16 ms·

Former CEO of RadioShack now an ER doctor on frontlines of Covid-19 fight

604 points by wallflower 7y ago

mackman 7y ago
Is few years back I legit wanted to buy an AM/FM radio. I had A tiny one I loved to listen to while running that broke. I went into radio shack and asked if they, you know, sold radios. They did not. I was crestfallen.
galacticaactual 7y ago
I've always dreamed of leaving behind Silicon Valley and pursuing emergency medicine. I need to stay the course for a while to ensure my college approaching kids are taken care of but stories like this are inspiring reminders that age doesn't have to be a factor when I finally decide to make the move.
- toomuchtodo 7y ago
  We should start a support group. Seems like there are lots of us who want to leave tech for something that matters.
  - alexbanks 7y ago
    I want to use tech for something that matters, which feels vaguely related.
  - keenmaster 7y ago
    >something that matters The tech industry saved many lives during this pandemic. Compliance with social distancing standards would be way lower if people had nothing to do at home but watch TV. Even social media is showing its bright side. People are using it in more positive ways, connecting with each other and largely sharing quality information regarding Coronavirus. Life would have come to a halt without modern internet technology, almost warranting a calendar pause until the pandemic passes. That being said, there's a lot of variability in the social value of tech industry jobs. At risk of being pedantic - you can net society more social good if you transition to a higher social value job within the same industry. It takes many years to become a doctor, and many people compete for that career so you wouldn't expand the supply of medical labor. Moreover, medical industry cronyism plays a part in bankrupting America with little to show for it. You should do what you want ultimately. I've just seen some people self-flagellate when they're actually doing really good things for society.
    - gnramires 7y ago
      Agreed. I think there's plenty of space to make a difference in tech. I don't think it's automatic in any way (i.e. making a positive social impact) -- I think the choices of every CEO and every worker matter. Facebook and/or Google could turn the industry in completely different directions (e.g. more centered in providing culture, growth and genuine interaction) if there was the will. The extent to which they're glorified ad-machines is a choice. And outside of that (i.e. big tech) there's plenty to invent and contribute in countless ways. Medical equipment, niche technology products, innovative and useful consumer technologies, the warriors we don't hear about improving industrial processes and everyday stuff, etc. I have younger friends looking to enter the game industry. I tell them: make sure you don't land somewhere that makes you start hating what you loved just so you can tell yourself you make games (having addiction-machine mobile games in mind). Better work anywhere else and wait for the opportunity to do it right, I believe. Selling your soul is always a choice... and it's not an easily replaceable good.
  - aggie 7y ago
    There are tech companies that only think they're doing good. But there are plenty that are doing good, and they would love your help. By all means pursue things elsewhere, but not because you think there are no opportunities in tech.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
    - toomuchtodo 7y ago
      The opportunities in tech do not provide enough leverage for meaningful progress IMHO. Personally, I believe I can do far more good writing and pushing public policy than any amount of code. That is "operating at scale".
      - ska 7y ago
        Working on public policy is a worthwhile (and uphill) fight for sure. But it lacks imagination to suggest that impact at scale isn't possible in tech (examples: robust low cost medtech for non G7 economies, same for finance in those markets, support systems for large scale NGO efforts, access to justice efforts, etc. etc.). Clearly these opportunities exist, but they may be under resourced relative to lucrative tech options.
        toomuchtodo 7y ago
        I don't want to take this thread off topic. With that said, here is my example: Medicare For All would save us $450 billion, and avoid 68k preventable deaths, every single year. I find it a stretch to suggest that ambitious goals such as that "lack imagination". Such impact is simply not obtainable with tech or NGOs alone. Even Bill Gates has needed roughly $50 billion to drive forward his foundation's humanitarian efforts (but admittedly, is very efficient, with estimates of having saved ~122 million lives through their work).
        ska 7y ago
        I don't think this is a counterexample, and the imagination lacked wasn't in the scope of what can be done in policy work, but in the scope of what can be done in tech. To stay with your examples, some of the Gate's foundation efforts have largely been tech efforts, some haven't. Some of the things I mentioned off-the-top have potential to reach 10s to 100s of millions of people. MFA is a big $ number partially because the US healthcare system is expensive and inefficient, so that draws focus on $ saved ... other efforts may focus on lives impacted at much lower $ impacts. Most public policy work isn't as big as MFA either. I'm not saying policy work isn't important or impactful. I'm rejecting the idea that you (generic 'you') can't have similar effect in technology to what you might be able to achieve in policy; especially the idea that this is so clearly true that the "right" thing to do is quit technology to go into policy. Even assuming you can be as effective in policy work as you are in tech work, which isn't a given.
  - bluGill 7y ago
    It doesn't matter what you do, there will be days you wish you had a different job. How do you think a doctor feels when he sees some fat patient going into the donut shop (or all you can eat buffet) after he told them to go on a diet and lose weight. (is this worse than the person who dies of bad genes caused heart attack despite talking their medications, exercising and eating well - another thing doctors see)
    - nradov 7y ago
      While my grandfather was in the hospital years ago, the patient in the room next door was recovering from a quadruple heart bypass. He didn't like the hospital food so his family brought him cheeseburgers from the fast food restaurant down the street.
      - Scoundreller 7y ago
        the hospital probably was giving him a low-fat, low-salt, maybe even low-calorie diet especially for his situation.
  - schnevets 7y ago
    There is burnout across medicine and various other verticals that Technologists hope to retire into. I do think there needs to be a support network to help modern knowledge workers recognize the dignity and value of their labor. Some of the possible exercises could include practicing empathy during the work day, learning to explore where their labor helps the world, and recognizing the things about the systems around us that we cannot change.
    - throw_away2 7y ago
      So, what you're saying is if we can teach burnt-out medics to code…
  - Cerium 7y ago
    You don't have to leave tech entirely. I very much feel that the medical devices I write software for matter.
    - nogabebop23 7y ago
      absolutely. Or even less exotic: they probably won't make a (sexy) TV show about IT in a hospital but if you've ever been to one there are massive opportunities to make a huge, meaningful change
  - jjeaff 7y ago
    Just learn to code... Oh wait.
  - ck425 7y ago
    There's scope within tech. I recently moved to the NHS as a software engineer and it's amazing the amount of low hanging fruit there is. The main issues are politics and the fragmentation of existing tech but if you're an engineer with good people skills and the ability to deal with lots of system integrations you can have a lot of meaningful impact.
- beamatronic 7y ago
  There used to be a Silicon Valley CEO who was also a San Jose police officer in his spare time, but I don't recall his name.
  - mx24 7y ago
    He must really enjoy being in a position of authority.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - jansan 7y ago
    This seems to happen more often: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/kwo/spr07/alumni/mckim.htm https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/kwo/spr07/alumni/mckim.... https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/ceo-quietly-sells-company-focuses-on-being-a-police-officer-refuses-to-collect-a-salary/ https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/ceo-quietly-sells-compan...
- hangonhn 7y ago
