From surgeon to developer: how to change profession in 40 years?

Hello! My name is Alexey, I am a tmlid in a large IT company. Now I am 43, only in 40 years I became a developer, and before that I was a practicing surgeon for 15 years. I share with you how, in the middle of my life, I changed my profession, about fears, risks, and plans connected with it.

Perhaps my experience will be useful to those who want to change their lives, but are afraid or doubt. Now I can say that there really is enough risk in this matter, but the result can exceed all expectations. And age or other circumstances should not cause NOT to try and NOT try.

In 1998 I graduated from the Samara State Medical University, in 2000 I completed the residency in the specialty “Surgery” and at the same time defended my thesis. He moved to Usinsk (Komi Republic), where he worked as a surgeon for 8 years, then he was in Khanty-Mansiysk (Ugra), where I continued to work in my specialty.

Surgery is an interesting area, a job that is both very fascinating and fairly exhausting. I performed mainly thoracoabdominal operations, as well as ambulance. In areas had to do from trepanations to amputations. Although it is a common practice for a district surgeon, there is no multipurpose anywhere.

During his work he increased his professional level with the help of additional specializations, including in hospitals and hospitals in France, the Czech Republic and the USA.

In general, my career was developing successfully, there were professional prospects, but there were also difficulties. In Russia, a doctor is a vocation. Not in the sense of loving one's business and dedicating oneself to him completely. That was enough. Despite the fact that you are daily responsible for the life and health of people, you and your family have to practically survive. In the north (the Komi Republic, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug) one can still get a good salary of a doctor, but in the middle lane the situation is extremely difficult. I had to return there: in a small homeland (the city of Penza) there remained parents who need help and support.

And in this region, with wages very tight. In order not to be without money after the next move, it was necessary to take care of the future in advance. Hobby helped. In my free time I rescued my acquaintances — I set up the software. Even at one time he worked as a programmer at a fire station in Usinsk. The head of the fire department was my patient, and then he offered additional income. Mainly doing external reports and modifying the configuration of 1C Enterprise for their organization. In general, I had to learn the simple language 1C. In addition, he wrote and maintained a firebirth accounting system on FireBird & Delphi.

I was self-taught, I didn’t have any special knowledge, I just liked programming by itself. I decided that the additional profession will not interfere, but will be my safety net. Therefore, in 2011, he entered the correspondence department at the Tomsk State University of Control Systems and Radio Electronics, specializing in “Software for computer systems and automated systems”. Finished his extern in 2014.

It was very difficult to combine surgery, family and training in a new specialty. However, I understood that basic knowledge is necessary for further development. I know that there are self-taught, but this is a more complicated and complicated path.

In the same 2014, I moved to the Volga region with my family. In all cities in the middle zone, the salary situation is deplorable. For 20 thousand doctoral s / n, that I was offered in Penza, it is impossible to provide a decent life for yourself and your family. It was necessary to decide what to do next. On the one hand, the usual life, professional success, but critically low wages and a sad prospect - financially, there was no change. On the other hand, the starting position in the new profession and not the fact that "shoot" and I am in the age "far beyond 30" will achieve something. However, the hope of raising the standard of living of the family and making good money in the future outweighed fears.

By the time I quit and began to look for work in the specialty of the developer, I had a small accumulation. This airbag should have been enough for a year, if, of course, to live modestly, not on a big foot. Another safety net - I realized that I could return to my previous job at any time, if something goes wrong or I change my mind. There is no need to talk about absolute recklessness in my circumstances: no one has canceled the maintenance of family, children, and help to parents. In addition, the decision to change the profession coincided with the wife’s maternity leave. We were waiting for the second son. In a sense, this served as an additional incentive for change.

The first place I got to start a Delphi-developer was a company that specializes in the development of electronic equipment. It was then that I felt what it means to be a developer in practice. For a year, I lived in a non-stop mode: work - study - sleep - study - work without weekends and holidays. It was a tense time, because in fact I needed to reach a more or less good level in a short time in order to grow professionally and rely on a higher position. But it was worth it: mastered C / C ++ and Delphi.

In the current company, I was by chance. My wife saw an open job, we discussed and decided: why not try it? Then I doubted: a large company, a serious product, I have little experience, was not at all sure that something would come of it. But I responded to the vacancy, I decided that it was worth a try. I did the test, I was invited to an interview at the head office. I was worried, but everything went smoothly and they took me on probation for 2 months.

The advantages, which I immediately appreciated: a good salary, a cool team, the ability to work remotely and growth prospects. He started from the position of an ordinary developer, 1.5 years before he reached the Timlid. Now almost all my working time is occupied by SIEM: preparing candidate releases, writing connectors, developing further functionality. Sometimes I fix old “bugs” that I inherited from work colleagues, and I participate in the development of the common for all SDK components interaction between components (REST). The tasks are interesting, the team is strong.

Now I am writing in Delphi, Go, I have done a bit of work with C #. As a DB, I studied MSSQL and MongoDB at a good level. Now I can live and work in the region where it is convenient for me, to do business that I like, and at the same time not be disadvantaged financially.

As they say, life is divided into “before” and “after”, although the social circle has not changed much and consists of former colleagues, medical workers. I communicate with them and see that the problems in this area are the same. I don’t feel any nostalgia for the former profession, it’s just a great pity that the medical industry itself suffers from the same “diseases” year after year. I understand how it is not just my former colleagues, because I have never regretted my decision and the change of occupation.

Now looking back, I can see what could have been done better and what should be done, if you also decide to change your profession:

1. Rate how the current profession is similar to the new one. Of course, it is easier to go to the adjacent field or simply to the commercial sphere, for example, were a school teacher - go to tutoring or a teacher in a prestigious private lyceum. In my case, it may seem that the professions are completely different, but now I can say that there is a common thing in surgery and programming - in both cases the work is based on certain algorithms. Similarities make it easier to adapt, not radically change thinking.
2. Do not believe in the myth that 30-40 years is more difficult to absorb knowledge. I checked on myself: if you keep yourself in good physical shape, go in for sports and self-development, then you have enough concentration and strength to master even a whole field of knowledge.
3. Assess the risks. In his youth, it is rarely anyone who does, at 30-40 you already choose consciously, because you are responsible for loved ones. Fundamental changes require careful study and an assessment of the situation and risks is imperative.
4. Prepare the airbag. It's simple: calculate that you have 5-6 months to live on.
5. Get ready for the fact that perhaps the first time your income will be lower than usual. You will go to the starting position, which means that for half a year or a year you will have to live more modestly, and work more. My first year of programming went to work, study and sleep. The income at the same time was slightly higher than the salary of the operating surgeon at 1.5 rates with the highest category and the candidate's degree. It is more important to accept psychologically, because they will be tormented by the thought that everything that happens is a big mistake, and there will be a desire to return to the usual rut.

The decision to leave medicine was one of the most difficult in my life. It is also because there are a lot of not only talented people among friends, doctors, but people with a very special destiny. Each story is a script for a movie. I am glad that, having left the profession, I managed to maintain relations with old friends.

It might seem that I decided on an adventure, having left the profession, but in fact, 80% of success depends on how you plan the changes. Of course, I understood that with proper preparation I can count on a good position, a good income, and interesting tasks in a large project. So it happened. But I repeat that this is the result not so much of luck and luck as of a sound assessment of the situation and the planning of one’s actions.