If you could go back to your pre-pharma days, would you go into it knowing what you know now? As a single parent, it was great for me. If I couldn't do the job, and do it right, in 20 hours a week, I was doing something wrong. This gave me plenty of time to spend with my sons as they grew up. Was it satisfying work? In the beginning it was. As the years went by, the number of reps increased, HIPPA, the banning of extravagant spending etc.....made it not so much. I'm happy with the freedom it gave me. There is no way I'd do it again.
If I could have the same time period (1985 to now) absolutely. I was lucky to be in it for the GREAT years.
We started at the same time. I'd agree on the early years. They were great years. For the last dinner program before the Great Cut-off of Fundage, I rented a DC-3. I had a speaker/dinner at the terminal and then we flew over Prince William Sound for a couple of hours. We flew through the montains, over glaciers, over cruise ships, wildlife....it was spectacular. There were seats for 24 if I remember correctly, I filled it and had a waiting list of 20......all top doctors. The sky-waitress told me it was the only flight she'd been on that ran out of champagne. Once the companies started trying to out do each other with number of reps, the decline began....
I'd do it again only differently. I changed careers and then jumped companies. Started w/ Merck, then Sandoz then out of the business then back with Wyeth which became Pfizer. Merck was the best money wise (and pussy too), Sandoz was the most fun of all (especially the pussy) and Wyeth had great stock options - light on entertaining, although I did have a DM from Lederle who let me set up Laker games and Dodger games. One thing I learned with each company is that EVERYONE in the home office has affairs with others in the office. A virtual Peyton Place.
I would absolutely do it again. When I look at how much I make on an hourly basis, there are very few jobs on Earth that compare. I'm probably putting in less than 10 hours a week now and near the top of my district consistently.
