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

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

#91

Post by [deleted] »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #39
modsWrk4Appl wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My wife is a resident. The salaries look nice when they're windowed to a single year. Career earnings, it's good but not that great compared to tech - especially when you consider the hours and stress. * 4 years of med school - $0 income - $40k+ of tuition * 3+ years of residency, minimum (4+ for most fields, even more for surgery) - $60k/year ------ If my wife had gone straight into tech, we'd have been better off f…

[deleted]

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

#92

Post by 0239kffkk »

EvanAnderson wrote: post #53
mmmBacon wrote: post #25

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/

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.

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.

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

#93

Post by seccess »

whoisjuan wrote: post #6

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.

A bit tangential, but this reminded me of Dexter Holland [0] the lead singer and songwriter of the band The Offspring. He went on to get a PhD in molecular biology (not an honorary one) and publish various papers about HIV.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland

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

#94

Post by JshWright »

jonshariat wrote: post #70
renewiltord wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a counterpoint, nearly everyone in my family in medicine still loves it. My parents are surgeons in their sixties who don’t need to work any more. My uncles and aunts are GPs, radiologists, and anesthesiologists. My cousins are GPs, nurses, and anesthesiologists. So that’s a spectrum from 21-65 and almost all of them enjoy their jobs. The things that really bother them are poor administrators etc. They’ll quit job…

All of those roles are rather low stress (aside from RN which can vary wildly depending on your dept/floor). The high churn/burnout roles are in critical type care from my experience being married to a nurse. Many docs go without sleep. Either they are on call in the middle of the night and on weekends or they are on 48 hour shifts. Its crazy they are allowed to do that let alone it being the norm.

Anesthesiology can certainly be high stress (the party and the regular hours help make up for that though)

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

#96

Post by outlace »

galacticaactual wrote: post #2

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.

Resident physician here. I have > $200,000 student debt. Doesn't feel good at all.

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

#97

Post by ska »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #86
ska wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 becau…

This has given me something to think about. I appreciate you taking the time.

You're welcome. I think it's a really interesting question in general: where do I want to spend my working time, and to what end? I've spent quite a bit of time thinking on it for my own case, and trying to find technical areas where I hope to be able to find an impact. It was the majority reason I left academic work (not that I am saying that can't be impactful).

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

#98

Post by PetitPrince »

seccess wrote: post #93
whoisjuan wrote: post #6

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.

A bit tangential, but this reminded me of Dexter Holland [0] the lead singer and songwriter of the band The Offspring. He went on to get a PhD in molecular biology (not an honorary one) and publish various papers about HIV. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland

Note that he was already a PhD candidate went he met success with the Offspring. The same could be said of Brian May with astrophysics and Queen.

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

#99

Post by gnramires »

keenmaster wrote: post #7
toomuchtodo wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should start a support group. Seems like there are lots of us who want to leave tech for something that matters.

>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 i…

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.

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

#100

Post by jointpdf »

0239kffkk wrote: post #92
EvanAnderson wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

My dad is a professor of emergency medicine. There are med students that come through in their 30s or 40s (none are former CEOs). It’s obviously not as common as people in their early 20s, but that may just be a self-selection thing (rather than bias against older candidates per se).
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