  I've entertained very similar ideas myself. It's one of those things I often revisit -- wondering if I had made the right career choice. I love being an engineer and have been very lucky in being financially rewarded for doing something that I love. But whenever a startup I'm at fails or I feel my career is at a standstill, the things that's given me joy during those times are the times I've spent helping others outside of my career. I think it's because acts of kindness and generosity are meaningful in and of themselves whereas a career in engineering might make sense in the end or maybe not. A good friend of mine actually had a great career in software but decided that to become a nurse in the time he has left on earth. He and his wife both decided to go to nursing school and were definitely the oldest students. They are both now nurses and seem very happy.
- arkades 7y ago
  As someone who second-careered into medicine: It's a ten-year commitment, roughly, to become a practicing ER doc. And in today's industry, you'll spend the overwhelming majority of your time doing documentation on shit that should've been seen by a PCP, not an emergency department. And definitely not treating emergencies. You'll be lucky if you see one or two a day in a major ED; in smaller ED's, even one a week is optimistic. If you want to jump in with eyes wide open, more power to you. Most days, I can't tell you whether I regret my move or not.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    This fellow went to a 3 year med school that doesn’t care too much about your prerequisites as long as you have a degree. It’s 3 because they don’t really do summers off. Although he did a full 5yr EM residency, in Canada you can work EM with a 2 year FP residency and another year as an FP specializing in EM. Sooo, 10 at the most, but could be done in 6.
    - SkyPuncher 7y ago
      It's still 3 years of zero pay and $40k+ in tuition and 3+ years of shit pay.
    - jnbiche 7y ago
      Which medical school is that? Caribbean one?
      - Scoundreller 7y ago
        McMaster University, 45 minutes from Toronto.
  - ghufran_syed 7y ago
    Depends where you work - I work at St Joe’s in Stockton, and it’s not unusual to incubate 5 or 6 patients in a shift, though one or two is more usual. Get in touch if you’re looking to work in a super underserved community, with ridiculously high acuity! That said, most ED’s are not like that, and an awful lot of emergency medicine is ‘just’ careful assessment and reassurance, so I’d agree that if you don’t like the process of seeing and helping high and low acuity patients, it’s a bad career choice. If anyone wants to chat about the pro’s and con’s of EM and career changing, happy to chat, contact info in profile
- dan_quixote 7y ago
  Make sure you get a good perspective from a trusted friend in the medical community before making any big moves (if you haven't already). For the uninitiated, it's the furthest thing from a low-stress job. For some people, the passion outweighs the stress. But despite knowing countless people in medicine, I can only think of one that still professes to love her job - the rest were burned out long before covid.
  - modsWrk4Appl 7y ago
    But the 300-500k/ yr income is nice. Plus you are the only profession that can legally write prescriptions and do some services. The power of the medical cartels has intangible benefits too.
    - stbtrax 7y ago
      you can make that salary at a big tech company
      - jjeaff 7y ago
        I would guess the number of doctors making that range would be at least an order of magnitude more common than tech workers but I could be wrong. Additionally, the bay area in the US is essentially the only place in the world you can make that kind of money in tech.
        nogabebop23 7y ago
        If you're going into medicine for the money you are making a huge mistake. The front-side effort, commitment and cost is massive, and depending on your field it make impact important aspects of your life for as long as you practice. There are way easier ways to make money. One example: do a comparatively easier 4-yr undergrad in business and start with a bank straight out of school (they scoop up lots of new grads willing to move around). In the same ~15 years you can move into a senior position in finance or M&A and make comparable money. It's not easy or guaranteed but IMO easier...
- fiftyacorn 7y ago
  Reminds me of Ed Roberts who built the Altair, then quit to become a doctor
- sandfly 7y ago
  I tried this. I didn't get into medical school but it is doable. I enrolled in a premedical postbaccalaureate program, and over the course of two years of night classes finished all of the prerequisites required by most allopathic medical schools. I worked by butt off to finish with a 4.0 GPA and place in the 96th percentile on the MCAT (good enough to not be ruled out because of my MCAT score). I also volunteered at a memory care hospice on weekends during this period and ended up with 100 hours of clinical experience. I had some additional clinical exposure working on medical device projects as an engineering student. I applied to 27 schools and was invited for two interviews. Of those two, I was waitlisted by one and rejected by the other. I didn't end up clearing the waitlist. So what went wrong? I can't say for certain, but I suspect these were contributing factors: * My undergraduate engineering school GPA was 3.3 and my graduate school engineering GPA was 3.4. These are reasonable by engineering school standards but borderline for medical school. * I only had 100 clinical hours. Many applicants have hundreds or even thousands of hours of clinical experience when they apply. I was 31 when I started the postbac program and decided to keep my full time job in order to save up money. The opportunity cost of each hour of clinical experience was higher at this age compared to a typical undergrad. In hindsight I should have at least devoted my weekends to gaining clinical experience the moment I decided to go this route. * One of my recommendation letter writers was late. My application wasn't processed until all recommendation letters were in. I wasn't eligible for consideration until later admissions rounds. * I didn't stand out. To be clear this isn't a requirement, but schools like to build a diverse and interesting class, so standing out in some way can be helpful. I struggle to decide if this was something beyond my control or if it represents a personal failure. To return to my initial point, it is doable. In an alternate universe in which my recommendation letters made it in earlier, or I slept better before the MCAT and got an extra point, perhaps I would have been invited for one or two more interviews. If the interview -> admission invite conversion rate is 20%, that boosts the odds of admission from 36% to 59%. (I haven't ruled out applying again, but I would need to enroll in classes for at least another year in order to get new faculty recommendation letters. Unfortunately it isn't safe to volunteer at the hospice right now due to COVID-19).
  - jac241 7y ago
    Can corroborate. Schools care about GPA too much even in the face of work experience (most doctors on admission committees have never had another job..) + MCAT score. Median GPA is 5% of the grading in the US News research rankings and that matters a ton to the schools. Went from software to med school, now in my second year (4 since software). 3.67 GPA (bioinformatics)/ 3.55 BioChemMathPhysics GPA with 100th percentile MCAT. ~140 hrs clinical experience when I applied. 20 applications, 6 interviews, 4 waitlists (to rejection), 1 immediate post-interview rejection (screw you too NYU), 1 acceptance. If you read about this CEO and are thinking about making the switch be very realistic with your chances, particularly about your GPA like parent post said. Without a 3.7+ you're going to have a tough time, and there's no guarantee that you won't spend 2+ years and get rejected. You'll have to overperform on the MCAT. Expect bias against your work experience (only software really). Whenever I said I used to be a software engineer you could see the light leave some of the interviewers eyes... Though if you're FAANG or another name-brand company I wouldn't expect the same.
- outlace 7y ago
  Resident physician here. I have > $200,000 student debt. Doesn't feel good at all.
  - robbiep 7y ago
    The US experience is not good. I’m a resident in Australia. 11 years at university (took some side tracks), $70k in debt for the whole time, now gone, and we are paid between $70-110k a year as interns. Although our training pathways are longer because we are required to do 2 generalist years
  - billfruit 7y ago
