Will your kids go into the same profession as you?

[RangerNole]

There is no chance my kids do what I do. My son is already in college for computer animation and programing. Daughter couldn't physically do my job, nor has any desire to.

Careful Ponch don't say never they screwed up my old unit and it is just a matter of time till they rig the system to get a female in every SOF unit. Pretty sure though that my current unit will be one of the last to get a female past selection.

 

[billanole]

My parents never steered me in any direction, and I'm still not sure what I want to be...

We keep trying to show her all these different career paths that would be cool, rewarding, etc.. She's just too young still (just turned 14). She keeps moving forward with different school competitions - like Chemistry - but without seeming interested enough in anything to want to learn more about it, get involved, etc. I know she's got plenty of time, but part of me is anxious to see what she wants to be when she grows up.

Easy, Russ. Let her do her thing. At this point she has the world ahead of her.

 

[NDallasRuss]

Easy, Russ. Let her do her thing. At this point she has the world ahead of her.

I know, and she'll be free to do whatever she chooses. I want to show her a lot of possibilities though. Growing up, my parents never really did that, so I went into college wth no direction. It wasn't really their fault, neither of them finished college, and I don't think they really knew how to look ahead like that. I want my kid to have a better perspective on what's out there, so she can make a better choice. I also want her to see that there's a happiness-to-money ratio that will help her to have a better, more fulfilling life.

 

[billanole]

One of my brothers and I taught school for a while as both of our parents did. We both came away with kids (peeps) we keep up with. My kids will not be involved with my work, or their moms.
Boy is off to a film/video life in LA. Girl is in grad school.
One of my brothers took over Dad's retirement business.
My family, both mom and dad, their parents, aunts and uncles, have been involved in schooling, drug stores, or military life for many decades. That is who we seem to be...

 

[nolebum]

My oldest has followed me. Baptist pastor and Ph.d. theologian (should finish next year).

 

[Hopkins Medicine]

Interesting thing is my parents never once steered us into what career to pursue, and I never have with my daughter who is pre med.

I don't come from a family of doctors, but this was my experience as well.

I went to med school with a few gunners who were obviously only in medicine because their parents pushed it on them; now most of them are in a completely unrelated field, having either dropped out of med school entirely or not using their MD degree in a clinical field but instead going into health tech startups, etc.

Residency is the real separator IMO. A lot of people think it might be fun/cool to be a doctor, and then they wake up as an intern one morning at 4 AM to round in the hospital and pull a 36 hour shift, only to realize they are making minimum wage level salaries based on hours worked and that their college friends who went into business/finance or law have a much better quality of life and are making a lot more money.

I freaking loved residency though, it was hard and exhausting and I was broke but damn what a ride.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

What is your take on the long shifts required in a residency? Always thought it seemed kind of silly, and potentially dangerous.

 

[squiffynole]

Kind of but not really.

I'm actually a shy person but somehow spent my career in public settings all across the state for 40 years.

My daughter is much more outgoing, she is a photographer lately she has been covering homecoming football games across the region 3 or 4 in the last week alone. Btw, she says Colquitt High is the most intense by far.

We both like the travel but my inner insecurity drives me to do while she prefers to watch.

 

[DanC78]

I'm in software sales and I hope my kids do not do the same, it's way to stressful.

I'd like to see my kids go into engineering.

 

[ericram]

While my profession has given me everything I have in my entire life, I hope he goes into something like else. The state of healthcare makes it not so attractive for the future generation.

 

[fsunole025]

As a consultant I travel out of state most weeks. I have a daughter. It's rare to find women who are able to travel frequently and have the technology background necessary to be a consultant in our organization.

My daughter might not become a consultant but I hope whatever she does is as much fun as i have and is for similar reasons I do what I do. What she does is less important to me than why she does it.

 

[Hopkins Medicine]

What is your take on the long shifts required in a residency? Always thought it seemed kind of silly, and potentially dangerous.

It's a more complex issue than at first glance.

Obviously having people staying awake for 3 or 4 days in a row is not good for taking care of hospitalized patients.

On the other hand, if you limit the shifts too much, you get frequent handovers of patients, which leads to its own set of problems.

There's something to be said for being responsible for a set of patients that you know well all night long rather than handing them off to another doc who knows nothing about them.

I can cite many examples of times on call when I was dog tired but I stopped a "fresh" resident from doing harm to a patient because I knew the patients better.

There was a new study a year ago which showed that reducing residency hours actually led to worse patient outcomes because it increased the number of handovers to a point where patient care was affected.

