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Posts by Betty Brown
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Gold: Past, Present, and Future
in Other Investment Types ·
We're almost at the top of the triangle.
The tech guys say a triangle like this just explodes upward (unless it doesn't...)
The tech guys say a triangle like this just explodes upward (unless it doesn't...)
I’ll try not to micromanage my kids' career paths, but I’m definitely going to push them away from medicine. If they insist on healthcare, maybe dentistry. It's mostly just based on what I've seen within my own family.
I really wouldn't want my kids to deal with all this bullshit.
First off, if you actually commit to the coursework—which is basically mandatory—those six years pretty much swallow your entire life whole.
Then there's the massive frustration of watching people who barely showed up to class, or somehow managed to scrape by through sheer luck, suddenly land the best residencies.
Even if you do score a residency, you're basically an indentured servant for the next few years until you finish, working exhausting on-call shifts until you're physically spent. So, once again, you have zero life; your family gets pushed to the side, which is especially brutal for women.
Once residency ends, the exploitation just keeps going, usually seasoned by those same colleagues who, by some miracle, always manage to squeeze themselves into every conference or force their way onto research papers they didn't even touch. And god forbid, they're always finding ways to get involved in side projects that bring in extra cash.
It takes maybe ten years of specialized training before things settle down enough to actually have a normal work schedule. But by then, it's usually too late because you've witnessed way too much nonsense. And if you haven't experienced a disaster personally—though the odds are high—you'll see it happen. For example: you spend all day on the ward, then switch to clinic duty where patients keep rolling in all night, and at 4 AM, a kid comes in with a fever. You think it looks minor, so you send them home. Then the kid dies in the morning. It isn't just about having to explain things to a parent; it's the fact that you carry that weight forever: "If I had just admitted them, that child would be alive today." You can Google it all you want, but the consequences stay with you. And it's not just your own mistakes; it's seeing the incompetence of those aforementioned colleagues you're stuck on the ward with.
And I don't even need to mention what happens to your family life during all those years.
That kind of psychological pressure and grind simply isn't worth the paycheck, no matter how many times over they multiply the money doctors make now. I went through a pretty tough degree myself and I work hard, but human lives aren't riding on my decisions, and I actually make more money.
So, I'm not surprised when doctors, once their Hippocratic idealism cools off and they look around, start feeling cheated compared to everyone else and begin looking for "other ways" to make a living.
I honestly think the only people who should be practicing medicine are monks without families—people who have renounced worldly comforts, have a spiritual calling for it, and can actually handle the burden.
I really wouldn't want my kids to deal with all this bullshit.
First off, if you actually commit to the coursework—which is basically mandatory—those six years pretty much swallow your entire life whole.
Then there's the massive frustration of watching people who barely showed up to class, or somehow managed to scrape by through sheer luck, suddenly land the best residencies.
Even if you do score a residency, you're basically an indentured servant for the next few years until you finish, working exhausting on-call shifts until you're physically spent. So, once again, you have zero life; your family gets pushed to the side, which is especially brutal for women.
Once residency ends, the exploitation just keeps going, usually seasoned by those same colleagues who, by some miracle, always manage to squeeze themselves into every conference or force their way onto research papers they didn't even touch. And god forbid, they're always finding ways to get involved in side projects that bring in extra cash.
It takes maybe ten years of specialized training before things settle down enough to actually have a normal work schedule. But by then, it's usually too late because you've witnessed way too much nonsense. And if you haven't experienced a disaster personally—though the odds are high—you'll see it happen. For example: you spend all day on the ward, then switch to clinic duty where patients keep rolling in all night, and at 4 AM, a kid comes in with a fever. You think it looks minor, so you send them home. Then the kid dies in the morning. It isn't just about having to explain things to a parent; it's the fact that you carry that weight forever: "If I had just admitted them, that child would be alive today." You can Google it all you want, but the consequences stay with you. And it's not just your own mistakes; it's seeing the incompetence of those aforementioned colleagues you're stuck on the ward with.
And I don't even need to mention what happens to your family life during all those years.
That kind of psychological pressure and grind simply isn't worth the paycheck, no matter how many times over they multiply the money doctors make now. I went through a pretty tough degree myself and I work hard, but human lives aren't riding on my decisions, and I actually make more money.
