4 ms·

This “early retirement” obsession is a symptom of the meaningless of most modern day work. I have never met anyone with a meaningful job who wants to retire, l

by spaceman_2020 4y ago

This “early retirement” obsession is a symptom of the meaningless of most modern day work. I have never met anyone with a meaningful job who wants to retire, let alone retire early. All the surgeons, social workers, artists I know want to keep working till the day they die.

somenameforme 4y ago
Your sample on doctors at least is almost certainly off. Here [1] is a random recent report from Massachusetts but it's very much the rule and not the exception. All the following are on physicians: - 55% showing symptoms of burn out - more than 50% looking to reduce hours, 25% looking to leave medicine altogether - 1 in 3 felt their work schedule allowed time for a personal/family life And so on. It's also not COVID. The reason I looked this up was personal anecdata from long before COVID. I have family in medicine and so was casually acquainted with a number of doctors, literally all of whom were less than enthusiastic about their jobs. You get paid a lot, but the hours are absolutely brutal, you spend an ungodly amount of time just filling out regulations related paperwork, and it's just generally a really painful career. Part of being a good doctor is hiding all of this from the patient, and making it look like every day is a joy to be there doing what you love. In med school you literally study good bedside manner. [1] - https://www.massmed.org/Publications/Research,-Studies,-and-Reports/Supporting-MMS-Physicians--Well-being-Report---Recommendations-to-Address-the-Ongoing-Crisis/ https://www.massmed.org/Publications/Research,-Studies,-and-...
- nradov 4y ago
  Doctors have huge variances in job satisfaction and overall happiness based on specialty. https://www.mdlinx.com/article/these-doctor-specialties-are-the-happiest/7m8muP4vVSc1nSLq4WX706 https://www.mdlinx.com/article/these-doctor-specialties-are-...
  - somenameforme 4y ago
    Not to nitpick there, but I wouldn't really call that much variance. That study showed a job happiness ranging from 24-43% by specialty. It's certainly a sizable range, but even the high end of 43% happiness is not what you'd describe as the sort of job people want to work till the day they die.
SauciestGNU 4y ago
In addition to the sibling comment, social work is one of the highest burnout rate fields. Anecdotally, none of the LMSWs I know are still practicing, one I'm close with has changed careers to agriculture and prefers working as a farmhand to social work, despite having a MSW and state license.

somenameforme 4y ago

Your sample on doctors at least is almost certainly off. Here [1] is a random recent report from Massachusetts but it's very much the rule and not the exception. All the following are on physicians: - 55% showing symptoms of burn out - more than 50% looking to reduce hours, 25% looking to leave medicine altogether - 1 in 3 felt their work schedule allowed time for a personal/family life And so on. It's also not COVID. The reason I looked this up was personal anecdata from long before COVID. I have family in medicine and so was casually acquainted with a number of doctors, literally all of whom were less than enthusiastic about their jobs. You get paid a lot, but the hours are absolutely brutal, you spend an ungodly amount of time just filling out regulations related paperwork, and it's just generally a really painful career. Part of being a good doctor is hiding all of this from the patient, and making it look like every day is a joy to be there doing what you love. In med school you literally study good bedside manner. [1] - https://www.massmed.org/Publications/Research,-Studies,-and-Reports/Supporting-MMS-Physicians--Well-being-Report---Recommendations-to-Address-the-Ongoing-Crisis/ https://www.massmed.org/Publications/Research,-Studies,-and-...

nradov 4y ago
Doctors have huge variances in job satisfaction and overall happiness based on specialty. https://www.mdlinx.com/article/these-doctor-specialties-are-the-happiest/7m8muP4vVSc1nSLq4WX706 https://www.mdlinx.com/article/these-doctor-specialties-are-...
- somenameforme 4y ago
  Not to nitpick there, but I wouldn't really call that much variance. That study showed a job happiness ranging from 24-43% by specialty. It's certainly a sizable range, but even the high end of 43% happiness is not what you'd describe as the sort of job people want to work till the day they die.

SauciestGNU 4y ago

In addition to the sibling comment, social work is one of the highest burnout rate fields. Anecdotally, none of the LMSWs I know are still practicing, one I'm close with has changed careers to agriculture and prefers working as a farmhand to social work, despite having a MSW and state license.