I think that some people are possibly posting out of bitterness when mentioning the original poster was only concerned with money. I think the main point he was making is that interns and residents working 80+ hours a week is ridiculous, unsafe and actually makes for an nasty work environment that can have effects on patients. There is another level to this altogether though. It could be argued that doctors are supposed to understand what a healthy balanced life is. The field of Medicine can hardly serve as a role model for this in its present state.
And to those saying that whining about 55k is ridiculous. You also have to look at the debt someone going to med school takes on. If you owed up to 250k and were working 80+ hours a week making 55k, don't you think such a miserable existence would negatively affect your behavior?
I had previously worked as a WAN admin/Security for a international software company. All of the "upper" IT staff carried mobile phones (ie. expected to be on call 24/7). We all worked 50-60 hours/week minimum and often came in on the weekends. This was a few years ago when the job market was down. I got so frustrated coming in at 4am and not being compensated (not even lieu time). I decided that if someone was going to call me at 4am it should be for a damn good reason. Since making a horizontal move is difficult when the job market is down, I did what seemed to be the only sensible thing and decided to change careers completely. I am almost finished medical school now. My life is currently a financial mess and it has been a massive effort. However, when I think about how stagnant things would have been if I had stayed in my previous work environment I have no regrets.
I read a few of the comments regarding this story. Many people mentioned that you have to stand up for yourself, change jobs etc when being used by your company. However if you have less than 3 years under your belt, quitting and finding another job in a fair company is difficult.
Another individual implied that successful companies don't have dead weight executives. I would totally disagree. Where I used to work there were several people on the corporate welfare package. (Essentially sitting on their butts all day and getting a six figure salary). Working in such an environment is frustrating.
There are a lot of decent companies that treat their employees fairly and in times of need even more will provide good conditions in order to recruit talent. However for every honest and fair employer how many poor ones are there out there? That is why there are people pushing for this law.
Technology was supposed to make it easier for people to live. It was supposed to give us more free time. It is somewhat ironic that those of us who build and support this infrastructure are not living with that lifestyle at all. The culture of corporate America has changed other fields outside IT as well. Perhaps I have a different perspective since I think that time becomes a more important commodity as you get older.
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I think that some people are possibly posting out of bitterness when mentioning the original poster was only concerned with money. I think the main point he was making is that interns and residents working 80+ hours a week is ridiculous, unsafe and actually makes for an nasty work environment that can have effects on patients. There is another level to this altogether though. It could be argued that doctors are supposed to understand what a healthy balanced life is. The field of Medicine can hardly serve as a role model for this in its present state. And to those saying that whining about 55k is ridiculous. You also have to look at the debt someone going to med school takes on. If you owed up to 250k and were working 80+ hours a week making 55k, don't you think such a miserable existence would negatively affect your behavior?
I had previously worked as a WAN admin/Security for a international software company. All of the "upper" IT staff carried mobile phones (ie. expected to be on call 24/7). We all worked 50-60 hours/week minimum and often came in on the weekends. This was a few years ago when the job market was down. I got so frustrated coming in at 4am and not being compensated (not even lieu time). I decided that if someone was going to call me at 4am it should be for a damn good reason. Since making a horizontal move is difficult when the job market is down, I did what seemed to be the only sensible thing and decided to change careers completely. I am almost finished medical school now. My life is currently a financial mess and it has been a massive effort. However, when I think about how stagnant things would have been if I had stayed in my previous work environment I have no regrets. I read a few of the comments regarding this story. Many people mentioned that you have to stand up for yourself, change jobs etc when being used by your company. However if you have less than 3 years under your belt, quitting and finding another job in a fair company is difficult. Another individual implied that successful companies don't have dead weight executives. I would totally disagree. Where I used to work there were several people on the corporate welfare package. (Essentially sitting on their butts all day and getting a six figure salary). Working in such an environment is frustrating. There are a lot of decent companies that treat their employees fairly and in times of need even more will provide good conditions in order to recruit talent. However for every honest and fair employer how many poor ones are there out there? That is why there are people pushing for this law. Technology was supposed to make it easier for people to live. It was supposed to give us more free time. It is somewhat ironic that those of us who build and support this infrastructure are not living with that lifestyle at all. The culture of corporate America has changed other fields outside IT as well. Perhaps I have a different perspective since I think that time becomes a more important commodity as you get older.