3 ms·

You have described a very romanticized and inaccurate picture of both medicine and tech startups. I come from a family of doctors and most doctors are not direc

You have described a very romanticized and inaccurate picture of both medicine and tech startups. I come from a family of doctors and most doctors are not directly saving lives on a daily basis. Likewise, the work in a startup can be incredibly mundane. I could paint an equally distorted portrait of both fields: Do you want to be stuck at an HMO, explaining to crabby hypochondriacs that you can't just give them a script for oxycontin based on website printout they are waving in your face? Or would you rather stay up until 4 am every night restarting the server while your business partner tweets about doing shots next to Arrington at 111 Minna? Anyway, that was mainly an exercise in creative writing. The only real advice I have is that if you have any inclination to do work in a medical related field, it is a good idea to have an MD. I've worked on biomedical software projects and was always just a paid lackey. I knew a kid in boston in medical school who ran a successful web-based startup part-time while he was in medical school. He was a "kid" too, I believe he was 18 or 19 years old. Thanks for bringing this up, I should see where that guy is now.

kyro 19y ago
I am fully aware that both fields have their dry/monotonous/painstaking moments. Hard work and consistency is pretty much required to succeed in all fields. I was just mainly looking at the idea of fulfillment, and the fact that you can give up a decade for one type, or jump right into real life as a younger individual in pursuit of a different type.
- menloparkbum 19y ago
  It depends on what your actual options are. If you have a great startup plan that you are putting on hold, maybe it is worth avoiding med school. If you plan on being an entrepreneur anyway, you don't have to give up a decade, you just give up 3-4 years - you don't have to do a residency.

kyro 19y ago

I am fully aware that both fields have their dry/monotonous/painstaking moments. Hard work and consistency is pretty much required to succeed in all fields. I was just mainly looking at the idea of fulfillment, and the fact that you can give up a decade for one type, or jump right into real life as a younger individual in pursuit of a different type.

menloparkbum 19y ago
It depends on what your actual options are. If you have a great startup plan that you are putting on hold, maybe it is worth avoiding med school. If you plan on being an entrepreneur anyway, you don't have to give up a decade, you just give up 3-4 years - you don't have to do a residency.