[jasonz]

But information technology is what I know, and it’s probably too late for me to learn a new field from scratch.

Information technology can absolutely save lives - I'd argue that a developer building medical software can save more lives than a PhD working on a treatment for cancer. The subtle killer these days are all the extra days a patient spends in the hospital. An extra day or two is what leads to complications. Work on solving the inefficiencies of inpatient medicine (documentation, communication, decision making, ect.) and you can go home at night knowing you are literally saving lives with your programming skills.

[tsotha]

>Information technology can absolutely save lives - I'd argue that a developer building medical software can save more lives than a PhD working on a treatment for cancer.

Anything you do that makes an economy a little more efficient frees up resources for other things. In the US those other things end up being more consumption, mostly, but in countries where people don't get enough to eat you could be saving lives. That's why they call it progress. Or used to, anyway.

[rokhayakebe]

* I'd argue that a developer building medical software can save more lives than a PhD working on a treatment for cancer*

Oh no you didn't.