30 June 2006

Some career choices.

It's that time (or phase) of life again... career choices.

I've roughly narrowed it down to about 4 or 5 choices. The top three choices are the hardest to decide on.

First, let me take a side note and link this paper I wrote some time ago... The Shantideva Argument

For a complete thorough understanding, read that paper AND the actual Bodhicaryavatara

Here goes:

Choices:
  1. MD/PhD
  2. MD with research distinction
  3. MD (no research)
  4. Physics
  5. Herding goats in Nepal
  6. Herding sheep in New Zealand
These are "Choices", but by no means am I certain to get any of them. I couldn't find a better one-word phrase to label it. The last two are meant to be a joke (obviously), unless my brain cracks, in which case, I'll be on the first Quantas plane out. (or Royal Nepal Airlines).

So why are the first 3 so difficult to decide on? Well, each have their advantages. The dual MD/PhD offers the best education, but is flawed as in I'll probably get a faculty position. That's a big no. I don't want to teach at 30 (perhaps 60). Academic research is slow and plauged by funding problems. Corporate research is better but cut-throat (as in the f4g business majors control what gets funded) and has very limited spots.

The pure MD provides a good stable income (no funding problems..), but I would probably be frustrated not being able to try my own thing.

Thus, the 2nd option is currently the best. Originally it started as the first choice, but now I'm wavering.

So if you know me well enough, you probably know what's going on. My reactions stopped working.

Now for a picture! (and commentary)
So here is a picture of a typical house burning. Let's see what a couple of entities say about it:

  • Business: [standing idle] "Damn, there goes a lot of money"
  • English: [standing idle] "Let us explicate a couple of themes out of the burning house. Observe how fire is red. This means 'anger'."
  • Philosophy: [standing idle] "Is the fire really burning? Perhaps the house is extinguising the flame. Fire seems to be a non-moral good. Also, the fire appears CONSCIOUS."
  • History: [standing idle] "In 4 hours, this house will have been burnt 4 hours ago. Someone give me a book deal for that statement."
  • Japanese: “あそこは火です!大変ですね。”
  • Physics: "That house is weak sauce. [To engineer] Use ____ to build the next house."
  • Civil Engineer: "Yessir."
  • Mechanical Engineer: [frothing on the ground] "durrrr.. durr.." (ed. MechE's are retarded.)
  • MD: "Let's save those people."
  • MD/PhD: "This is how you save them faster, and restore them to post-pubescent vigor. Oh, and here's the vaccine for EVERYTHING. People will also be fire-proof after taking this" (ed. I hope I never have to use the word 'post-pubescent' again)
Any others?

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