PEDIATRICIAN

Victoria Rodriguez
EDUC 1300
Fall 2015

Introduction
Helping people is something that I enjoy doing. I have always had a passion to help in
whatever way I can. Whether it is volunteering at church or holding the door for someone, I am
more than happy to do it. Since I love to help others, I am a very sociable person. While deciding
what career I would be interested in for this project, I kept in mind things that describe me and
hobbies that I enjoy doing. I love to help people, I am very social, and I love little kids. So I
thought a pediatrician would be a good career for me. I realize that if I could be a pediatrician
for a living, I would enjoy my job because helping others is one of my goals in life.
Supporting Details
1. Why did you choose this particular career?
I choose this career because I love to help people. Caring, mentoring, and helping
others are some of my biggest passions in life. I also volunteer at my church every week
so I deal with younger children and pediatricians deal with children. I have always been
interested in the medical field but I just could not think of a perfect career for me in this
field. I want to have a career that would pay a lot and a job that I would enjoy going to
everyday. I feel like I have a special connection with children since it hasnt been long
since I was once a child. Being surrounded in an environment with families and helping
them makes me feel like Im making a difference in the world.
2. a) In your own words, describe the personality characteristics likely required for
this career. b) Based on the personality assessment from TypeFocus, what are the
four letters representing your Myers Briggs personality type? (e.g. ISTJ) c) In what
ways does your personality type match/not match this career?
A personality characteristic you would need to be a pediatrician would be
leadership, you would need to tell the nurses what they need to do to make your job
easier. You want to be able to know that you are in charge and responsible for others.

Another personality would be patience, being surrounded with kids all day could get a
little crazy. They may start crying or screaming so you will have to be patient with them.
I would say that I am impatient sometimes but I am working on having better patience.
Wanting to be a pediatrician has helped me have better patience with people. According
to the TypeFocus assessment (2014), the four letters that represented my Myers Briggs
personality type were ENFJ. Which stands for extroversion, intuition, feeling, and
judging.
I really do think I matched perfectly with my Myers Briggs personality type.
ENFJs are very friendly, organized, care about others, and put their energy onto other
people. I am a very friendly person and I love and care for my friends a lot. I help them
whenever they need it the most. Organization is something that comes natural to me. I
feel better whenever I am organized. School does require a lot of organization so I have
an advantage sometimes. Since I do volunteer with younger kids every week, I have this
natural instinct to help others whenever they need help. I put my energy into younger kids
every Saturday night because I care deeply for them.
3. a) What education/training is required for this career? b) What are your timeline
and specific plan for achieving this education/training?
The first important thing you would need is your high school diploma of course.
Then you are off to college, most pediatricians complete 4 years of undergraduate school.
Then they complete 4 years of medical school and do about 3 to 8 years of internship and
residency programs depending on their specialty.
My plans for achieving those education requirements is to graduate high school
first. Since I am currently attending an early college high school right now, I have an
advantage than other students in high school. I have an opportunity to graduate high
school with my diploma and associate degree! So instead of having 8 years of school to

become a pediatrician, I could only have 6 years. This really motivates me to do my best
in high school so I can graduate with my associate degree. Then when I graduate from
high school, I can go to a college or university for 2 years and then I could go to medical
school for the 4 years left. I am planning to complete internships while I am in school. I
am not sure what schools I plan to attend yet but I do have a general idea of what I plan
to achieve after high school. In EDUC 1300 and Learning Framework: Student Success
and Career Development (Sherfield & Moody, 2013), I have learned that a strong work
ethic is important and a valuable quality that will set me apart from others.
4. a) What skills do you currently possess that will be helpful in this career? b) Which
skills do you think you will have to work the hardest to develop?
The skills that I currently possess that I think will be helpful as a pediatrician
would be the natural ability to care and love family. As a pediatrician I would be dealing
with families everyday taking care of their loved ones. I care very deeply for my family
and I want to make sure that they are healthy and happy every day. I would be very happy
every day to know that I am helping out families to make sure they are happy and
healthy.
Like I mentioned earlier in question 2a, patience is something difficult for me to
adapt to. I can be very impatient at times because I am a person who is very organized, on
time, and I like things to be done a certain way. So when I am with people who arent like
that, they tend to be lazy and unorganized which does cause me to be impatient with
them. I usually am not impatient with younger children because they are fun to be around
with and I feel like a kid sometimes when I am around them. I will work my hardest to
have better patience with people since I will be also working with people as a
pediatrician.

