Trashing the profession

It has been asked how it helping the future of podiatry by "trashing the profession" on a daily basis.

Simple. It is, of course, not helping.

Still, the reason people do it is because they have not gotten any help from the profession. The profession has, in fact, hindered me more than helped.

Try getting a job outside of podiatry. After you spend half the interview explaining what podiatry is (if you can even get an interview), you don't get the job because you're suddenly "overqualified."

Try getting a job as a care coordinator working with diabetics (which we should all know a hell of a lot about), but not even getting a response to your e-mails because you are not a NURSE! Being a "doctor" means absolutely nothing (of course they'd be knocking down your doors if you had a MD behind your name).

Call up the recruiters at any biotech company and see if they want to hire a DPM in a management position, given that they have a lot of listings for MDs on their website. Do try to politely hang up before they stop laughing.

Send out resumes all over the place, with DPM behind your name. Count the numerous responses that come back as, "Dear Mr. (not Dr.) so and so".

Lastly, watch your money go out the window every month to pay the student loans. I was lucky to find a good job working in insurance (I had a good insurance background before pod school), and my wife does well, too. We make over $100k a year, combined. Both got paid this past Friday. Had $1.54 in the checking account on Thursday before the checks came in. Paid some bills (incl. student loans). Now we have $250 left to buy groceries and gas, etc. for the next two weeks. I just love dropping down into the single digits in my checking account every 2 weeks - looking forward to keeping it up for the next 29 years of payments. Hoping to one day be able to buy a house and get out of our one bedroom apartment (where 3 of us are living (me, wife and 1 kid). The fun never ends.

Sorry if this is harsh. I usually try to be a little more fair-minded. Just feeling particularly depressed about finances today.

Jeff