 

[OrlandNole]

It's a more complex issue than at first glance.

Obviously having people staying awake for 3 or 4 days in a row is not good for taking care of hospitalized patients.

On the other hand, if you limit the shifts too much, you get frequent handovers of patients, which leads to its own set of problems.

There's something to be said for being responsible for a set of patients that you know well all night long rather than handing them off to another doc who knows nothing about them.

I can cite many examples of times on call when I was dog tired but I stopped a "fresh" resident from doing harm to a patient because I knew the patients better.

There was a new study a year ago which showed that reducing residency hours actually led to worse patient outcomes because it increased the number of handovers to a point where patient care was affected.

That makes sense.

On the other hand, there's a lot of potential for abuse that can lead to burnout. A friend of mine's wife is a physician at Vandy. She started a resident advocacy program there to address the issue.

 

[EconSean]

I'm a health economist and my wife is a professor at Pitt, but really she's a card-carrying scientist (a virologist). Our son is very much into science, has strong grasp of the scientific method (at 8 years of age), and has said he wants to be a scientist.

I have mixed feelings about this, mainly because I do not think academia is the greatest. It can be a real slog...until you get tenure (which Carolyn does have, thank goodness).

Hockey practice just started, so he's pretty sure he's going pro in a few years.

 

[RTM58]

I don't come from a family of doctors, but this was my experience as well.

I went to med school with a few gunners who were obviously only in medicine because their parents pushed it on them; now most of them are in a completely unrelated field, having either dropped out of med school entirely or not using their MD degree in a clinical field but instead going into health tech startups, etc.

Residency is the real separator IMO. A lot of people think it might be fun/cool to be a doctor, and then they wake up as an intern one morning at 4 AM to round in the hospital and pull a 36 hour shift, only to realize they are making minimum wage level salaries based on hours worked and that their college friends who went into business/finance or law have a much better quality of life and are making a lot more money.

I freaking loved residency though, it was hard and exhausting and I was broke but damn what a ride.

Saw this and thought of you.

Junior Doctors are qualified doctors on clinical training. Dealing with feces, snot, and sputum on a daily basis, here are some other things they wish they knew before they started.

 

[Phyrst1]

No, the world's a different place....

 

[billanole]

No, the world's a different place....

What an awesome memory. Thanks.

 

[runkpanole]

Good God, I hope not.

 

[jamnolfin]

They wish

 

[NoleGrad83]

My daughter does want to teach. I don't know that I'd recommend it now for anyone new to the profession.

 

[Hopkins Medicine]

Saw this and thought of you.

Junior Doctors are qualified doctors on clinical training. Dealing with feces, snot, and sputum on a daily basis, here are some other things they wish they knew before they started.

View embedded media

Meh, I deal with that stuff way more as a parent than a doctor.

The thing I wish I knew beforehand was how small oversights can turn into catastrophes if you are not careful.

As an intern I once admitted a 6 y/o boy with leukemia into the hospital one night and put him on a medicine that almost destroyed his kidneys because I started the med before his bloodwork came back showing his kidney function was very poor (it was normal according to a test drawn 3 weeks prior). He ended up OK, but I felt horrible. Waking a parent up at 3 AM to tell them you accidentally harmed their child still haunts me to this day. They were beyond graceful and fortunately he overcame it with no long term damage done.

 

[DanC78]

I'm in software sales and I hope my kids do not do the same, it's way to stressful.

I'd like to see my kids go into engineering.

I am having second thought about my kids not going into this profession.

Now that I know what my Bro-n-Law makes, I feel much better about my income when you look at my education and "smarts". My BNL is incredibly smart and very well educated, he is capable of doing just about anything. I was, and I am, still shocked at the revenue he brings in. I am now even more impressed how he manages it.

My counterpart and teammate is incredible sharp; he made 2M last year and on track to make 5M this year. If my kids have the smarts that I don't and can apply it to a job like this, they can make "great money".

 

[LesClaypool]

I am having second thought about my kids not going into this profession.

Now that I know what my Bro-n-Law makes, I feel much better about my income when you look at my education and "smarts". My BNL is incredibly smart and very well educated, he is capable of doing just about anything. I was, and I am, still shocked at the revenue he brings in. I am now even more impressed how he manages it.

My counterpart and teammate is incredible sharp; he made 2M last year and on track to make 5M this year. If my kids have the smarts that I don't and can apply it to a job like this, they can make "great money".

What kind of software do you sell?

