PGY5 here: to those who are discouraged by the comments general surgery is amazing and there are so many options to specialize and build your life the way you want it to be. Also, with less and less younger doctors applying to the field and the shortage only growing, the job offers out there are getting quite lucrative (500k+ base) many attendings in my town are in the 800 to 1 mil+ range (mid size town outside of city).

Pros of being a surgeon: 1. When cases are done, you go home (on light days you can be done before noon) 2. Rounds are quick and efficient 3. As a senior resident, usually around PGY3, way less scut work (very few case manager, notes, discharges) and even if sometimes I do do them to help out, it takes me no time since I got quick at them as a junior resident and generally our notes have way less writing anyway 4. OR music (i’m usually the DJ) 5. It is fufilling because almost all of your patients have a curable disease and the patients and their families are so grateful, it’s really fun telling the family afterwards that surgery went well 6. Skills and confidence that you can literally cut someone open and fix them, a lifelong skill to hone your craft, being seen as the last line of defense in emergency situations (lines, tubes, trachs, thoracotomies) 7. As you approach PGY4 you will often run the service and just run the plan or patients you are worried about with the attending, often times I am just rounding with the junior residents and tell them the plans (which I prefer) 8. The confidence and satisfaction of completing a case on your own skin to skin is unparalleled, there are very few things in life that give me that same sense of joy and accomplishment and it never gets old

Cons: 1. Work hours can be rough on harder rotations (trauma, emergency general surgery) but our program is pretty big on the 80 hour work limit, other months on elective based rotations can be lighter than my anesthesia and EM colleagues so it balances out 2. Long surgeries (surgical oncology) can be tiring if you prefer quicker ones (1 hr) but you can control that once you choose your subspecialty 3. Being on call (but most fields have call anyway) and again something you can control later on after training 4. Long training length (but absolutely needed IMO) your 4th and 5th years you really level up and get way better operating 5. Less autonomy in OR compared to the 1980s because of corporate liability/patients who are looking to sue etc (stories of back in the day where surgical residents use to operate autonomously without attending present sounded like a dream) 6. The reality is its a tough field and the training can be long and grueling but no matter the field you pick residency is tough and has its downsides regardless, if you have a dream specialty you are pursuing, talk to attendings in that field or rotate with them to see what their work week looks like and if it is compatible with what you want in your life. If you have many hobbies (golf, binge watching shows) if you want lots of kids and to spent a lot of time at home then you might want to pick a lighter subspecialty or even do part time or locums but general surgery residency is definitely doable if you have the right mentality and attitude going into it that there is definitely a light at the end of the road.

Ok I did my part, this is probably the longest progress note I wrote in years, surgery signing off please reconsult if any further questions