    Yes, I second the opinion that the costs the schedule issues etc are a US problem.. I think one could study at much lower cost in China, Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. They have now courses in English, and have become the new hub for medical education.
    - aschatten 7y ago
      > I think one could study at much lower cost in China, Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. They have now courses in English, and have become the new hub for medical education. Cost is cheaper, yes. Quality varies a lot across the country. Some countries are doing better than others. But medical degree is still not easily convertible, so if you study outside the US, but practice here, it's not simple. Language is not the main issue, different approaches, different standards, etc.
whoisjuan 7y ago
Holy Shit! Imagine being the CEO of a RadioShack, then saying "I want to become a Doctor" and actually doing it. That's amazing! Love this story.
- danans 7y ago
  > That's amazing! Agreed. Now imagine being a similarly aged retail service worker, or agricultural laborer, and doing the same. Even more amazing, if rare. The point is: both the drive and capital are needed. This person clearly had both at their disposal.
  - stronglikedan 7y ago
    Sufficient drive begets the requisite capital, but that's even more rare, and arguably more amazing.
    - d3ad1ysp0rk 7y ago
      "Sufficient" meaning "Extraordinary"? The data doesn't really show that being hard working correlates with creation of wealth. In addition, it seems wealth plays a larger role in medical school acceptance than one might expect/hope for. "The AAMC explains that the percentage of medical students from families in the highest quintile of household income has not dropped below 48 percent since 1987—half of students come from the richest 20 percent of the population—while the percentage of students from the lowest quintile has never risen above 5.5 percent [9]" https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/sites/journalofethics.ama-assn.org/files/2018-05/oped1-1502.pdf https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/sites/journalofethics.a...
      - owl57 7y ago
        Correlation or causation?
        quickthrowman 7y ago
        It’s classism, and it’s reality. Correlation and causation are irrelevant.
Holmes 7y ago
Can this guy be president?
- CaveTech 7y ago
  Hopefully not, we'd like to keep him here in Canada.
husarcik 7y ago
This is very inspirational. I'm applying to emergency medicine residency this year and love to see stories about how much people enjoy it. I'm curious what skills cross over from CEO to EM physician. Leadership and teamwork for sure.
- lpah4all 7y ago
  Well, RS certainly prepared him for how to deal with the patient dying. I'm sure he tried to save my beloved RS, too. I remember reading a Rolling Stone article years ago about neurosurgery residents (7 years) where one of the guys lost something like his first 17 patients on the table (because they're all cases like anyeurisms). He stuck with it and, one night, placed the clamp in a pool of blood to within a mm of perfection to close the bleed. Their training was: learn a procedure, do a procedure. I am grateful that people like yourselves undergo the arduous process to become an MD. Good luck and thanks!
- tuberelay 7y ago
  Anaesthesiologist here. I did EM for 6 months and hated it. This is because it just doesn't suit my personality. To be good at EM you need to be: - Comfortable with being a kinda bad at everything and great at nothing - Comfortable with large amounts of uncertainty and risk and having to make decisions anyway - Being abused by drunk/mentally ill patients constantly - Being patronized by medical colleagues in other specialties
  - louwrentius 7y ago
    > Being patronised by medical colleagues in other specialties Of which your post here is a prime example!
    - husarcik 7y ago
      :thumbsup:
  - husarcik 7y ago
    Thanks for sharing your experience! As a medical student, it is pretty difficult to get a decent feel for each specialty (as you know). I'm glad you were able to switch into something that fit you better. Have you ever considered anesthesia critical care? It seemed interesting from the little time I experienced it.
mmmBacon 7y ago
His personal website is here. Sounds like we was about 48y.o when he started down the path of becoming a doctor. https://drbrianlevy.com/ https://drbrianlevy.com/
- dpflan 7y ago
  "A week after retirement, I decided to pursue my not-so-secret lifetime dream to become a Physician."
- epmaybe 7y ago
  It's pretty interesting seeing some of my peers who second-careered into medicine. They had experience which paid dividends throughout school and residency that will serve them well. I also have no idea how I would manage full time school and having children to raise.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    > I also have no idea how I would manage full time school and having children to raise. With a nanny? There’s a reason MDs can graduate with a lot of loans. They’re good credit risks, so banks give good rates and large amounts.
- EvanAnderson 7y ago
  Wow. I had no idea that one could get into medicine at that age. I feel like I'd been told that medical schools could discriminate based on age, with the idea being that an older person would be physically unable to serve for as long as a younger person. I have an interest in medicine but simply wrote it off as being impossible because of my age.
  - 0239kffkk 7y ago
    You can if you're the former CEO of RadioShack. Not saying that to be snarky, just saying there's a bit of survivorship bias involved in this story, as well as positive feedback loops in society in general. People with the same ability to be an ER physician who don't have RadioShack CEO on their application will not be seen the same, even if they're equally able.
refurb 7y ago
Recently, I was thinking about what I'd do if I retire early. I pretty much settled on going and getting a PhD in chemistry. Why? I always enjoyed chemistry and research. I would be doing it because I find it interesting, not for the multitude of reasons for my career choices so far - money, geography, future potential growth.
- jjeaff 7y ago
  I have heard that getting a PhD can be so political and soul destroying that only those that really need or want it or have no other better options make it through. Not sure how universal that is though.
  - lrem 7y ago
    I did my PhD in the French Riviera. Some people were maxing out the extensions on their funding not because they couldn't defend on schedule, but they simply enjoyed their current work. But that might speak more to the misery of postdoc, than to the joy of PhD? I remember doctoral studies very fondly. But finished on time and moved to the industry, because once you graduate, the academic job market is outright depressing.
    - malajubee 7y ago
      Eurecom?
      - lrem 7y ago
        INRIA
  - refurb 7y ago
    From the PhDs I know, yes, it's true. Grad school can be brutal, but there are a few ways around that: 1. Most of the "soul destroying" aspect of graduate school is because you're at your PIs mercy when it comes to landing a post-doc or industry position. Without a good reference from your PI, you're truly screwed. If I were to do a PhD in retirement, I don't need any of that. Worse comes to worse, I can just leave. 2. I would also find a PI who was later on in years (professor emeritus)? They've been there, done that, have a steady flow of grant money and nothing to prove. I worked with a prof like this in school and he came into the lab purely out of enjoyment of science. Screw the grind.
symplee 7y ago
You've got infections, he's got answers.
HorizonXP 7y ago
Holy crap, I used to volunteer in this exact ER for years! I'm pretty sure I've seen him around, I had no idea he was the former CEO of RadioShack!
- HorizonXP 7y ago
  Since this comment seems to be fairly top-rated, I'm going to expand on this story a bit. I graduated from ECE at Waterloo in 2008. I wanted to go to med school, so I studied for the MCATs (did well), volunteered at this ER, and eventually went on to do a Masters in medical imaging. I never did go to med school though, I didn't have the marks nor the drive. That said, volunteering at this ER was a significant turning point in my career/life. Besides the life experience of being in a busy ER, it actually served as the foundation point for my current career as a software engineer/startup founder. During my volunteer stint, my volunteer coordinator passed my name along to the company running the bedside television terminals in the hospital. I started working for them, selling services to patients. Through that work, my innate curiosity and need to solve problems got the best of me. I saw they had a fairly new/technical system, yet we were doing things by paper. I started hacking on the system, figured out how to extract data from the DB using a PHP script. This caught the attention of the company owner. Eventually, I left that job to continue doing contract software/technical work for that owner. We had a very interesting relationship over the years. Eventually, I leveraged that opportunity to find future opportunities in commercial real estate, which I used to create my current startup. Oh, and I met my wonderful wife through that volunteer position too. We now have a beautiful 1.5 year old. All because I volunteered in the ER.
