[lintroller]

Since this is mostly a place where those in the software industry spend time, your story is generally going to veer off the path most people here took in their career.

Can I ask for more detail about why it was that software was not the proper path for you?

[pragone]

Absolutely!

I found that I was spending an inordinate amount of time in front of a computer and not interacting with anyone. I also was extremely disappointed with a general lack of self-improvement; I think part of that was that I just graduated, where I was used to everyone constantly studying and working to improve themselves. These experiences may have also been in the minority in the industry, but they were my experiences.

I also had EMS experience in college, so I knew what it was like to treat patients, and I missed that very greatly. I've loved every day I've gotten to talk with patients here in medical school, and can't wait to start truly practicing medicine.

I do still do some web development work, including incorporating my current predicament - traveling the country interviewing for residency. I worked with two current residents to build Swap&Snooze (www.swapandsnooze.com)

[Dowwie]

Don't discount your expertise! I met a doctor who programs and that lead him to becoming the resident health informatics guru on staff. We met at a local Meetup for a programming language.

[pragone]

for sure! I hope to be able to incorporate my previous life into my future career. My real dream is to build an EMR designed for patient care, but is also able to do billing (all EMRs were designed and built for billing specifications, and is one of the reasons they all suck to use as clinicians). But I don't have the time or energy to pursue the enterprise sales apparently necessary for the field.

[profalseidol]

Most doctors I've talked to, my Pulmonologist, and doctors that do the checkup during company required medical checkups talked like robots. Saying the same sentences every patient every day gets old fast.

I remember one doctor playing his gameboy while waiting for the next patient in his very small examination room.

That looked to me very uninteresting. What do you think?

Edit: My Dad however long ago, a GP, had his own clinic in our remote town. Went to medical missions to an even more remote island riding on a speedboat. That should be interesting.

[pragone]

Very interesting observation! I would say that that is definitely a stereotype - accurate, but not as common as you might think.

For me, the real difference is every patient's response - some (many?) doctors treat the job as a job. For me, this is a calling. I'm there to help every individual (in my case, in the emergency department). So every interaction is unique because every patient is unique. I go through roughly the same questioning and physical for most patients, but the interaction, their responses, how we get along, etc. is always, always different. I could see two patients with the same exact problem and do the same exact things, and take away two completely different experiences.

To analogize to computers, its as if you ran the same program on different computers and got a slightly different result each time. Or perhaps that each terminal responds slightly differently. Though I suppose in those contexts it'd just be annoying/frustrating... it's not a great analogy lol

[profalseidol]

Another analogy would be is working with different client. Every client has their own domain and can be very interesting. You'd however might need to quit and change jobs if currently in a company focused on one product/client/domain.

One of my previous companies was about writing automated betting software for Horse Racing. Interesting.

And for sure there are lots more domain.

[pragone]

That's a good way of putting it!

[JBlue42]

Nice website. 1/2 my cohort of close friends are doctors and I'm sure they would've loved something similar. I'll send this their way in case they know people that might be able to use it.

The top comment on this recent HN is from an orthopedic surgery resident who also has a side business so seems there's plenty of ways to continue to integrate both in your life:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18077766