Gee, I knew that you are insane, but wasn't expecting this much :) I am not happy that one of the brightest minds in the industry is not satisfied by what he is doing, but I am really happy in the name of you as a friend, because you found something that's noble, and you already know that you like it.

I wish the best chances for you, and hope to be able to pay you a visit in your clinic as Dr. Charlton :)

I am not planning on such a move myself currently but I can completely understand your position. I think that there are ways to make the world a better place through software but because most of the work we do is for businesses, it is usually profit that matters.

A friend of mine tried a similar career change. He left IT to become a solicitor (OK, maybe not always making the world a better place - no offense meant to solicitors!) Despite passing the qualifications, he found it very difficult to get a place with a solicitor. That may well have been caused by a little age-discrimination. He is now working in a legal capacity and is also an author. (Plug for him - http://www.yawnia.com/)

Best of luck Casey. I really hope you move forward with this.

You'll probably be one of the very few that is both the domain expert and the software expert in a specific field. That should turn out to be one hell of an application!

I'm interested in what you got to say about a career change, we should meet up for a beer next time your in town :)

Making the world a better place has always been the foundational driver for my work in software.  Because software is so pervasive and often quite bad, the impact on society would be palpable if we were to commit to making software better in every aspect.

When we finally screw up the courage to accepts how bad software is, the effect that extended daily exposure to it has on human consciousness, and just how much software developers are inured to their own poor work and its effect, then we can truly engage in this work as more than a job.

My training and experience are in software.  I can and do have an impact.  I have committed to software development as a life mission.  There's more at stake than most geeks and dweebs are willing to see, and a greater responsibility that geeks and dweebs have yet had the courage to accept.

I make my stand right here in software where I've been called to make it.

I think you can have great impact as a doctor, but if you ultimately decide that a career change is not for you, remember that you don't have to change careers to find meaning in your work.  The meaning in software work is right there for the taking.  It's a matter of waking up to the tremendous responsibility and consenting to the doubling, tripling, or more the amount of investment of self into a mission that is greater than self.

The ability to commit meaningfully is a quality of the person making the commitment.  It isn't a quality of the particular career.

There's lots to do right here in software.  If you decide to stick around, I hope you consider the deeper imperatives that face software developers, and our responsibility to society and human as the detritus of our day-to-day lack luster efforts invade almost every aspect of contemporary human existence.

This strikes a chord with me, I've had similar thoughts over the last year; I *love* all aspects of software development, but I'm struggling to find a way to use it to make a positive difference to the world. I'm also struggling to find my own personal "mission", which is evident by the fact I've changed direction about 5 times in the last two years.

Good luck with the search, Casey. My girlfriend is a Pathologist, and she's just finishing her training, so I'm sure she'd happily offer any advice for someone looking to get into a medical profession. In fact we talked about this just recently (I know a film script writer who's also wanting to switch to a medical career).

Developing with Passion

The exact quote was:

"Bear Sterns didn't fail because they didn't have proper separation of concerns."

One of the best programmers I ever knew quit developing and went into med school after the dot.com bust.  I wonder what he's up to, I should look him up.

jdn

So true...

Great post Casey! This is something I've often found myself pondering and I think it's fantastic that you have the impetuous to go and do something dramatically different! I really admire that. Also, I share your distaste of people who would waste precious hours debating obscurity as if were somehow the key to the universe!

However, I do think there is real value to be found in software development (despite Scott’s post which missed the point somewhat). Lives have definitely been saved by software (keyhole surgery equipment requires software, as do dialysis machines, 4d radar scanners and many other types of equipment and domains critical to the medical profession).

It’s not just medical software either; Families have been brought closer as software has aided cheaper, more lucid communication (video conferencing, IP telephony, Messenger, Skype, etc) and children are being introduced to a greater wealth of information about the world around them than has ever been available before, aiding their education. The list definitely goes on…

I think the key problem is that most of us don't find ourselves participating in that kind of life-impacting software development, but it doesn’t mean we can’t! If, like me, you really enjoy software development, but unlike Casey, you don’t wish to dramatically change direction (for whatever reason), then why not try moving closer to the part of your industry where you see value being added… and join in! If that’s not palatable either, then why not think of a way you could use software to impact people’s lives positively… build it and release it yourself! 

Software definitely doesn’t have to be about making the rich richer, or building yet another meaningless, under-used application for a blue chip client. Software can (and should be) about pioneering new ways to use technology to make our lives better and more enjoyable and I believe that offers a very broad horizon of possibilities, many of which can add real value to people’s lives.

Good post, the topic is definitely something that goes through everyone's head once in a while.

I just want to point out and actually echo Sid's comment. It's not only doctors that help other people. Doctors need tools (software or physical tools, doesn't matter). Someone has to make these. Therefore the makers of these tools are helping people. Less directly perhaps but nevertheless not less importantly in my opinion. Imagine a tool you created helps a doctor help 1.2 times more people a week. That means literally every week you (or your team) help the number of people that is equal to 0.2 times the number of doctors using your tool - that is a lot more any doctor can ever achieve!

Sometimes people who feel they need to change their career and help other people (not talking about you Casey) opt to do voluntary work in third world countries. I'm not saying this is a bad thing to do but I do feel that as a software developer I can be more useful than that to the world as a whole.

Just my 2 c.

Oh and I forgot to add that the DDD stuff you are doing is just great. I find it very useful and I am sure there are many more developers whose skills will be improved by the work you do. And maybe one of those developers just happens to work on a medical software. It is often the offensive players that get the attention in a sports game but don't underestimate the importance of a good coach ;)