I’m a radiologist, and I love my job. I work my @$$ off when I’m on the job, but at the end of the day I switch it off and go home. It’s intellectually challenging, ever-changing, and keeps you tangentially involved with almost every field of medicine. And it’s true that it pays well, yes indeed; most of us are making over $300k and some over $500k.

The downsides are few: some malpractice problems, especially in mammography; the need to provide obsequious and instantaneous service, to keep referrals coming from clinicians who resent your lifestyle and income; the lack of patient contact and adulation; and the surprisingly narrow profit margin and high fixed expenses of private practice radiology, which means even modest cuts in reimbursement can cut your income in half overnight.

All things considered, though, I would definitely do it again.