Doctor (M.D.) or Programmer?

[Mind of a beast]

My domain of mastery is philosophy.

My life purpose is to transcend, transform people and raise their consciousness.

Now the domain of mastery and life purpose are clear , I have a new dilemma.

I want to spend every minute in the service of other human beings.

I am currently pursuing dermatology by studying its competitive exams.

Yesterday I came across Peter Singer who has written philosophy books ( which I also intend to write ) and contributed to social good by founding nonprofit organizations.

I want to do that. My primary goal is to write world class philosophy books.

My secondary goal is to do something good for society.

Then I stumbled upon 80000hours.org which focuses on careers doing good for society. It focuses on effective altruism.

Doing dermatology isn't that great for social good.

So I thought maybe I can become a programmer ( full stack web developer) and create softwares for nonprofit and for profits organisations who do good for society.

Con of being a programmer is that it can be mentally exhausting.

So can I get enough time for writing philosophy books ( which is already a huge exhausting task )and doing socially good by becoming a programmer?

Should I switch my career from doctor to programmer?

 

 

[outlandish]

Funny, as a programmer who works for nonprofits and is really happy with his life, I don't think I'd recommend you switch careers. In fact, looking back sometimes I wonder why I didn't go into medicine myself. I definitely had/have the interest and aptitude in biology and medicine to go that route, but ended up with computers because they are also fascinating. I had a lot of friends who were going into medicine and it seemed like they were chasing Success, and I felt a bit too punk for that or something. But looking back I was making a false association. 

The thing is with medicine you can really directly help people, and I think that would be very fulfilling. As a computer programmer, you are just kind of making the machines work. It's a lot more abstract and technological.

With either career you could definitely write on the side. It would just be a matter of making the time for it and having the discipline to actually do it. I don't see either medicine or programming being an advantage in enabling this.

Medicine might give you more of the human insight that would come into play into making you a great writer on philosophical topics. OTOH we are entering an increasingly technological future, and perhaps that's where the interesting philosophical margins lie. Not sure you'd get any particularly deeper insights into the philosophical implications of technology as a full-stack web developer though, vs what a layman or doctor could observe.

In the end you'll have to trust your guts and come to your own conclusions. It's really hard to peer into the future. Try to suspend any decision until you've taken a really honest and fair look at both sides without unreasonably glamourizing or idealizing either side.

[Onemanwolfpac]

10 hours ago, Mind of a beast said:

My domain of mastery is philosophy.

My life purpose is to transcend, transform people and raise their consciousness.

Now the domain of mastery and life purpose are clear , I have a new dilemma.

I want to spend every minute in the service of other human beings.

I am currently pursuing dermatology by studying its competitive exams.

Yesterday I came across Peter Singer who has written philosophy books ( which I also intend to write ) and contributed to social good by founding nonprofit organizations.

I want to do that. My primary goal is to write world class philosophy books.

My secondary goal is to do something good for society.

Then I stumbled upon 80000hours.org which focuses on careers doing good for society. It focuses on effective altruism.

Doing dermatology isn't that great for social good.

So I thought maybe I can become a programmer ( full stack web developer) and create softwares for nonprofit and for profits organisations who do good for society.

Con of being a programmer is that it can be mentally exhausting.

So can I get enough time for writing philosophy books ( which is already a huge exhausting task )and doing socially good by becoming a programmer?

Should I switch my career from doctor to programmer?

 

 

What is your age? I ask because med school is a long slog. You can have a outrageous debt. You can learn to code solo, community college, uni, coding bootcamp. Personally, I rather code but maybe medicine is your interest. Check free coding bootcamp YouTuber and udemy. Only you can decide but i am probably older than you. 

[supremeyingyang]

@Mind of a beast

Well, if you choose Programming I'd not go into Web Development because everyone does this if they want to get into the Industry => More Competition.

Or Game Industry.

Choose something most people see as boring like Desktop App Dev. or OS Development (for example for the Linux Kernel), Database related Skills, System Administration. You can do great things for the public AND you have no competition AND you'll never struggle with money

[Mind of a beast]

@outlandish  Wow, you work for nonprofits?  That's exactly what I want. 

I have taken decision to switch career to become a programmer.

I want to create softwares and sell them to companies. For that , which course should I take?

I am thinking about taking full stack web development course.

Will this help me to make social impact?

[Mind of a beast]

@Onemanwolfpac  My age is 34 , single. I've made the decision that I am going to be a programmer.

I want to help underprivileged people.

So which course should I take for that?

[Mind of a beast]

@supremeyingyang So which course should I take ?

What do you suggest??

[Mind of a beast]

@Theta Yes, you are right. I haven't done any programming yet.

Also I don't want to be in medical field anymore.

So should I join freecodecamp.org to make small bets?

[supremeyingyang]

 

5 hours ago, Mind of a beast said:

I am thinking about taking full stack web development course.

It's a good start for whatever Programiming Field you want to go into. I like this one: https://www.udemy.com/course/the-web-developer-bootcamp/

6 hours ago, Mind of a beast said:

@outlandish  Will this help me to make social impact?

How can I know? I guess yes but if you only want much Social Impact you could just be a Youtuber or be a activist and host a website from a lego-like web site builder. If you study hard however you could maintain the linux kernel among other, build databases for charity organizations.. But this'll be brutal hard and time consuming - that why now one else wants to do it for such a low payment. But it needs to get done.

6 hours ago, Mind of a beast said:

@Onemanwolfpac  My age is 34 , single. I've made the decision that I am going to be a programmer.

Tell me what you did before for a living. Hobbys ? If you are a Gamer that would be a plus here because that would prove that you can sit for a long time in front of a computer without human interaction

[supremeyingyang]

And please do not forget that the trend goes to let low level programming get done by programs & algorhythms, you want to write such programs and maintain them. You want not do the drudgery of centering a 100ß divs (if you don't get this, you'll soon^^)

yeah this'll mean you need to get into a field there it's too messy for a standart algorythms or, brave yourself, you have to learn --- math (aaah) ^^

Edited June 28, 2020 by supremeyingyang

[Mind of a beast]

@Theta  My ideal day would be - wake up early on 4 AM , read and write philosophical books till noon.

Then I would be doing something that will help people.

This something could be online business, coding for nonprofit etc.

As I am thinking more, I am leaning towards creating an online business which would help people.

So coding will be a tool for creating an online business.

What do you think?

 

[Mind of a beast]

@supremeyingyang  Yeah, I was a gamer. I can sit for a long time in front of a computer.

I was a medical officer serving a rural village. 

I am an extreme introvert , I don't and can't interact with people .

I also have hearing difficulty ( sensory neural deafness) which prevents me doing interactive work with people.

So my plan is now to create an online business and write philosophical books side by side.