Doctors pick specialties and the balance of $, time, stress, location, marvel, and giving back all factor in. Think city dermatologist vs small town pediatrition.

Source: married to an md phd, meaning ~half the potential salary is both forgone and that time is used to be in public labs solving cancer. Hours still stink tho and every day is life and death, so aggrieved programmer discussions of hours, burnout, compensation, and ability to own equity come off sounding similar to how bankers do. Clearly real for those living it, but odd from the outside.