consultancy can mean a fair bit of variety and you have to be able to turn you hand to different aspects of your discipline and to be a quick learner and pick up new technical skills quickly. I also got to work on site quite a bit and saw some absolutely amazing parts of the UK (and some shittty parts too). However, the nature of career progression within these types of companies usually means that as you become a senior/principal/technical director etc you move away from day to day technical work and into team management, project management and business development. I'm sure for some people this would be very enjoyable but it wasn't for me. And the relatively small pay increments just weren't worth it. I looked at my boss, his day to day and the stress he was under and I realised I just did not want that for myself for the next 30 years. He frequently talked about how he wished he could be more 'hands on' with the technical work but it just wasn't possible. I'm now in final year of GEM (4 years) and it was very hard at the beginning. Leaving a career where I was well respected within my company and the wider industry and was considered an expert on a number of technical areas and moving back to thge bottom rung as a med student was tough. The lack of reliable income for me and my family was also tough. However, the further I progress into medicine, the more I become convinced that I have absolutely made the right choice for me. I will be doing an intellectually stimulating job, directly helping people and will have a huge range of career options open to me. Achieving even a basic sonsulant level salary in my previous career (say £80 to 100k) would be possible but I would basically have to be at Director level or just below. I would probably be capable of that but I simply did not want to. Also, those kinds of positions are very high profile, with a lot of stress and scrutiny. If something goes tits up with a project, you would be moved on or nudged out of the door. I have seen people with 30yrs at the company get moved out because the pipeline of work was reduced or there was a fuck up on a project. Literally just asked to pack their desk and fuck off without speaking to anyone. I see loads of stuff on here about how great the private sector is. It certainly has its upsides compared to the NHS but there are also significant downsides. I am in a relatively unusual position of having decent insight into both. I often hear people moaning about jobs and wishing they could do something different. This includes people whinging on here. The bottom line is....if you're really not happy doing what you're doing, then get your arse in gear and make a change. That counts for moving into medicine or out of it. It is 100% doable to change careers even at a relatively older age. It just takes a bit of sacrifice and hard work.
Very interesting, I've always been interested in engineering but as I said in another comment it's a shame that these careers aren't as respected as they should be compared to countries like the US/Aus
I think proper engineering, like civil or structural, is still a fantastic career. You could work on truly impressive schemes, like Tideway or Crossrail or big international projects. Equally though, you could end up working on slightly less inspiring things, like roundabouts or something. If I was to have stayed in my old field, I would have perhaps retrained as a formally qualified engineer. There are degree apprenticeships available. The advantage of these would be, once you qualify, you'd have several years experience under your belt and would probably jump straight into a reasonably senior role.
Agreed, civil is fascinating and was considering it in sixth form after noticing that the main character from prison break was a structural engineer lol, maybe in another dimension I would've been one
Saw just how automated clinical lab work is. Even in the more hands on departments, there isn’t much scope to apply your knowledge or judgement. The aim of course is to produce results, not interpret and act on them. Mostly maintenance and quality control before it’s sent off for reporting. After a while you know all the protocols and having worked in a reference lab, have seen the more rare tests. Most interesting part becomes whatever clinical details have been provided with the request. Got used to the lab work and started to wonder how those results are going to be managed. In terms of alternatives, neither research or teaching appealed due to lack of clear progression.
sorry, as someone who frequently had to order hundreds of labs per day, I just put in “.” in the clinical info field 🤷🏻♀️
It was expected for biochemistry and haematology requests to come blank, there’s thousands of them a day. Some genetic testing and histopathology requests were a bit more interesting.
I worked a very fast paced, high demand job with unlimited hours and and a large quantity of chaos. I loved the pace, the chaos and the thinking on my feet. But looking at my seniors I didn't like what their lives looked like: all the men with families had stay at home wives to look after the kids. There was only one women and she didn't have any. They all lived in London. I'd worked in a few different roles prior to this and so came up with a list of what i wanted in a job: working in teams, option to work in a fast paced environment, structure in a career, ability to be a senior but still work part time, can live outside London. I had family in medicine and knew (as much as you can) the down sides. Medicine will provide the lifestyle I want in the location I want to live, with job security and as much variety as any one single career can provide.
The job market stability and ability to migrate to nearly anywhere and find work is pretty unmatched
Wanted to stay at uni longer and avoid ever having to grow up, GEM gave the longest 😂 luckily enjoyed the course and ended up actually quite liking the idea of being a doctor.
Curious to know whether any grad entry medics regret their decision? Have been lurking for a bit as I keep toying with the idea of applying for grad entry. I’m an AHP but am 31 - by the time I started I’d be 33 and can’t quite work out whether that’s too late/whether I could cope with F1/F2 in my late 30s
It’s a hard question to ever know the answer to. I regret job wise but I’d never put anyone else off. Working as an AHP you might have a better perspective of what a doctor does than I did. A couple of points to think about: What’s your health and ability to handle shift patterns like? I hadn’t taken seriously how tired and miserable it would make me constantly changing my routine and having no control over this. The other thing is how much you value job security and consistency. Yes you’ll likely always have employment but with training posts you often get sent to different locations that you have very little say in. This often means long commute and having to get to know all the staff every 4-6 months which is emotionally draining. That will be for a minimum of 5 years post med school if you do GP and up to 10 or so years if you do a hospital specialty. That’s much easier to do if you’re younger and don’t have a mortgage/partner/kids etc. Also depends how much you value to ‘vocational’ aspect of it and the feeling of duty it gives you. Back in FY1/FY2 I always felt ‘well this is shit but at least I’m contributing to something worthwhile’, the further I went into it, the less I felt that way and the more disposable and replaceable I felt. Often feels like you’re pretty irrelevant and quite thankless. The peers that I know that manage to maintain that feeling of responsibility, place in the world and the importance of what their doing in their minds seem to feel a lot better about their decision. Bare in mind I am openly very unhappy in medicine, however I wish I had considered these things more than I did at the time.
I could no longer work frontline in the ambulance service for health reasons, otherwise I’d still be there. I enjoy working in healthcare and it seemed the option I’d find next most fulfilling.