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Most doctors aren't getting "absurdly rich" in medicine, at least not anymore, and certainly not by tech industry standards. (Source: I am a medspouse who works

Most doctors aren't getting "absurdly rich" in medicine, at least not anymore, and certainly not by tech industry standards. (Source: I am a medspouse who works in tech outside of SV.) Most of the money is going to private insurance companies and their non-med staff, as well as hospital administrators.

jbullock35 4y ago
> Most doctors aren't getting "absurdly rich" in medicine, at least not anymore, and certainly not by tech industry standards. (Source: I am a medspouse.) "Absurdly rich" is too vague to be meaningful. But on average, in the United States, doctors are better-paid than those in the tech industry. And it is not a close call. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30047116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30047116 for links to tables from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At Hacker News, we may overestimate tech salaries (thinking too much of FAANG salaries, for example). And like most Americans, we may underestimate doctors' wages.
- throwaway6734 4y ago
  Not to mention that doctors are paid in cash and not stock
- hanniabu 4y ago
  As the parent mentioned, you need to consider their malpractice insurance and overhead, which isn't insignificant
- pixelmonkey 4y ago
  You are not considering the cost of graduate school and the opportunity cost of medical school + residency + fellowship (7-12 years), as well as malpractice insurance costs, long working hours, and on-call burden.
- sxg 4y ago
  You can’t overlook the fact that doctors also work about 1.5–2x standard work hours. About 60 hrs/week is on par for most doctors. Many surgeons will be putting in 80 hrs/week or else take a pay cut. Adjusting for that in addition to cost of medical school and time spent in school and residency (7–11 years after college), I don’t think the salary is really that substantially different.
- acidburnNSA 4y ago
  These numbers are arguably biased high from a median point of view for comparison with tech salaries due to the long training required before anyone can start making money as a doctor. Especially for the high end ones that require fellowships. 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of med school, 2-3 years of residency, maybe a chief resident year, 2-4 years of fellowship. So after 10-15 years of training, doctors get their first big paycheck. Meanwhile, smart high school graduates can start making tech salaries in their early 20s. Median lifetime earnings would perhaps be a more useful metric.
Retric 4y ago
The majority of people in Tech are making under 100k and most cap out under 150k. The SV numbers tossed around roughly compare to the percentage of doctors making over 1 million per year which is very real, but again small percentage of the total.

jbullock35 4y ago

> Most doctors aren't getting "absurdly rich" in medicine, at least not anymore, and certainly not by tech industry standards. (Source: I am a medspouse.) "Absurdly rich" is too vague to be meaningful. But on average, in the United States, doctors are better-paid than those in the tech industry. And it is not a close call. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30047116 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30047116 for links to tables from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At Hacker News, we may overestimate tech salaries (thinking too much of FAANG salaries, for example). And like most Americans, we may underestimate doctors' wages.

throwaway6734 4y ago
Not to mention that doctors are paid in cash and not stock
hanniabu 4y ago
As the parent mentioned, you need to consider their malpractice insurance and overhead, which isn't insignificant
pixelmonkey 4y ago
You are not considering the cost of graduate school and the opportunity cost of medical school + residency + fellowship (7-12 years), as well as malpractice insurance costs, long working hours, and on-call burden.
sxg 4y ago
You can’t overlook the fact that doctors also work about 1.5–2x standard work hours. About 60 hrs/week is on par for most doctors. Many surgeons will be putting in 80 hrs/week or else take a pay cut. Adjusting for that in addition to cost of medical school and time spent in school and residency (7–11 years after college), I don’t think the salary is really that substantially different.
acidburnNSA 4y ago
These numbers are arguably biased high from a median point of view for comparison with tech salaries due to the long training required before anyone can start making money as a doctor. Especially for the high end ones that require fellowships. 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of med school, 2-3 years of residency, maybe a chief resident year, 2-4 years of fellowship. So after 10-15 years of training, doctors get their first big paycheck. Meanwhile, smart high school graduates can start making tech salaries in their early 20s. Median lifetime earnings would perhaps be a more useful metric.

Retric 4y ago

The majority of people in Tech are making under 100k and most cap out under 150k. The SV numbers tossed around roughly compare to the percentage of doctors making over 1 million per year which is very real, but again small percentage of the total.