mc32 7y ago
One of my all-time favorite satirical articles from the onion: https://www.theonion.com/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-busine-1819569077 https://www.theonion.com/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radios... I wish either one of its ex-ceos was like that in real life. But an ER doctor is pretty cool as well.
- sharkweek 7y ago
  Ha, that's also one of my favorite Onion articles (besides the one that says Toyota issuing a recall on all 1993 Camrys because it's really time for the owner to get a new car). Another great piece of RadioShack literature is Jon Bois' recap of working there for years. It's long but worth a read if you have 20 minutes. https://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories https://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulog... I think if someone asked me to sort of define the 2000s, outside of some obvious life events, this article does a pretty damn good job of painting a picture of where we were.
  - swyx 7y ago
    just sharing one of my favorite Onion articles here since we're on this topic: https://www.theonion.com/protagonist-scrolls-intensely-through-microfilm-1819571094 https://www.theonion.com/protagonist-scrolls-intensely-throu... if i tell you more i'll ruin it
Waterluvian 7y ago
I think the most fascinating thing, to me, is that transitioning from CEO of RadioShack to med student in your 40s means you _must_ have a humble, down to Earth ego.
- 93po 7y ago
  I met tons of rich kids doing residency in their mid 20s with massive egos and zero humility. I doubt a millionaire former CEO doing it as a hobby requires any humility.
  - swyx 7y ago
    you doubt that opting into a situation where your wealth is completely irrelevant when it comes to saving lives (and, before that, passing medical exams) requires any humility?
mrandish 7y ago
I still have a Radio Shack Battery Club card with only one more punch needed. Maybe if I run into him... nah, he'll insist I have to give him my name and address.
- okareaman 7y ago
  or try to sell you a disco ball strobe light combo
godzillabrennus 7y ago
It’s like the reverse story of Jonathon Nelson from Hackers/Founders who was a paramedic before becoming a CEO.
robmiller 7y ago
When I was a kid, my dad sat next to a different RadioShack CEO on a plane. He mentioned that I was always in the store and Mr. Roberts gave him this, https://imgur.com/a/BolEA https://imgur.com/a/BolEA
- luckydata 7y ago
  that's cute :) I know my kid would have really liked something like that.
  - tamaharbor 7y ago
    I still miss the ‘free battery of the month’ club.
- mikeappell 7y ago
  That's really cool. I wonder what would have happened if you'd called that number.
- lisper 7y ago
  Heh, I thought it was going to be a P-box kit :-) https://hackaday.com/2018/12/14/retrotechtacular-remembering-radio-shack-p-box-kits/ https://hackaday.com/2018/12/14/retrotechtacular-remembering...
- neilv 7y ago
  That's something! The closest I have is a rejection letter from Radio Shack HQ, I received as a kid, maybe around age 12. I'd spent many hours ogling parts and gear in their stores, and practically memorized their catalogs. So I was a big fan, and I'd written to their headquarters, proposing that I would write a hobby computers&electronics book, in the vein of some of the Forrest Mims projects articles I'd read. (With the difference being that I had almost no knowledge worth sharing.) I got back a polite letter, on Radio Shack stationery, not mentioning that I was obviously just a kid, and saying that they didn't wish to develop a hobby book, but if I developed it otherwise, they'd be happy to review a copy off the press. I had my first rejection letter framed for a while, but lost the original during a very lean move right after grad school, and now I only have a scan of it.
okareaman 7y ago
I'm glad something good came out of the collapse of The Shack. Such a sad story with a bit of a silver lining.
rconti 7y ago
This link got hijacked for me and sent to a Norton AV scam page.
staticautomatic 7y ago
OT but does anyone have insight into why there are so few med schools in the US? There are way more prospective students than admissions slots. Are there high capital costs or something I haven't considered that make starting a med school unprofitable even with average tuition fees being so high?
- rfrey 7y ago
  Because medical associations understand supply and demand.
- bavell 7y ago
  I don't know much about it either but AFAIK there's an industry group that artificially controls how many licensed doctors in each field there are. They reduce supply which naturally increases doctor compensation among other things.
  - iamkroot 7y ago
    The American Medical Association, which is a rotten cabal. Fantastic podcast about them by freakonomics: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/nurses-to-the-rescue/ https://freakonomics.com/podcast/nurses-to-the-rescue/
- eitally 7y ago
  This might help: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4561/does-the-ama-limit-the-number-of-doctors-to-increase-current-doctors-salaries https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4561/does-the-a...
- sct202 7y ago
  There are limited residency spots for med school graduates and if you don't get one you can't become an actual licensed doctor. The MD schools try to keep their admissions in line with the number of spots because that would be a raw deal to just pump out people with degrees in $500k in debt who will never get licensed. The residency spots are not controlled by the medical associations or the schools.
nullc 7y ago
And yet he still keeps asking everyone for their damn phone number!
zw123456 7y ago
A Tandy Corporation. They almost went under and then they were bought out by a leather crafts business. We used to joke around about Radio Shaft but my Trash 80 was the most hacked up PoS ever ! Great memories. And good on him for living his dream.
- 93po 7y ago
  That's bizarre to read. I was a frequent customer of Tandy when I was doing leather as a hobby. No idea they ever related. How odd.
kendallpark 7y ago
> 'I am just one of those people who was very fortunate, where things worked out, and where I could do not just do one thing I really enjoyed in life, but two' I relate to all of the gratitude in the above quote. It seems almost gratuitous to be able to pursue more than one major career pathway. I feel lucky to have the opportunity and lucky to have realized that I didn't have to choose.
why-el 7y ago
Reminds me of another great, Brazilian footballer Socrates, who was also a doctor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B3crates#Personal_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B3crates#Personal_life.
billfruit 7y ago
Not exactly similar the top scientists of the EU, Mr Ferrari recently resigned, because he tried to push for a Manhattan Project like scientific project to find cure/vaccine for the virus, whereas EU wanted a bottom up approach of funding specific projects that come up organically.. Anyways Mr.Ferrari is a medical doctor, but it appears he was a Mechanical Engineer. Then at age 43 after his wife died of disease, he went back to university joined medical school and became a respected medical scholar and tried to find treatments for what affected his wife.. And later was selected to be the top EU scientist on the basis of his medical credentials.
DeathArrow 7y ago
Some people can learn to do more than one thing reasonably well and more easier than others. I won't be surprised if we see another headline in 5 years telling us that Mr Levy is a rocket scientist working for NASA, or he started a successful business or he is an acclaimed novelist. I find people like him inspiring, I would much prefer if media would concentrate on presenting us more people doing useful things instead of celebrity gossips.
musicale 7y ago
I wish he could have cured RadioShack. It was nice to have a local store for electronic components.
redis_mlc 7y ago
"Before we can close you up, what is your name, address and phone number for the form?"
pcvarmint 7y ago
I was hoping to spot a Roach.
celloductor 7y ago
living the dream

