FROM 32 INTACT TO SKY HIGH ( REAL LIFE STORY OF A DENTAL STUDENT WHO JOINED AVIATION INDUSTRY ) *********************************************************************** Can it be a career alternative ???? Dont miss the ending ! Read and send in your views by commenting ... Welcome Docs ... dentalorg is back with a new story that will interest you and motivate you to think out of the box. As the saying goes Winners dont do different things, they do things differently . We here at dentalorg try to bring to you real life interesting stories about past dental students who due to their hard work, wit, talent and the capacity to think differently have carved a different route for themselves. The goal is to give you different ideas and stories so that you can learn from their experiences and move forward. Success is different for each individual. Yes of course as a student of dentistry we all want to pass the dental education, complete BDS and then MDS, have a stable job and a well established dental practice. But once in a while, we come across few dental students who take a different approach to fulfill some of their other wishes and aspirations. So in this series of articles we will look at stories of those dental students who deviated from dentistry (temporarily or permanently) in to other career paths like civil services, army, fashion, MBA, aviation industry & entrepreneurship. This particular post covers the story of a qualified dental surgeon who after passing BDS decided to join aviation industry and right now she is globe trotting the world as an air-hostess with an international fight carrier. I will hand over the article to her ... Over to Dr.Shwetha Shaw ... Hi to all dental students ... My self Dr.Shwetha Shaw. I started my career as a dentist in 2011 passing out from one of the esteemed colleges in India (Saveetha Dental college ,Chennai 2005 – 2011). Being into medicine wasn’t something I thought I would be into, but because I was a bright student in school and all my cousins of my age had enrolled into the medical stream I too followed them. Like all dental graduates, after passing BDS I had started planning my next move. I was really confused as to start a clinic or go for MDS. Private MDS was an option but it was pretty hefty in cost (around 30 lakhs) and I was in no mood to put added financial burden on my parents. They already had spent enough on me. But again opening a clinic also was not so easy. In this highly competitive market of dental practice (in Calcutta), for any new dental practice to stand out, it must be well crafted. This needed a good amount of investment. This was one of the major drawbacks I was seeing in dentistry. Its extremely investment oriented and time consuming as a course. I also was seeing my friends in other streams drawing a salary and supporting their parents. As I mentioned before I had no intention to put any more financial burden on my parents. In my mind I was looking for options where I can earn a respectable salary for the time being that can set me up for the future. But for any medico and health science professional, moving out of profession is not so easy as the options are very limited. In short I was going through a great phase of confusion and uncertainty . This was all happening right after BDS. One thing that always interested me was traveling and visiting new places. I always had a great curiosity to know the details about different places and countries. After my school I attended interview for a flight attendant without my parents’ knowledge , but I did not succeed. The idea of being a flight attendant stuck me during one of my flights I had taken during my schooldays. I was always in love with the idea of traveling ,exploring new places, looking glamorous on your job and getting paid for it. After completing college I worked as a dentist for 6 months. Though I was happy with the dental career but my passion of traveling on job was still burning bright. Then an interview of Indigo airlines came up. They were recruiting new flight attendants and air professionals. The child in me surfaced again and I went went for the interview just casually. To my surprise the company human resource dept. was very enthusiastic about well educated trainees joining the airlines and I got through. My family did not agree initially. But the way I way saw it was different. BDS degree I had with me. I can always and any time come back to my dental practice. Also age was on my side. I had and still have enough time with me to plan and go back to my dental career. So, I felt this is the perfect time for me to venture in to some thing that I always wanted to experience. I was getting the chance to relive my dream of jet setting the world free of cost and also getting paid for it. So, I accepted the offer to make the child in me happy for some time : ) Its been 2 1/2 years now with Indigo , I started as a trainee and today Im flying as a Lead cabin attendant . Along with a good pay package I enjoy perks like stay at 4/5 star hotels , discount tickets for me and my family and overseas shopping. To many people this job might seem all rosy