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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

#181

Post by HorizonXP »

HorizonXP wrote: post #21

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!

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.

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

#182

Post by yodsanklai »

K0SM0S wrote: post #73
danans wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I reckon that in France, you can become a doctor without capital— although studies are long and absolutely not designed to help the student work a job part time, so there's an underlying social factor at play; gov help doesn't target 18-25s for some reason (most benefits start at 25). It's not perfect, but it's certainly better than having to spend mid-five figures. That the student learns law, medicine, math, physic…

> I reckon that in France, you can become a doctor without capital— although studies are long and absolutely not designed to help the student work a job part time

Correct. I assume it's not specific to France, and that it's the case in many developed countries. I suspect the US are the exception.

I'd add it's uncommon for French students in demanding fields to work part time. However, it is quite easy to get a scholarship if your parents earn below a certain income.

Having money can help though, for instance to pay some external tutors which may be useful to pass the entrance examination.

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

#183

Post by ck425 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #3
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.

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

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.

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

#184

Post by adsljfl3 »

nradov wrote: post #177
wolco wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a limit put in place on supply (seats at medical schools) already. Weeding out is part of that system already. The question is should cost be part of that.. we decided somewhat yes which is fair if you decide to limit supply in the first place.

The actual limit is residency slots. Every year there are many students who graduate from medical school but are unable to practice medicine because they can't get matched to a residency program.

Yep, that's the true barrier to entry. The main issue is there is that Congress has capped the Medicare funded residency roles to the same number since 1997 (Balanced Budget Act of 1997). In that time period, the US population has grown 21%.

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

#185

Post by lrem »

malajubee wrote: post #103
lrem wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 depres…

Eurecom?

INRIA

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

#186

Post by Scoundreller »

refurb wrote: post #163
Scoundreller wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unsure what the US situation is, but there are a lot of benefits to earning $120k/year in a business/professional corporation vs. a salary. At least in Canada anyway.

My understanding is the tax code in Canada is pretty unique when it comes to doctors.

It’s not quite as great as it used to be, but the provinces do have a history of changing corporation laws in their favour.

And often get their liability insurance paid for too.

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

#187

Post by soared »

redis_mlc wrote: post #169
Retric wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people fail to become doctors and or lose their license for various reasons. So, it’s a huge gamble in the US that can easily cause massive financial issues.

What's interesting is that student pilots face those same issues now. To go from ab initio to an airline pilot role, the cost is in the area of $200,000 - $250,000 now and there's a lot of ways to end up not getting picked for an airline job. Entry salary is up from $18,000 to $40,000 or so now, but that's not much improvment considering the cost of training. Part of the issue is the 1,500 hour experience rule, which…

A friend of mine flies island-hopping cargo/shipping in the Puerto Rico area which is a common route to make money, live well, and get enough flight time to land a commercial pilot job in the future.

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

#188

Post by refurb »

Scoundreller wrote: post #186
refurb wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding is the tax code in Canada is pretty unique when it comes to doctors.

It’s not quite as great as it used to be, but the provinces do have a history of changing corporation laws in their favour. And often get their liability insurance paid for too.

Yeah, and I’ve heard there is talk about rolling some of that back even further.

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

#189

Post by aschatten »

billfruit wrote: post #141
outlace wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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.

> 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.

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