 

[DanC78]

What kind of software do you sell?

ERP (HR and FINS) to enterprise companies.

 

[nole71911]

I do not really care what my daughter does for a profession as long as she can make money at it. I have an accounting degree, finance degree, mba, and a CPA.........and work/slave in banking. I am not paying for a degree that wont allow for her to make money ( so basically only business accounting/finance/MIS, engineering, medical stuff, MAYBE law school). If she wants to do something that doesn't require at least calculus she can pay for that degree herself and best of luck to her.

 

[RunRonnieRun]

I do not really care what my daughter does for a profession as long as she can make money at it. I have an accounting degree, finance degree, mba, and a CPA.........and work/slave in banking. I am not paying for a degree that wont allow for her to make money ( so basically only business accounting/finance/MIS, engineering, medical stuff, MAYBE law school). If she wants to do something that doesn't require at least calculus she can pay for that degree herself and best of luck to her.

You sound like such a good dad.

 

[Nole Lou]

You sound like such a good dad.

Positioned a bit harshly, but I don't have a problem with the basic sentiment. For as long as you're responsible for them, I don't think you have a responsibility to let them "chase their dreams" in every case. I wouldn't let my kids develop diabetes because their passion was Doritos and their dream was become a professional eating contestant. There are plenty of ways to pursue your passion without spending six figures on a college degree.

I suppose the thoughts on this will have a lot to do with:
a. Whether you have enough money that $200k doesn't mean anything to you, combined with additional support after college
b. Whether you personally experienced being poor, having student loans and having a useless degree

If you've lived the second one, like I have and my wife has, and spent 25 years regretting our "passion" majors, that's going to have an influence. The parents who told us "You're special, you're definitely the one who will make it!" and "Don't worry about it, you're so smart you'll find a good job as long as you have a degree" did us ZERO favors. So we won't be doing that with our kids. The follow your dreams thing is fine for 8 year olds..18 year olds don't need it sugarcoated.

And I'm not opposed to them chasing their dreams. If they want to be an actor, if they want to move to LA and wait tables and share an apartment with six people to see if they can make it, I'm cool with that. When my daughter was talking about that as a teenager, I told her I'd take her out there and we'd check out places when she graduates. But we're not spending a quarter million dollars on a degree in Improvisational Theory as the first step.

 

[nole71911]

You sound like such a good dad.

In North Carolina by time my daughter is 18 it will probably cost about 175K for all 4 years of college. Of which I will have the money saved, but I am not about to waste it on some degree that's going to pay her $40K a year the rest of her life. If that's the case I would be better off buying her a house cash, a car, furnish the house and she become a secretary somewhere. That would be a better use of the $

 

[nole71911]

Positioned a bit harshly, but I don't have a problem with the basic sentiment. For as long as you're responsible for them, I don't think you have a responsibility to let them "chase their dreams" in every case. I wouldn't let my kids develop diabetes because their passion was Doritos and their dream was become a professional eating contestant. There are plenty of ways to pursue your passion without spending six figures on a college degree.

I suppose the thoughts on this will have a lot to do with:
a. Whether you have enough money that $200k doesn't mean anything to you, combined with additional support after college
b. Whether you personally experienced being poor, having student loans and having a useless degree

If you've lived the second one, like I have and my wife has, and spent 25 years regretting our "passion" majors, that's going to have an influence. The parents who told us "You're special, you're definitely the one who will make it!" and "Don't worry about it, you're so smart you'll find a good job as long as you have a degree" did us ZERO favors. So we won't be doing that with our kids. The follow your dreams thing is fine for 8 year olds..18 year olds don't need it sugarcoated.

And I'm not opposed to them chasing their dreams. If they want to be an actor, if they want to move to LA and wait tables and share an apartment with six people to see if they can make it, I'm cool with that. When my daughter was talking about that as a teenager, I told her I'd take her out there and we'd check out places when she graduates. But we're not spending a quarter million dollars on a degree in Improvisational Theory as the first step.

My dad gave me a list of degrees he was paying for at FSU, and ones he wasn't. Well his list looked a lot like the one I referenced above hehehehehehe. As he told me when I left for Broward Hall many moons ago, "You can get educated on your own damn time, you are here to get a job and not come back home to my house. Only one grown man can live in one house, and I pay for this one so you have to go." In retrospect I cant really argue with my parents logic, I understand what they were saying. Grown folks have to stand on their own two feet, and if I am paying thousands of dollars for college you damn sure better be able to do it!