The psychiatric providers do the diagnoses and med management; no one else can do that. And that task is commanding big bucks right now, regardless of what insurance is reimbursing. Other therapies and advising are done by psychotherapists and counselors who deal with more of the patient’s raw emotions.
Psychiatry is really quite lucrative right now. But residency spots are limited as are spots for training NPs to do such work. Those that have the credentials have dozens of job opportunities to choose from, with great pay and benefits.
The trades. Plumbing and wiring are not going to be outsourced to Bangladesh any time soon, automated out of existence, or become outdated by zooming technological ‘progress’. They pay well, and most are not a luxury product that demand for disappears in a downturn. Although you have to work with clients, at least you aren’t responsible for making them smarter, richer, healthy, or sane, which is a plus right there.
At the start of their careers, yes. But salary climbs steeply after the first few years. I think it’s probably the best profession to be in right now.
My eldest decided to fly for a living. Started in the regionals for $23K/year. He’s now in his seventh year and works every other month* for annual income of $180K. Pay will continue increasing to about $280K over the next 5-6 years, assuming current contract and upgrade times remain the same. He is continually fending off recruiters, and recently got offered** a $50K sign-on bonus to change employers. In addition, he flies into some of the most remote and beautiful places on the planet. Last week he texted a pic from some remote atoll in the S Pacific. He’d spent 2 days in Hawaii earlier that week, and was in Alaska the week before. He just turned 30, btw.
*Company schedules are essentially 14 days on, 14 days off. They’re allowed (within rest rules) to “flip” successive on/off periods each month so it’s really 28 days on followed by 28 days off. There’s more complexity than this, but he consistently gets off work for 3-4 weeks in a row every other month. When you include the pay and travel perks, it seems like one of the best jobs in the world to me.
**Verbally from a recruiter, for what that’s worth. He declined so we don’t know all the details.
Is that really true though? Around here (Texas), there’s a huge issue with unlicensed and undocumented Mexicans doing a lot of the construction trade work for new construction and displacing the licensed guys. Most of the carpenters, electricians and plumbers I’ve met haven’t exactly been rolling in the cash; where they can, they’re trying to get into the… higher end(?) side of things- doing custom carpentry on renovations, and designing/building custom electrical and plumbing solutions for higher end homes and/or renovations. Or they’re doing the retail side of it and working for repair outfits that fix light switches and toilet valves.
I am not sure how anyone could say its great to work in mental health. Granted I am not a mental health professional; I, however, have a been a patient for three decades for various mental health issues. Dealing with the mentally ill can be psychologically exhausting and quite a few people burn out of the field and look for work elsewhere.
Oh, it takes a certain mental strength, and many therapists cope with their own issues. They have a better mindset in appreciating the benefits of therapy and using it effectively to cope with their patients’ issues.
Addiction medicine is hot right now; if you’ve got a medical license and can get some additional training in prescribing buprenorphine and methadone at a minimum, or addiction medicine board certification at best, you can see some real nice compensation. That’s IF you can tolerate dealing with opioid addicts all day. They can be tiresome (and I know because I’m a recovering opioid addict).
The impression that I get is that back in the day, if you needed an electrician to wire a newly built house, you didn’t have much choice- you hired an electrician, and he was either a licensed electrician (journeyman or master), or overseen by one. It may not have been a requirement as far as getting the job done, but there wasn’t really any other option.
Nowadays, they probably have some kind of dodge and hire a bunch of unlicensed/undocumented guys to do that work with maybe a small handful of licensed guys to “oversee” it.
Or they just lie outright; construction companies already hire huge numbers of illegal aliens for all sorts of jobs already, why would they be sticky over whether they’re hiring licensed tradesmen to do those jobs?
Well, I would expect for at least government contracts, the contract would require the company to use all licensed tradesmen. Is that not the case?
For instance, a contract I know about requires everyone to have at least Security+ certification. The company can’t just hire a bunch of people without it.
His was mostly free. He was careful enough to choose a dad who had a plane and was a flight instructor.
For beginners, zero-to-hero programs generally run around 80K. Expensive, but the payoff is near that of med school, and it only takes a year to become an instructor. Pullinson instructed for about two years before being eligible for a regional pilot slot. Instructor pay isn’t great, around 20-25K, but it’s the best way to build flight time while getting paid.
Depends if your a state or city where unions are big. St. Louis for example.
I know of guys who went into an auto plant to work on the air conditioning system and they had UAW guys stop them and ask for their union cards which is great because it shows one set of union members looking out for the other ones.
the bad thing about that is getting those union jobs or even a license in some cities you have to have a relative or know someone.
The homeowner themselves are the new competition and they have done a LOT to make some jobs easier. Take plumbing for example. Nobody has to sweat in copper lines. They use plastic and sharkbite fittings. Even setting a new toilet is easy.
Basic electrician stuff like putting in a light switch or outlet is easy.
I find it interesting that several people in this thread have been making statements about what psychiatry is like as a profession without apparently being informed enough about the field to realize that psychiatrists are in fact physicians and that psychiatrists who work for corporate healthcare systems face many of the same problems that DoctorJ touched on.
Personally, if I were trying to advise a kid on a career path, I would tell the to look at the skilled trades. Just because you can go to college doesn’t mean you should. Skilled trade jobs are in many cases harder to outsource, in high demand, and don’t require going into massive debt like a lot of college degrees do nowadays.
Very true, but Psychiatry is one of the remaining bastions of the private solo practice, or small group of Psychiatrists practice, run by them and not a corporation. ce, no need for receptionist.
That’s true; DIY stuff has become a LOT easier than it used to be, especially on the plumbing side of things.
(and installing a new toilet has always been pretty easy, provided you have a good foundation where the toilet bolts are secure and the wax ring can properly seat.)