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I probably don't have a "passion" for medicine, but few people do. I personally don't know any doctors that truly have a passion for it. (I doubt, for example,

by arn 18y ago

I probably don't have a "passion" for medicine, but few people do. I personally don't know any doctors that truly have a passion for it. (I doubt, for example, that many would continue to do it if they won the lotto.) I felt like I was good at medicine and enjoyed it day to day, but given the choice of doing it vs being able to just do something I was doing for fun anyway and spending more time with my family, I think the choice became easy. The flip side to that, is I do have a passion for what I'm doing now. If I won the lotto, I think I would continue to run MacRumors, and still try to launch some other web projects I've had in my mind.

dcurtis 18y ago
Really? You think passion for medicine is that rare? I sit in biology classes with my mouth wide open, in absolute awe at the principles that guide the human body. Then, when I think about applications of that knowledge in clinical settings (especially relating to the brain, in the same way that V.S. Ramachandran practices and researches), it excites me. When I think about practicing medicine and helping people by embarking on a journey of diagnosis every day, I get the same burning sensation of excitement in my chest that I get when I think about starting a company. I don't know how someone can endure the torture of medical school, residency, and then a practice without being passionate and absolutely in love with what they do. Most of the "I quit my job!" posts I read here are about people who code in a dead-end corporate job who are escaping for entrepreneurship (still coding). You had a completely different, successful career that you gave up. I find that interesting. (Also, I read MacRumors every day. Thanks for that.)
- arn 18y ago
  "When I think about practicing medicine and helping people by embarking on a journey of diagnosis every day, I get the same burning sensation of excitement in my chest that I get when I think about starting a company." I'd love to hear your thoughts about it when you are done with it all. I think people's beliefs and passion about it change significantly over the course of their training. And again, I am setting a high bar in defining passion. If you could do whatever you wanted, what would you choose to do with your time?
- brent 18y ago
  > Really? You think passion for medicine is that rare? I sit in biology classes with my mouth wide open, in absolute awe at the principles that guide the human body. Then, when I think about applications of that knowledge in clinical settings (especially relating to the brain, in the same way that V.S. Ramachandran practices and researches), it excites me. You would probably be more interested in learning/research, not practicing. > I don't know how someone can endure the torture of medical school, residency, and then a practice without being passionate and absolutely in love with what they do. $
  - dcurtis 18y ago
    "You would probably be more interested in learning/research, not practicing." If the research/learning and the practicing of anything were mutually exclusive, we'd be in really big trouble.
    - menloparkbum 18y ago
      Most practicing doctors don't do research... and most medical researchers don't "practice" in the typical sense of the word.
- iamelgringo 18y ago
  I've made a habit out of asking the doctors that I work with "Would you do it over again, if you had to?" I have about a 60% "Hell no" response rate. And, only about a 5-10%, "Yeah, I love what I do" response rate. Especially nephrology. That's a brutal specialty. You watch most of your patients slowly die over 5 or 10 years while they are linked to a dialysis machine 3 times a week. The happy stories in nephrology are the people who get kidney transplants, but then you're only trading one disease for another: kidney failure for chronic immuno-suppression. Congrats, on making it out! And, here's wishing the best for ya.
  - dcurtis 18y ago
    That's an extremely scary statistic. 60% an enthusiastic "no"?

by arn 18y ago

dcurtis 18y ago

Really? You think passion for medicine is that rare? I sit in biology classes with my mouth wide open, in absolute awe at the principles that guide the human body. Then, when I think about applications of that knowledge in clinical settings (especially relating to the brain, in the same way that V.S. Ramachandran practices and researches), it excites me. When I think about practicing medicine and helping people by embarking on a journey of diagnosis every day, I get the same burning sensation of excitement in my chest that I get when I think about starting a company. I don't know how someone can endure the torture of medical school, residency, and then a practice without being passionate and absolutely in love with what they do. Most of the "I quit my job!" posts I read here are about people who code in a dead-end corporate job who are escaping for entrepreneurship (still coding). You had a completely different, successful career that you gave up. I find that interesting. (Also, I read MacRumors every day. Thanks for that.)

arn 18y ago
"When I think about practicing medicine and helping people by embarking on a journey of diagnosis every day, I get the same burning sensation of excitement in my chest that I get when I think about starting a company." I'd love to hear your thoughts about it when you are done with it all. I think people's beliefs and passion about it change significantly over the course of their training. And again, I am setting a high bar in defining passion. If you could do whatever you wanted, what would you choose to do with your time?
brent 18y ago
> Really? You think passion for medicine is that rare? I sit in biology classes with my mouth wide open, in absolute awe at the principles that guide the human body. Then, when I think about applications of that knowledge in clinical settings (especially relating to the brain, in the same way that V.S. Ramachandran practices and researches), it excites me. You would probably be more interested in learning/research, not practicing. > I don't know how someone can endure the torture of medical school, residency, and then a practice without being passionate and absolutely in love with what they do. $
- dcurtis 18y ago
  "You would probably be more interested in learning/research, not practicing." If the research/learning and the practicing of anything were mutually exclusive, we'd be in really big trouble.
  - menloparkbum 18y ago
    Most practicing doctors don't do research... and most medical researchers don't "practice" in the typical sense of the word.
iamelgringo 18y ago
I've made a habit out of asking the doctors that I work with "Would you do it over again, if you had to?" I have about a 60% "Hell no" response rate. And, only about a 5-10%, "Yeah, I love what I do" response rate. Especially nephrology. That's a brutal specialty. You watch most of your patients slowly die over 5 or 10 years while they are linked to a dialysis machine 3 times a week. The happy stories in nephrology are the people who get kidney transplants, but then you're only trading one disease for another: kidney failure for chronic immuno-suppression. Congrats, on making it out! And, here's wishing the best for ya.
- dcurtis 18y ago
  That's an extremely scary statistic. 60% an enthusiastic "no"?