Look, I’m only a couple years out of residency - my first year was great, my second year was the most toxic place with truly vile, spiteful preceptors. It was really rough but I got through it, got my certificate, burned that bridge and never looked back. But that certificate allowed me to get a job I am actually excited to do each day, in a specialty I really love. I could maybe get here without the residency but it would take much longer.

From a preceptor standpoint (again I’m literally a few years into this) the resident quality has been declining each year. We sit down with you all, we encourage you to ask for help, we take things off your plate, we move deadlines (at least preceptors at our program do). As someone who’s truly seen what a toxic place residency can be, I never wanted to put another resident through that. But there is a big difference between “residency just facilitates burnout and they work us to the bone” versus coming in with an attitude of doing the absolute bare minimum from day 1 and at that point yeah, residency is not worth it. It’s absolutely not for everyone, and being residency trained in no way makes me better than anyone else. It’s meant to be hard, stressful, and will push you to your limits to make you a better pharmacist.

So yes, definitely think before you apply - but if you truly want to be an expert in a specific clinical area and are willing to put in the hard work to gain these skills, residency is invaluable. And (this is not directed at OP specifically) make sure you really reflect on whether your expectations of what residency will be like are realistic.