604 points by wallflower 7y ago

Is few years back I legit wanted to buy an AM/FM radio. I had A tiny one I loved to listen to while running that broke. I went into radio shack and asked if they, you know, sold radios. They did not. I was crestfallen.

galacticaactual 7y ago

I've always dreamed of leaving behind Silicon Valley and pursuing emergency medicine. I need to stay the course for a while to ensure my college approaching kids are taken care of but stories like this are inspiring reminders that age doesn't have to be a factor when I finally decide to make the move.

toomuchtodo 7y ago
We should start a support group. Seems like there are lots of us who want to leave tech for something that matters.
- alexbanks 7y ago
  I want to use tech for something that matters, which feels vaguely related.
- keenmaster 7y ago
  >something that matters The tech industry saved many lives during this pandemic. Compliance with social distancing standards would be way lower if people had nothing to do at home but watch TV. Even social media is showing its bright side. People are using it in more positive ways, connecting with each other and largely sharing quality information regarding Coronavirus. Life would have come to a halt without modern internet technology, almost warranting a calendar pause until the pandemic passes. That being said, there's a lot of variability in the social value of tech industry jobs. At risk of being pedantic - you can net society more social good if you transition to a higher social value job within the same industry. It takes many years to become a doctor, and many people compete for that career so you wouldn't expand the supply of medical labor. Moreover, medical industry cronyism plays a part in bankrupting America with little to show for it. You should do what you want ultimately. I've just seen some people self-flagellate when they're actually doing really good things for society.
  - gnramires 7y ago
    Agreed. I think there's plenty of space to make a difference in tech. I don't think it's automatic in any way (i.e. making a positive social impact) -- I think the choices of every CEO and every worker matter. Facebook and/or Google could turn the industry in completely different directions (e.g. more centered in providing culture, growth and genuine interaction) if there was the will. The extent to which they're glorified ad-machines is a choice. And outside of that (i.e. big tech) there's plenty to invent and contribute in countless ways. Medical equipment, niche technology products, innovative and useful consumer technologies, the warriors we don't hear about improving industrial processes and everyday stuff, etc. I have younger friends looking to enter the game industry. I tell them: make sure you don't land somewhere that makes you start hating what you loved just so you can tell yourself you make games (having addiction-machine mobile games in mind). Better work anywhere else and wait for the opportunity to do it right, I believe. Selling your soul is always a choice... and it's not an easily replaceable good.
- aggie 7y ago
  There are tech companies that only think they're doing good. But there are plenty that are doing good, and they would love your help. By all means pursue things elsewhere, but not because you think there are no opportunities in tech.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - toomuchtodo 7y ago
    The opportunities in tech do not provide enough leverage for meaningful progress IMHO. Personally, I believe I can do far more good writing and pushing public policy than any amount of code. That is "operating at scale".
    - ska 7y ago
      Working on public policy is a worthwhile (and uphill) fight for sure. But it lacks imagination to suggest that impact at scale isn't possible in tech (examples: robust low cost medtech for non G7 economies, same for finance in those markets, support systems for large scale NGO efforts, access to justice efforts, etc. etc.). Clearly these opportunities exist, but they may be under resourced relative to lucrative tech options.
      - toomuchtodo 7y ago
        I don't want to take this thread off topic. With that said, here is my example: Medicare For All would save us $450 billion, and avoid 68k preventable deaths, every single year. I find it a stretch to suggest that ambitious goals such as that "lack imagination". Such impact is simply not obtainable with tech or NGOs alone. Even Bill Gates has needed roughly $50 billion to drive forward his foundation's humanitarian efforts (but admittedly, is very efficient, with estimates of having saved ~122 million lives through their work).
        ska 7y ago
        I don't think this is a counterexample, and the imagination lacked wasn't in the scope of what can be done in policy work, but in the scope of what can be done in tech. To stay with your examples, some of the Gate's foundation efforts have largely been tech efforts, some haven't. Some of the things I mentioned off-the-top have potential to reach 10s to 100s of millions of people. MFA is a big $ number partially because the US healthcare system is expensive and inefficient, so that draws focus on $ saved ... other efforts may focus on lives impacted at much lower $ impacts. Most public policy work isn't as big as MFA either. I'm not saying policy work isn't important or impactful. I'm rejecting the idea that you (generic 'you') can't have similar effect in technology to what you might be able to achieve in policy; especially the idea that this is so clearly true that the "right" thing to do is quit technology to go into policy. Even assuming you can be as effective in policy work as you are in tech work, which isn't a given.
- bluGill 7y ago
  It doesn't matter what you do, there will be days you wish you had a different job. How do you think a doctor feels when he sees some fat patient going into the donut shop (or all you can eat buffet) after he told them to go on a diet and lose weight. (is this worse than the person who dies of bad genes caused heart attack despite talking their medications, exercising and eating well - another thing doctors see)
  - nradov 7y ago
    While my grandfather was in the hospital years ago, the patient in the room next door was recovering from a quadruple heart bypass. He didn't like the hospital food so his family brought him cheeseburgers from the fast food restaurant down the street.
    - Scoundreller 7y ago
      the hospital probably was giving him a low-fat, low-salt, maybe even low-calorie diet especially for his situation.
- schnevets 7y ago
  There is burnout across medicine and various other verticals that Technologists hope to retire into. I do think there needs to be a support network to help modern knowledge workers recognize the dignity and value of their labor. Some of the possible exercises could include practicing empathy during the work day, learning to explore where their labor helps the world, and recognizing the things about the systems around us that we cannot change.
  - throw_away2 7y ago
    So, what you're saying is if we can teach burnt-out medics to code…
- Cerium 7y ago
  You don't have to leave tech entirely. I very much feel that the medical devices I write software for matter.
  - nogabebop23 7y ago
    absolutely. Or even less exotic: they probably won't make a (sexy) TV show about IT in a hospital but if you've ever been to one there are massive opportunities to make a huge, meaningful change
- jjeaff 7y ago
  Just learn to code... Oh wait.
- ck425 7y ago
  There's scope within tech. I recently moved to the NHS as a software engineer and it's amazing the amount of low hanging fruit there is. The main issues are politics and the fragmentation of existing tech but if you're an engineer with good people skills and the ability to deal with lots of system integrations you can have a lot of meaningful impact.
beamatronic 7y ago
There used to be a Silicon Valley CEO who was also a San Jose police officer in his spare time, but I don't recall his name.
- mx24 7y ago
  He must really enjoy being in a position of authority.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- jansan 7y ago
  This seems to happen more often: https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/kwo/spr07/alumni/mckim.htm https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/kwo/spr07/alumni/mckim.... https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/ceo-quietly-sells-company-focuses-on-being-a-police-officer-refuses-to-collect-a-salary/ https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/ceo-quietly-sells-compan...
hangonhn 7y ago