So, I'm not surprised when doctors, once their Hippocratic idealism cools off and they look around, start feeling cheated compared to everyone else and begin looking for "other ways" to make a living.
I honestly think the only people who should be practicing medicine are monks without families—people who have renounced worldly comforts, have a spiritual calling for it, and can actually handle the burden.
Will things get better?
in Economy ·
"Pick a bank; even The New York Times isn't bad when it comes to money..."
The New York Times...... Legend, are you kidding me!!??
I happened to stumble upon a job opening at The New York Times, looking for an engineer with experience—the highest technical role, but not a manager!! According to them, you only become that kind of person after 20 (twenty!!!) years of experience,....... and you know how little they were offering.....$2500.... !!!
They don't have any loyal people left because everyone moved on to management roles (and honestly, who would stay for that kind of pay!!!), which I guess is a massive leap forward for The New York Times regarding working conditions. To make matters worse, it’s one of those rare places in the USA where you can actually gain real experience outside of somewhere like The New York Times.
So, they probably need someone who learned the ropes abroad, but I doubt they'll find anyone willing to work for $2500.
They likely just hired someone who agreed to the low pay, regardless of whether they actually know what they're doing; I suppose they can afford to do that until actual competition shows up.
I remember there was a thread once about how The New York Times' services are overpriced. Of course they are; everyone who was actually skilled and capable became a manager, leaving very few people to do the actual work (probably just the incompetent ones left through some sort of natural selection), so how can you expect efficiency or reasonable prices from a system like that??!! .... maybe only when they're desperate!! And then they'll probably realize it's better to have a few people who actually know how to work and give them great conditions, rather than twice as many people who are just waiting to become some manager.
I drifted off-topic a bit, but I just mean that the atmosphere for returning isn't the same in every industry. I guess for a finance person, there isn't much difference between working abroad or at a foreign bank here in the USA, but for those of us in tech, unfortunately, it's still not comparable.
In the example above, I would have been willing to take nearly 50% of what I make now where I am, especially since that role felt tailor-made for me; I work with exactly those kinds of people, just on the other side of the table, and without being modest, I know my stuff. So, I guess I would have been productive from day one.
But it's still that old social system: according to the regulations, that position has a set salary, and that's it—there's no room for negotiation.
The New York Times...... Legend, are you kidding me!!??
I happened to stumble upon a job opening at The New York Times, looking for an engineer with experience—the highest technical role, but not a manager!! According to them, you only become that kind of person after 20 (twenty!!!) years of experience,....... and you know how little they were offering.....$2500.... !!!
They don't have any loyal people left because everyone moved on to management roles (and honestly, who would stay for that kind of pay!!!), which I guess is a massive leap forward for The New York Times regarding working conditions. To make matters worse, it’s one of those rare places in the USA where you can actually gain real experience outside of somewhere like The New York Times.
So, they probably need someone who learned the ropes abroad, but I doubt they'll find anyone willing to work for $2500.
They likely just hired someone who agreed to the low pay, regardless of whether they actually know what they're doing; I suppose they can afford to do that until actual competition shows up.
I remember there was a thread once about how The New York Times' services are overpriced. Of course they are; everyone who was actually skilled and capable became a manager, leaving very few people to do the actual work (probably just the incompetent ones left through some sort of natural selection), so how can you expect efficiency or reasonable prices from a system like that??!! .... maybe only when they're desperate!! And then they'll probably realize it's better to have a few people who actually know how to work and give them great conditions, rather than twice as many people who are just waiting to become some manager.
I drifted off-topic a bit, but I just mean that the atmosphere for returning isn't the same in every industry. I guess for a finance person, there isn't much difference between working abroad or at a foreign bank here in the USA, but for those of us in tech, unfortunately, it's still not comparable.
In the example above, I would have been willing to take nearly 50% of what I make now where I am, especially since that role felt tailor-made for me; I work with exactly those kinds of people, just on the other side of the table, and without being modest, I know my stuff. So, I guess I would have been productive from day one.
But it's still that old social system: according to the regulations, that position has a set salary, and that's it—there's no room for negotiation.