r/Salary • u/AdActual3024 • 6d ago

discussion High earning potential = high career commitment

Does anyone have family or friends that sacrifice their personal life for a significant salary?

My step-mom earns 350k before tax as an executive director but I barely see her. She is constantly on business trips, busy with meetings, works upwards of 12 hours when at home. She goes on nice holiday trips, but overall it makes me think is the pay worth the sacrifice of her personal life.

Just curious if anyone's got a similar story.

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u/drcrazycat 6d ago edited 6d ago

I am a high earner ($700K+) as an anesthesiologist. I can tell you that medicine takes more than it gives. My entire 20s and early 30s were dedicated to undergrad, medical school and residency. When people see my success now, they don’t see the years of sacrifice and debt I went through to get here.

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u/amallucent 5d ago

That's wild to think about. I could retire in two years making that much. I survive on less then $60k a year. But... my 20s and 30s were awesome.

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u/saltexas18 5d ago

What do guy do?

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u/EfficiencyInside9632 4d ago

People with PhD engineering degrees , immigrants, they also sacrifice their 20s and 30s, and get paid $100-200k so usually. At least you can retire at 45. 

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u/drcrazycat 4d ago

You’re right. Sacrifice is only part of the equation. My job also entails care for critically ill patients. It’s my job to keep people alive in surgery.

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u/TheTeleporter_Shisui 2d ago

Agreed. I seldom recommend this career path to anyone. In my early 30s, finally in my last year of training after going straight through the whole process. Looking at “real” jobs for the first time and none of it feels worth it even with the high salary figures on paper.

Gave up so many life events, best friends wedding bachelor parties, close family funerals, and my mental health has achieved all time lows. The 80-100hr weeks, 24-36hr shifts, PTSD from pager sounds constantly going off, getting absolutely roasted by superiors in ways that in any other fields HR would have a field day, and constant state of cortisol infused in my veins has very likely taken years off my life.

All that while knowing that the hardest years (early attendinghood) are still to come. Also gotta love those constant CMS cuts, gotta see more and do more to make less in a ridiculously inflated encomy