I've entertained very similar ideas myself. It's one of those things I often revisit -- wondering if I had made the right career choice. I love being an engineer and have been very lucky in being financially rewarded for doing something that I love. But whenever a startup I'm at fails or I feel my career is at a standstill, the things that's given me joy during those times are the times I've spent helping others outside of my career. I think it's because acts of kindness and generosity are meaningful in and of themselves whereas a career in engineering might make sense in the end or maybe not. A good friend of mine actually had a great career in software but decided that to become a nurse in the time he has left on earth. He and his wife both decided to go to nursing school and were definitely the oldest students. They are both now nurses and seem very happy.
arkades 7y ago
As someone who second-careered into medicine: It's a ten-year commitment, roughly, to become a practicing ER doc. And in today's industry, you'll spend the overwhelming majority of your time doing documentation on shit that should've been seen by a PCP, not an emergency department. And definitely not treating emergencies. You'll be lucky if you see one or two a day in a major ED; in smaller ED's, even one a week is optimistic. If you want to jump in with eyes wide open, more power to you. Most days, I can't tell you whether I regret my move or not.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  This fellow went to a 3 year med school that doesn’t care too much about your prerequisites as long as you have a degree. It’s 3 because they don’t really do summers off. Although he did a full 5yr EM residency, in Canada you can work EM with a 2 year FP residency and another year as an FP specializing in EM. Sooo, 10 at the most, but could be done in 6.
  - SkyPuncher 7y ago
    It's still 3 years of zero pay and $40k+ in tuition and 3+ years of shit pay.
  - jnbiche 7y ago
    Which medical school is that? Caribbean one?
    - Scoundreller 7y ago
      McMaster University, 45 minutes from Toronto.
- ghufran_syed 7y ago
  Depends where you work - I work at St Joe’s in Stockton, and it’s not unusual to incubate 5 or 6 patients in a shift, though one or two is more usual. Get in touch if you’re looking to work in a super underserved community, with ridiculously high acuity! That said, most ED’s are not like that, and an awful lot of emergency medicine is ‘just’ careful assessment and reassurance, so I’d agree that if you don’t like the process of seeing and helping high and low acuity patients, it’s a bad career choice. If anyone wants to chat about the pro’s and con’s of EM and career changing, happy to chat, contact info in profile
dan_quixote 7y ago
Make sure you get a good perspective from a trusted friend in the medical community before making any big moves (if you haven't already). For the uninitiated, it's the furthest thing from a low-stress job. For some people, the passion outweighs the stress. But despite knowing countless people in medicine, I can only think of one that still professes to love her job - the rest were burned out long before covid.
- modsWrk4Appl 7y ago
  But the 300-500k/ yr income is nice. Plus you are the only profession that can legally write prescriptions and do some services. The power of the medical cartels has intangible benefits too.
  - stbtrax 7y ago
    you can make that salary at a big tech company
    - jjeaff 7y ago
      I would guess the number of doctors making that range would be at least an order of magnitude more common than tech workers but I could be wrong. Additionally, the bay area in the US is essentially the only place in the world you can make that kind of money in tech.
      - nogabebop23 7y ago
        If you're going into medicine for the money you are making a huge mistake. The front-side effort, commitment and cost is massive, and depending on your field it make impact important aspects of your life for as long as you practice. There are way easier ways to make money. One example: do a comparatively easier 4-yr undergrad in business and start with a bank straight out of school (they scoop up lots of new grads willing to move around). In the same ~15 years you can move into a senior position in finance or M&A and make comparable money. It's not easy or guaranteed but IMO easier...
fiftyacorn 7y ago
Reminds me of Ed Roberts who built the Altair, then quit to become a doctor
sandfly 7y ago
I tried this. I didn't get into medical school but it is doable. I enrolled in a premedical postbaccalaureate program, and over the course of two years of night classes finished all of the prerequisites required by most allopathic medical schools. I worked by butt off to finish with a 4.0 GPA and place in the 96th percentile on the MCAT (good enough to not be ruled out because of my MCAT score). I also volunteered at a memory care hospice on weekends during this period and ended up with 100 hours of clinical experience. I had some additional clinical exposure working on medical device projects as an engineering student. I applied to 27 schools and was invited for two interviews. Of those two, I was waitlisted by one and rejected by the other. I didn't end up clearing the waitlist. So what went wrong? I can't say for certain, but I suspect these were contributing factors: * My undergraduate engineering school GPA was 3.3 and my graduate school engineering GPA was 3.4. These are reasonable by engineering school standards but borderline for medical school. * I only had 100 clinical hours. Many applicants have hundreds or even thousands of hours of clinical experience when they apply. I was 31 when I started the postbac program and decided to keep my full time job in order to save up money. The opportunity cost of each hour of clinical experience was higher at this age compared to a typical undergrad. In hindsight I should have at least devoted my weekends to gaining clinical experience the moment I decided to go this route. * One of my recommendation letter writers was late. My application wasn't processed until all recommendation letters were in. I wasn't eligible for consideration until later admissions rounds. * I didn't stand out. To be clear this isn't a requirement, but schools like to build a diverse and interesting class, so standing out in some way can be helpful. I struggle to decide if this was something beyond my control or if it represents a personal failure. To return to my initial point, it is doable. In an alternate universe in which my recommendation letters made it in earlier, or I slept better before the MCAT and got an extra point, perhaps I would have been invited for one or two more interviews. If the interview -> admission invite conversion rate is 20%, that boosts the odds of admission from 36% to 59%. (I haven't ruled out applying again, but I would need to enroll in classes for at least another year in order to get new faculty recommendation letters. Unfortunately it isn't safe to volunteer at the hospice right now due to COVID-19).
- jac241 7y ago
  Can corroborate. Schools care about GPA too much even in the face of work experience (most doctors on admission committees have never had another job..) + MCAT score. Median GPA is 5% of the grading in the US News research rankings and that matters a ton to the schools. Went from software to med school, now in my second year (4 since software). 3.67 GPA (bioinformatics)/ 3.55 BioChemMathPhysics GPA with 100th percentile MCAT. ~140 hrs clinical experience when I applied. 20 applications, 6 interviews, 4 waitlists (to rejection), 1 immediate post-interview rejection (screw you too NYU), 1 acceptance. If you read about this CEO and are thinking about making the switch be very realistic with your chances, particularly about your GPA like parent post said. Without a 3.7+ you're going to have a tough time, and there's no guarantee that you won't spend 2+ years and get rejected. You'll have to overperform on the MCAT. Expect bias against your work experience (only software really). Whenever I said I used to be a software engineer you could see the light leave some of the interviewers eyes... Though if you're FAANG or another name-brand company I wouldn't expect the same.
outlace 7y ago
Resident physician here. I have > $200,000 student debt. Doesn't feel good at all.
- robbiep 7y ago
  The US experience is not good. I’m a resident in Australia. 11 years at university (took some side tracks), $70k in debt for the whole time, now gone, and we are paid between $70-110k a year as interns. Although our training pathways are longer because we are required to do 2 generalist years
- billfruit 7y ago
  Yes, I second the opinion that the costs the schedule issues etc are a US problem.. I think one could study at much lower cost in China, Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. They have now courses in English, and have become the new hub for medical education.
  - aschatten 7y ago
    > I think one could study at much lower cost in China, Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. They have now courses in English, and have become the new hub for medical education. Cost is cheaper, yes. Quality varies a lot across the country. Some countries are doing better than others. But medical degree is still not easily convertible, so if you study outside the US, but practice here, it's not simple. Language is not the main issue, different approaches, different standards, etc.

