Reply to: Plan A

[minestrone]

So they Daily Mail have found one GP in Britain that earns 380. I can personally think of about a dozen people that I have met in IT that earn that and yet some people think they should go to Medicine for the money.

No wonder Indians find it easy to compete with the IT labour market judging by the level of stupidity shown on here.

[mrdonuts]

reading further than the headlines as i sometimes do, it appears that this is top line and expenses (doctors expenses scandal on the way methinks) and staff costs takes it down to £85K

Its binmen getting £18k that pisses me off

[expat]

Ding dong.

[DimPrawn]

.... Doing a good job does not necessarily get you paid well, and someone being paid well is not necessarily a sign that they are dong a good job. Not at all.

[expat]

.... Doing a good job does not necessarily get you paid well, and someone being paid well is not necessarily a sign that they are dong a good job. Not at all.

[realityhack]

xkcd

[expat]

As Dale Carnegie say's, research has proven that any job is really 85% people skills and 15% technical knowledge.
...

Pardon me if I doubt that Carnegie said that research has proven etc. In fact I doubt that research has proven that (etc): ISTM that using specific figures like 85% and 15% pretends to a level of precision and knowledge far above the real level of knowledge on the subject. Possibly far above the amount of real meaning in the assertion.

The phrase "people skills" in particular is a modern invention, and a retrospective one, by which I mean that you wouldn't recognise and measure "people skills" in someone, rather you'd see that they had succeeded so you'd say that they must have people skills.

So yeah sure, you will be able to do most jobs better if you put some effort into relationships with people you deal with. Failing that, you can always succeed financially while trashing the actual job, by showing the right "people skills" towards the people who can make that happen.

Many of us (myself included) would like to think that earnings are some useful sort of measurement of success, but actually earnings are only a measure of how much someone is prepared to pay you. If that's all one means by success, there's not much meaning to it. Doing a good job, and getting well paid, are not closely correlated. Not at all.

[expat]

Were the daily wail right (and somehow I doubt they are) I would not begrudge doctors the money. How a banker or MP can earn more than them is astonishing.

Most people would become a doctor if intelligent enough.

Even if I was intelligent enough I would hate the pressure that 1 mistake could cost a life.

It's not a case of "intelligent enough", it's all the rest. the intelligence required to be a GP is not that high, I'd guess not as high as e.g. the average maths teacher's. I do remember my uni maths dept having a course of maths for medics, which was not exactly highly regarded by the real maths students!

I am not running down doctors, rather mentioning the idea that it's not intelligence that does it. Indeed, intelligence is not much valued in money terms. There may be nothing wrong with this. What is worse is that intelligence is not much valued at all.

[Amiga500]

WbrillopadS

If doctors can earn that much then good on 'em.

The balance of earnings in this country is all wrong. It makes no sense that useless corporate middle management tw@ts can earn more than medical professionals, teaching staff, technical experts, scientists and the like.

As Dale Carnegie say's, research has proven that any job is really 85% people skills and 15% technical knowledge.

Charles Schwab was earning over a million dollars a year back in the days when 50 dollars a week was thought high pay. He admitted many of his colleagues had better technical knowledge of the steel manufacture process than him, but he knew how to praise, encourage and motivate people.

Being extremely technical and having worked for many years with Microsoft, I am now having this people skills revelation.

[d000hg]

Not this again, we did it to death only recently. Some news story sensationalises the fact a few docs earn a lot, which outrages those with 'real' jobs like bin-men and truck drivers.

Even bitching about Barclay's profits and bonuses would be less dull.

[sasguru]

We're in the wrong business

You're too stupid to be a doctor anyway.

HTH

[realityhack]

WbrillopadS

If doctors can earn that much then good on 'em.

The balance of earnings in this country is all wrong. It makes no sense that useless corporate middle management tw@ts can earn more than medical professionals, teaching staff, technical experts, scientists and the like.

[TroubleAtMill]

I think I heard on the radio that some of the increase is due to them being paid for weekend work, where previously they weren't.

I may be wrong but aren't most GPs also self-employed and have to pay for the running of their surgeries?

[NotAllThere]

Having had the chance to compare GPs in the UK, with those in Switzerland, I can tell you the that GPs in the UK are better. They've more experience, because they have a larger "client base" and see a more diverse range of conditions. ( It's for this reason that British trained nurses are in demand overseas - not just because of the uniform ).

[DimPrawn]

My problem with this is it only applies to GP's and not other medical professions.

How a GP sitting in an office looking at people with sore throats justifies this sort of money is beyond me when medical staff at hospitals are paid a fraction of this amount.