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Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??
2

Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

(OP)
Hi all, first time posting on this forum.

My college degree is in Mechanical Engineering from a respectable state school but decided halfway through to go to medical school.  I thought at the time it would be a fascinating and cool career but am now regretting it.  I went straight from college to medical school, completed that without much trouble, and am currently half way through my intern year in Internal Medicine.

My question is, can I successfully make a change to the engineering field?  I plan on finishing intern year in May 2011 and finishing all my board exams (after which technically I could be a board certified physician in some states, i think, if that helps at all . . . this is mainly to leave the door open if I can't get into engineering).  Also, does anyone know where my M.D. degree might help at all?  I would prefer not to be in any kind of clinical environment and work strictly engineering.

Would people hire me on after what will be 5 years out of college in a different field?  An entry level position would be fine.  I am going to try to take the FE exam in the spring if I get enough time to study.

Also, I'm leaving medicine because I really do not like the clinical aspect and quick/small problem solving involved.  I loved my undergrad engineering courses and the thinking and problem solving we did and can easily see myself doing that.  Currently, I am very lucky to have little debt, so that is not really a factor.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Lots of opportunities in biomedical engineering.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Do you realize the difference in pay between a doctor and an engineer?  With that said, I'm all for doing something that you enjoy.  I tell my sin all the time, "do what you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life".

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Work for a company that designs and makes medical devices.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

(OP)
Yeah, I'm well aware of what I could make as a physician.  For me, it's just such an awful lifestyle in a setting that I have little to no interest in.  Money right now would be the only thing keeping me going, which would be pretty bad (unfortunately at this stage, those of my colleagues with doubts have too much debt and investment to risk anything else).  I just want a job that I at least a few days a month might look forward to . . . Also, chances are I would do a fellowship if I stuck with it, so I would be getting a resident's salary for the next 5-6 years at least.

Anyways, I am looking into biomedical/medical device but feel they would be tough to get with little engineering experience.  Will companies hire me on to start from scratch?  Or is the market tough enough on engineers now and I might not find anything?

Also, most of what I read put starting and graduating ME salaries around mid-50k's?  Is this really true currently? I would be more than happy to start at that right now.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

I agree with TheTick about biomedical engineering.
One problem with being a doctor is the malpractice insurance. I know a couple doctors that can't pay some bills because of the high price insurance. It's cheaper for them to work for the hospital on a salary, but more boring for a lot of them.

Chris
SolidWorks 10 SP4.0
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

If I were hiring for a medical equipment company, someone with both medical and ME degrees would be ideal.  You have all the education you need, now the training starts.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Put your time in orthopedics/sports medicine, or maybe osteopath.  You probably can't get away from the clinical aspect of your training, but then you will have a greater depth of knowledge of the human body, more than just book learning.  I don't have any medical training, just some massage therapy coursework, where it is common knowledge that book learning will never equal familiarity through touching acres and acres of flesh.  The hands-on medical training will ultimately be to your benefit in biomedical engineering.

I'm not clear what it is about the clinical environment that repulses you, but I'm willing to guess it might be the patient interaction.  Having to deal with people who may not be able to explain their problems clearly, or even know what is wrong with their body.  That's why I'm thinking sports medicine might be more agreeable.

"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge."  Ivana Trump

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

If you don't like medicine you probablly won't like most of the jobs you get with BS in engineering.
You won't like the money either.
To bad you wasted yours and everyone elses time.  You could have been a motorcycle mechanic or owned your own Subway franchise by now.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

my college roommate (a med student) encouraged me to consider med school upon completing my BS in ME.  i was 32 at the time of graduation and thought that if i go through med school, i'd be in my early 40's before practicing medicine and likely be in significant debt.  not at that stage of my life did i want to be in that position.  i have enjoyed the engineering work since then . . .

do what your heart tells you . . . you will have no regrets.

there are abundant opportunities for you with your BSME and what med school education you have accomplished.

good luck and enjoy yourself.
-pmover

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Medical and Mechanical? Sounds like a rare combination that many medical device corporations would want. There should be a lot of opportunities from medical device implants up to the usual joint replacement devices. You can be a doctor and not have to do the clinical stuff. KU and WSU (Wichita KS) are talking about taking about taking the aircraft knowledge in composite materials into the medical field. GaTech has a large program in bioengineering that is only a few years old.

As far as engineering jobs, right now the market is tough for Civil and Structural engineers. As an electrical engineer, I've seen worse recessions from the job standpoint in the previous 10 years than the current one.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

I would think there would be a lot of overlap that you could take advantage of. As many have said, biomechanical and medical devices. What about making the robots that are taking the places of humans (in space, bomb squad, underwater, etc)? Or perhaps you could focus on the things humans use and ergonomics? If sports medicine isn't for you, maybe being the guy that designs the football helmet?

-- MechEng2005

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Thanks to IEDs and mines and industrial accidents, the market for prosthetic limbs should be strong for a while, and there is apparently money to be scared up for research and manufacture of better versions.  Serious long term challenges are available there and in other branches of rehabilitative engineering/ bionics.






 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

All good ideas - but if you stay in medicine - go for dermatology.  9-5 working hours - no late calls. no pregos, etc., etc.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Pimple-popper, MD!

