Originally Posted by
youngmd
I am doing the reverse.
I've been a pediatrician for 24 years, and I am switching to aviation.
Playing with cute babies and getting paid for it certainly was nice, but I've done it for a long time, and I don't feel like I am being challenged intellectually anymore.
But the biggest gripe is that I have no control over my schedule. 2-3 patients are scheduled at the same time to see me, and they're forced to wait a long time. I never feel that I have enough time for my patients.
I will miss the deep connections I made with the families over the years.
You think you’ll be intellectually challenged by line operations that are 99.9% completely normal and routine? I can understand that you’re feeling underutilized, and that there’s no more challenge to your job, but really try to think hard about what you’re signing up for.
You think you’ll have control over your schedule? It will take years for that to really be the case. In the mean time, I hope you don’t mind working holidays, spending weeks on the road, living out of a suitcase and sleeping in hotels, etc.
You will no longer be making deep connections with people. You will fly with a captain or FO one time, bond quickly, and then probably not fly with them again for a long time (depending on the size of the airline you’re working at, or your base, but I’m assuming you want to end up at a big legacy carrier). There is very little to no social stimulation, or formation of deep connections.
There are lots of great things about the aviation career, but please know what you are signing up for. I’m not trying to completely slander my own industry, but I just want you to beware. As a pediatrician, you make very good money, get to sleep in your own bed every night, you can have a routine (as a pilot, I haven’t had a routine in over a decade), you can hang with friends on the weekend or after work like normal people, your job isn’t constantly on the line every 6 months when you go in for a medical exam. Just think carefully.