whoisjuan 7y ago

Holy Shit! Imagine being the CEO of a RadioShack, then saying "I want to become a Doctor" and actually doing it. That's amazing! Love this story.

danans 7y ago
> That's amazing! Agreed. Now imagine being a similarly aged retail service worker, or agricultural laborer, and doing the same. Even more amazing, if rare. The point is: both the drive and capital are needed. This person clearly had both at their disposal.
- stronglikedan 7y ago
  Sufficient drive begets the requisite capital, but that's even more rare, and arguably more amazing.
  - d3ad1ysp0rk 7y ago
    "Sufficient" meaning "Extraordinary"? The data doesn't really show that being hard working correlates with creation of wealth. In addition, it seems wealth plays a larger role in medical school acceptance than one might expect/hope for. "The AAMC explains that the percentage of medical students from families in the highest quintile of household income has not dropped below 48 percent since 1987—half of students come from the richest 20 percent of the population—while the percentage of students from the lowest quintile has never risen above 5.5 percent [9]" https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/sites/journalofethics.ama-assn.org/files/2018-05/oped1-1502.pdf https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/sites/journalofethics.a...
    - owl57 7y ago
      Correlation or causation?
      - quickthrowman 7y ago
        It’s classism, and it’s reality. Correlation and causation are irrelevant.

Holmes 7y ago

Can this guy be president?

CaveTech 7y ago
Hopefully not, we'd like to keep him here in Canada.

husarcik 7y ago

This is very inspirational. I'm applying to emergency medicine residency this year and love to see stories about how much people enjoy it. I'm curious what skills cross over from CEO to EM physician. Leadership and teamwork for sure.

lpah4all 7y ago
Well, RS certainly prepared him for how to deal with the patient dying. I'm sure he tried to save my beloved RS, too. I remember reading a Rolling Stone article years ago about neurosurgery residents (7 years) where one of the guys lost something like his first 17 patients on the table (because they're all cases like anyeurisms). He stuck with it and, one night, placed the clamp in a pool of blood to within a mm of perfection to close the bleed. Their training was: learn a procedure, do a procedure. I am grateful that people like yourselves undergo the arduous process to become an MD. Good luck and thanks!
tuberelay 7y ago
Anaesthesiologist here. I did EM for 6 months and hated it. This is because it just doesn't suit my personality. To be good at EM you need to be: - Comfortable with being a kinda bad at everything and great at nothing - Comfortable with large amounts of uncertainty and risk and having to make decisions anyway - Being abused by drunk/mentally ill patients constantly - Being patronized by medical colleagues in other specialties
- louwrentius 7y ago
  > Being patronised by medical colleagues in other specialties Of which your post here is a prime example!
  - husarcik 7y ago
    :thumbsup:
- husarcik 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing your experience! As a medical student, it is pretty difficult to get a decent feel for each specialty (as you know). I'm glad you were able to switch into something that fit you better. Have you ever considered anesthesia critical care? It seemed interesting from the little time I experienced it.

mmmBacon 7y ago

His personal website is here. Sounds like we was about 48y.o when he started down the path of becoming a doctor. https://drbrianlevy.com/ https://drbrianlevy.com/

dpflan 7y ago
"A week after retirement, I decided to pursue my not-so-secret lifetime dream to become a Physician."
epmaybe 7y ago
It's pretty interesting seeing some of my peers who second-careered into medicine. They had experience which paid dividends throughout school and residency that will serve them well. I also have no idea how I would manage full time school and having children to raise.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  > I also have no idea how I would manage full time school and having children to raise. With a nanny? There’s a reason MDs can graduate with a lot of loans. They’re good credit risks, so banks give good rates and large amounts.
EvanAnderson 7y ago
Wow. I had no idea that one could get into medicine at that age. I feel like I'd been told that medical schools could discriminate based on age, with the idea being that an older person would be physically unable to serve for as long as a younger person. I have an interest in medicine but simply wrote it off as being impossible because of my age.
- 0239kffkk 7y ago
  You can if you're the former CEO of RadioShack. Not saying that to be snarky, just saying there's a bit of survivorship bias involved in this story, as well as positive feedback loops in society in general. People with the same ability to be an ER physician who don't have RadioShack CEO on their application will not be seen the same, even if they're equally able.

refurb 7y ago

Recently, I was thinking about what I'd do if I retire early. I pretty much settled on going and getting a PhD in chemistry. Why? I always enjoyed chemistry and research. I would be doing it because I find it interesting, not for the multitude of reasons for my career choices so far - money, geography, future potential growth.

jjeaff 7y ago
I have heard that getting a PhD can be so political and soul destroying that only those that really need or want it or have no other better options make it through. Not sure how universal that is though.
- lrem 7y ago
  I did my PhD in the French Riviera. Some people were maxing out the extensions on their funding not because they couldn't defend on schedule, but they simply enjoyed their current work. But that might speak more to the misery of postdoc, than to the joy of PhD? I remember doctoral studies very fondly. But finished on time and moved to the industry, because once you graduate, the academic job market is outright depressing.
  - malajubee 7y ago
    Eurecom?
    - lrem 7y ago
      INRIA
- refurb 7y ago
  From the PhDs I know, yes, it's true. Grad school can be brutal, but there are a few ways around that: 1. Most of the "soul destroying" aspect of graduate school is because you're at your PIs mercy when it comes to landing a post-doc or industry position. Without a good reference from your PI, you're truly screwed. If I were to do a PhD in retirement, I don't need any of that. Worse comes to worse, I can just leave. 2. I would also find a PI who was later on in years (professor emeritus)? They've been there, done that, have a steady flow of grant money and nothing to prove. I worked with a prof like this in school and he came into the lab purely out of enjoyment of science. Screw the grind.

symplee 7y ago

You've got infections, he's got answers.

HorizonXP 7y ago

Holy crap, I used to volunteer in this exact ER for years! I'm pretty sure I've seen him around, I had no idea he was the former CEO of RadioShack!