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Unless you determined that you hate everything about medicine, I think you could turn your engineering/medical background into a well-paying gig in bioengineering.  It's probably rare to have both.  Similar to engineers that go to law school to become patent attorneys.  Don't worry, you haven't wasted your time in school, you just need to know how to market yourself.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

BTW - from what I hear - many Internists only make around $140,000 a year.  While that is nothing to sneeze at - many engineers with specific talents and experience make this much..or more....

Remember - We can kill them just as fast as any doctor..

and our OATH should also include - "First - do no harm"

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??


A lot of money to be made in laser and cosmetic dermatology, but it's not engineering and you really have to have very good people skills.

"Gorgeous hair is the best revenge."  Ivana Trump

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

"Remember - We can kill them just as fast as any doctor.."
and in greater numbers!

Peter Stockhausen
Senior Design Analyst (Checker)
Infotech Aerospace Services
www.infotechpr.net

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

IM pay, I think, is similar to Family Medicine pay in that there is a gigantic variability as a function of location.  While some place like Los Angeles might only garner $140K, other places, mostly in the middle of the country can double that amount; I don't know how, given the vagaries of insurance.  Obviously, you'd need to be board-certified, etc.

While prosthetics are the most obvious melding of medical and mechanical, it's by no means the only one.  Consider engineered materials for stents and body-electricity powered, mechanically efficient, insulin pumps, etc., as other examples where cutting-edge mechanical designs are needed to solve complex medical problems.

TTFN

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RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

I think those degree combinations set you up for a number of possibilities.  Biomedical engineering like others have said would be perfect.  You could do research in a number of areas. Sky is really the limit.

I would advise you to look into a few ways you could use those degrees, like getting into biomedical, and interview some people that have a few years in that field / career.  Get some feedback on what the career is like (which is kind of what you're doing here I suppose).  But having a face to face discussion with someone who has been there is invaluable.  Sounds like this is something you maybe didn't do and should have prior to pursuing a medical degree.    

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

I used to work for a cataract surgeon (and gear-head) who developed many of the advances in the surgical procedures and, in conjunction with clever engineers in the biomedical profession, the equipment to do these procedures.

Flew his own Jet aircraft, & turbine helicopter, along with enjoying 'toys' to numerous to mention, and world travel.

He once told me that he "really" wanted to be a Psychiatrist.   

Follow your dream, maybe; but sometimes that don't feed the bulldog.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

I notice you haven't gotten much feedback from anyone who works in bioengineering or related fields.  I think Trey's advice is the best, find people with medical degrees that work in engineering and talk to them.  

It looks like, so far at least, there aren't any of theose people here.

And, I think BJC was off base to say you "wasted yours and everyone elses time".  First, your priority should be to do whatever makes the most of the time you have left, not worry about what has come before.  And second, the time you spent in medical school need not be a waste.  Even if you end up as a "normal" mechanical engineer, not working in medicine at all, the background may help you look at problems in another way.  

 

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

OP:

FYI, the doctor who reconstructed my ankles, used a new technique he developed himself.  He was also a Mechanical Engineer.

Good luck.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto:  KISS
Motivation:  Don't ask

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

A mechanical engineering friend who had worked a few years after college, quit and went back to medical school.

When he started his residency, he said he walked into the break room and doctor's were talking about how they should have gone into Engineering instead.

______________________________________________________________________________
This is normally the space where people post something insightful.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

The grass is always greener...

It's funny, how many whining threads and responses have we had where people wished they'd been a doctor and now we get this one!

Bio med is the obvious application, whether you'd be of more value with a bit more medical time under your belt I can't say.

The other place might be operating room sales however that works (I just know an ex colleagues wife is getting into it).

Posting guidelines FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm? (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

Do both, specialization is for insects. Im an insect though

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

There are those that go the other way, as well.  We used to go to an opthmalogist who had started out as an EE.

TTFN

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RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

One of my coworkers in aero was an engr with a family background in medicine. [Father was an MD.] When queried, he said that he didn't like sick people; preferred eng'g. By now he has worked with numerous 'sick' people in the eng'g profession.

RE: Finished medical school/Career change to engineering??

RED FLAG - "Problem Solving"


I read a fascinating article from ASME when I was in high school, about "problem solving" in engineering.  

The gist was that basically when you're in school to be an engineer, you spend all your time learning how to solve complicated engineering problems, but when you get into the workplace most of the complicated problems have already been solved, and engineers tend to be dissatisfied with their jobs because they don't solve new problems, they just implement tried and true solutions to problems over and over.  

The article's main drive was to make engineers present to a big problem in the field - many engineers unconsciously CREATE problems with their designs to solve, by making them more complicated than they need to be.  It's a total subconscious thing, and it happens in both ME and CE for sure.  

Lesson:  Don't assume a switch to engineering will give you a better opportunity to solve problems.

Advice:  I'm a practicing civil engineer and PE running my own consulting business, and I considered going back to school in Biomedical Engineering because I know I could get in, and know the course load wouldn't be any harder than my Fluid Mechs masters.  All the projections are for that field to make huge stacks of cash in the next decade, and the current economy has wrecked Civil and Mechanical.  Sounds to me like you're ideally positioned to go that route if you can get a student loan, so that's absolutely what I'd do if I were you.

 

Hydrology, Drainage Analysis, Flood Studies, and Complex Stormwater Litigation for Atlanta and the South East - http://www.campbellcivil.com

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