5. a) Based on Texas Reality Check (www.texasrealitycheck.com), calculate the annual

salary needed to maintain a standard of living you desire in Houston. b) Based on
the Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/ooh/), what is the outlook
for your career in terms of median salary? c) What is the outlook for this career in
terms of positions availability / employment growth? d) Explain in details whether
or not you can live a comfortable lifestyle you aspire in Houston with the median
salary proposed. e) Based on CNN Money Cost of Living Calculator
(http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/), analyze in details how Houston
compares to the cost of living in other cities.
According to Texas Reality Check (2015), my annual salary needed to maintain a
standard of living I desire in Houston is $67,775. Based on the Occupational Outlook
Handbook, the median salary of a pediatrician is $163,350 per year or $78.53 per hour.
The outlook for a pediatrician as a career is excellent. If you think about it, we will
always need pediatricians because we cannot live without them. Children, teenagers, and
young adults are constantly sick and need medical attention. Texas actually has 780-4,700
jobs as a pediatrician and I plan to stay in Texas for the rest of my life so this is a good
thing for me.
I can live a comfortable lifestyle that I aspire in Houston with the median salary I
will make. The standard of living I plan to maintain in Houston is only $67,775 so this is
not expensive for the amount of money I will be making which is $163,350. I will
definitely be comfortable because that will leave me with a lot of extra money that I
could save up for retirement, family, etc.

According to CNN Money Cost of Living Calculator (2015), if I were to move

from Houston, Texas to Los Angeles, California, my salary as a pediatrician would be
$218,138. Unfortunately, the cost of groceries would be 24% more, housing would be
89% more, utilities would be 13% more, transportation would be 20% more, and health
care will be 23% more. There definitely would be a huge difference in my salary and the
cost to live there in Los Angeles.
6. Based on the information from http://Volunteermatch.org, which three volunteer
organizations or charities in Houston are you planning to join and how can you use
the skills acquired in your educational training to serve the community
The first volunteer organization I found from Volunteer Match (2015) is called
StandUp for Kids. A person or group of people gives away 20-30 meals a month to kids
who do not have food to eat. The organization strives to help the homeless teens or
children on the streets. Since a pediatrician takes care of teens and children, it is a good
volunteer organization. The organization also helps the kids find a shelter, provide food,
and makes sure they are healthy. This organization can relate to a pediatrician because
they both care for the young generations health. I can learn a lot of skills from this
volunteer opportunity because I would learn about how hunger affects homeless teens
and children which leads to death.
The second volunteer organization I found is call the American Diabetes
Association. They are hosted a walk in Houston called the Step Out Walk. It is a walk
that raises awareness and money for diabetes. This volunteer opportunity can apply to me
because I have family members that have diabetes and when I become a pediatrician,
there may be patients who have diabetes. Skills I could learn from this event is more

information about diabetes and dealing with families who have family members that may
have diabetes.
The last volunteer program I found is called Harbor Hospice Heart of
Compassion. Volunteers can help patients by caring for them, talking to them, listening
to them, shopping for them, etc. This volunteer opportunity could apply to skills required
for a pediatrician. I would have patients on my own so this gives me an idea on how
patients are like and the tasks you would do for them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a pediatrician does a lot and is a difference in this world. It may
take a lot of school, skills, and personality traits to have this as a career, but I am willing
to try my best so that I can be a pediatrician. This project has really been an eye opener
and I am glad that I was able to do it. It has made me realize that I am going to have to
work hard so I can be rewarded in the end.
1838 Words

References
Cable News Network. (2015). Cost of living: How far will my salary go in another city? CNN
Money. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/index.html
Sherfield, R., M., & Moody, P. G. (2013). EDUC1300 learning frameworks: Student success and
Career development (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Publishing.
Texas Workforce Commission, & the Texas Education Agency. (n.d.). Texas Reality Check.
Retrieved from http://www.texasrealitycheck.com/
TypeFocus. (2015). Personality results. Self Assessments. Retrieved from
http://www.typefocus.com/selfassessments/personalityresults

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014, January 4). Physicians and
Surgeons. In Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-2015 edition. Retrieved from
http://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physicians-and-surgeons.htm
Volunteer Match. (1998-2015). Opportunities. Volunteer Match. Retrieved from
https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/?1=Houston,%20TX,%20USA&categories=30