HorizonXP 7y ago
Since this comment seems to be fairly top-rated, I'm going to expand on this story a bit. I graduated from ECE at Waterloo in 2008. I wanted to go to med school, so I studied for the MCATs (did well), volunteered at this ER, and eventually went on to do a Masters in medical imaging. I never did go to med school though, I didn't have the marks nor the drive. That said, volunteering at this ER was a significant turning point in my career/life. Besides the life experience of being in a busy ER, it actually served as the foundation point for my current career as a software engineer/startup founder. During my volunteer stint, my volunteer coordinator passed my name along to the company running the bedside television terminals in the hospital. I started working for them, selling services to patients. Through that work, my innate curiosity and need to solve problems got the best of me. I saw they had a fairly new/technical system, yet we were doing things by paper. I started hacking on the system, figured out how to extract data from the DB using a PHP script. This caught the attention of the company owner. Eventually, I left that job to continue doing contract software/technical work for that owner. We had a very interesting relationship over the years. Eventually, I leveraged that opportunity to find future opportunities in commercial real estate, which I used to create my current startup. Oh, and I met my wonderful wife through that volunteer position too. We now have a beautiful 1.5 year old. All because I volunteered in the ER.

mc32 7y ago

One of my all-time favorite satirical articles from the onion: https://www.theonion.com/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radioshack-still-in-busine-1819569077 https://www.theonion.com/even-ceo-cant-figure-out-how-radios... I wish either one of its ex-ceos was like that in real life. But an ER doctor is pretty cool as well.

sharkweek 7y ago
Ha, that's also one of my favorite Onion articles (besides the one that says Toyota issuing a recall on all 1993 Camrys because it's really time for the owner to get a new car). Another great piece of RadioShack literature is Jon Bois' recap of working there for years. It's long but worth a read if you have 20 minutes. https://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulogy-stories https://www.sbnation.com/2014/11/26/7281129/radioshack-eulog... I think if someone asked me to sort of define the 2000s, outside of some obvious life events, this article does a pretty damn good job of painting a picture of where we were.
- swyx 7y ago
  just sharing one of my favorite Onion articles here since we're on this topic: https://www.theonion.com/protagonist-scrolls-intensely-through-microfilm-1819571094 https://www.theonion.com/protagonist-scrolls-intensely-throu... if i tell you more i'll ruin it

Waterluvian 7y ago

I think the most fascinating thing, to me, is that transitioning from CEO of RadioShack to med student in your 40s means you _must_ have a humble, down to Earth ego.

93po 7y ago
I met tons of rich kids doing residency in their mid 20s with massive egos and zero humility. I doubt a millionaire former CEO doing it as a hobby requires any humility.
- swyx 7y ago
  you doubt that opting into a situation where your wealth is completely irrelevant when it comes to saving lives (and, before that, passing medical exams) requires any humility?

mrandish 7y ago

I still have a Radio Shack Battery Club card with only one more punch needed. Maybe if I run into him... nah, he'll insist I have to give him my name and address.

okareaman 7y ago
or try to sell you a disco ball strobe light combo

godzillabrennus 7y ago

It’s like the reverse story of Jonathon Nelson from Hackers/Founders who was a paramedic before becoming a CEO.

robmiller 7y ago

When I was a kid, my dad sat next to a different RadioShack CEO on a plane. He mentioned that I was always in the store and Mr. Roberts gave him this, https://imgur.com/a/BolEA https://imgur.com/a/BolEA

luckydata 7y ago
that's cute :) I know my kid would have really liked something like that.
- tamaharbor 7y ago
  I still miss the ‘free battery of the month’ club.
mikeappell 7y ago
That's really cool. I wonder what would have happened if you'd called that number.
lisper 7y ago
Heh, I thought it was going to be a P-box kit :-) https://hackaday.com/2018/12/14/retrotechtacular-remembering-radio-shack-p-box-kits/ https://hackaday.com/2018/12/14/retrotechtacular-remembering...
neilv 7y ago
That's something! The closest I have is a rejection letter from Radio Shack HQ, I received as a kid, maybe around age 12. I'd spent many hours ogling parts and gear in their stores, and practically memorized their catalogs. So I was a big fan, and I'd written to their headquarters, proposing that I would write a hobby computers&electronics book, in the vein of some of the Forrest Mims projects articles I'd read. (With the difference being that I had almost no knowledge worth sharing.) I got back a polite letter, on Radio Shack stationery, not mentioning that I was obviously just a kid, and saying that they didn't wish to develop a hobby book, but if I developed it otherwise, they'd be happy to review a copy off the press. I had my first rejection letter framed for a while, but lost the original during a very lean move right after grad school, and now I only have a scan of it.

okareaman 7y ago

I'm glad something good came out of the collapse of The Shack. Such a sad story with a bit of a silver lining.

rconti 7y ago

This link got hijacked for me and sent to a Norton AV scam page.

staticautomatic 7y ago

OT but does anyone have insight into why there are so few med schools in the US? There are way more prospective students than admissions slots. Are there high capital costs or something I haven't considered that make starting a med school unprofitable even with average tuition fees being so high?

rfrey 7y ago
Because medical associations understand supply and demand.
bavell 7y ago
I don't know much about it either but AFAIK there's an industry group that artificially controls how many licensed doctors in each field there are. They reduce supply which naturally increases doctor compensation among other things.
- iamkroot 7y ago
  The American Medical Association, which is a rotten cabal. Fantastic podcast about them by freakonomics: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/nurses-to-the-rescue/ https://freakonomics.com/podcast/nurses-to-the-rescue/
eitally 7y ago
This might help: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4561/does-the-ama-limit-the-number-of-doctors-to-increase-current-doctors-salaries https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/4561/does-the-a...
sct202 7y ago
There are limited residency spots for med school graduates and if you don't get one you can't become an actual licensed doctor. The MD schools try to keep their admissions in line with the number of spots because that would be a raw deal to just pump out people with degrees in $500k in debt who will never get licensed. The residency spots are not controlled by the medical associations or the schools.

nullc 7y ago

And yet he still keeps asking everyone for their damn phone number!

zw123456 7y ago

A Tandy Corporation. They almost went under and then they were bought out by a leather crafts business. We used to joke around about Radio Shaft but my Trash 80 was the most hacked up PoS ever ! Great memories. And good on him for living his dream.

93po 7y ago
That's bizarre to read. I was a frequent customer of Tandy when I was doing leather as a hobby. No idea they ever related. How odd.

kendallpark 7y ago

> 'I am just one of those people who was very fortunate, where things worked out, and where I could do not just do one thing I really enjoyed in life, but two' I relate to all of the gratitude in the above quote. It seems almost gratuitous to be able to pursue more than one major career pathway. I feel lucky to have the opportunity and lucky to have realized that I didn't have to choose.

why-el 7y ago

Reminds me of another great, Brazilian footballer Socrates, who was also a doctor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B3crates#Personal_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%B3crates#Personal_life.

billfruit 7y ago

Not exactly similar the top scientists of the EU, Mr Ferrari recently resigned, because he tried to push for a Manhattan Project like scientific project to find cure/vaccine for the virus, whereas EU wanted a bottom up approach of funding specific projects that come up organically.. Anyways Mr.Ferrari is a medical doctor, but it appears he was a Mechanical Engineer. Then at age 43 after his wife died of disease, he went back to university joined medical school and became a respected medical scholar and tried to find treatments for what affected his wife.. And later was selected to be the top EU scientist on the basis of his medical credentials.

DeathArrow 7y ago

Some people can learn to do more than one thing reasonably well and more easier than others. I won't be surprised if we see another headline in 5 years telling us that Mr Levy is a rocket scientist working for NASA, or he started a successful business or he is an acclaimed novelist. I find people like him inspiring, I would much prefer if media would concentrate on presenting us more people doing useful things instead of celebrity gossips.

musicale 7y ago

I wish he could have cured RadioShack. It was nice to have a local store for electronic components.

redis_mlc 7y ago

"Before we can close you up, what is your name, address and phone number for the form?"

pcvarmint 7y ago

I was hoping to spot a Roach.

celloductor 7y ago

living the dream