but there are days when I do miss dentistry. Each job comes with its own sets of pros and cons. Flying is a job where you don’t have weekends or weekdays, waking up at odd hours and irregular duty timings, whereas in dentistry you have a restricted working hour . There are times when I have to be up at 2 or 3 am put on my makeup and leave at the earliest. Thats when Im thinking about my college friends who must be sound asleep. On air I get to meet a lot of people, sometimes nice and sometimes not so nice, you have to take a lot of yelling from annoyed passengers and that some times really tries your patience. But that is same like attending an annoying patient in your dental clinic, whom you are forced to talk smoothly for the sake of your dental practice. Yes I do get to see a lot of celebrities as well, the best flight so far was a Chennai – Kolkata sector where I was flying with THE CSK Cricket team!!!!!!..... meeting Dhoni was a dream come true… :)))) In dentistry you’re the boss whereas in flying the passenger is, and I hate the part where, I am flying on national holidays and when your roster changes unexpectedly and you have already made plans with your friends n family. In the future I would love to continue flying for the next 2-3 years, and there would be nothing like it if I get an opportunity to fly with an international carrier. Further I would like to open a clinic and practice dentistry. The aviation industry has boosted my skills in communication and made me a more confident person overall. I am sure these skills are going to help me when I decide to get back to dentistry. Hope you gained some insights by reading my letter and experiences. I wish all of you ... all the very best of success in all your en-devours. Dr.Shwetha Shaw DENTALORG.COM VIEW ON THE TOPIC ************************************************* 1. I guess you had an interesting read of the letter. But what experience do you take out of it. Let me summarize the information in a very simple way. 2. Once you get your BDS / MDS degree, its for ever and you are eligible to practice and work as a dentist any where and anytime. There are instances where many dental surgeons have gone in to different professions. 3. That happens either because they lost interest in dentistry or because of short term financial goals that can help them in future. So this can very from student to student. No two dental graduates think alike. Each has their own passions and goals. 4. So before deciding on any career jump away from dentistry plan everything precisely. 5. Ask yourself questions : Are you really in need of changing profession ? Do you have that strength and interest to go in to the new career ? Can the profession help you financially in the way you want ? Does the profession has a long preparation phase ? ( for example students who prepare for Civil services know that preparation is for one year and there is no guarantee for getting the job as it depends on the entrance exam ). There can be many such questions that you need to ask yourself. 6. For the author in the story it was a way to change the profession for a temporary period of time to live her childhood dream. Though shes doing pretty well now, she has plans to settle down back in dentistry when she has arranged enough money and contacts to establish her own set up. 7. She took up the profession as she did not want to put additional financial burden on her parents by taking their help either for private MDS or establishing a good clinic. She wanted to do it on her own terms and with her own money. So currently shes not only drawing a respectable package of salary ( approx 1.5 lakhs per month ) but also traveling different places in world which she always wanted to as a child. 8. She also mentions about the cons of the profession. There is always that need to look your best ( even at odd working hours ) and that can be very stressful. Just like in dentistry, in aviation hospitality also one has to encounter some really snobby, annoying and disrespectful consumers. In such a situation a great deal of self control is needed to smile and diffuse the situation. For dental graduates who really do want to take up aviation as an alternate temporary career option ( particularly girls ) a lot of information are already available. The BDS graduation degree makes you eligible for the job. Well that wraps up this article. Hope you liked to read the story of one more dentist who chose to take a path that is slightly different from what 90 % of dental students would have taken. So never go by who is saying what. Of course do take suggestions and consult very close near and dear ones. But in the end analyze all the options before deciding on any thing. In the next post of this series we will look at the story of a dental student who got through the civil service exams and is now working as an IAS officer. STORY PUBLISHED, OWNED AND COPYRIGHTED AT dentalorg/from-32-intact-to-sky-high.html Voice your views by commenting ... Comment Below ...
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 03:48:00 +0000
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