What is more prestigious: Surgeon or Investment Banker?

I'm still deciding on what I want to do in terms of a career long-term. I've come to the conclusion that the most prestigious fields are surgery and investment banking. So now I'm having a hard time deciding between which two to pursue for a career. 

So for all of you: if you met someone for the first time at a party and asked them what they do, would you be more impressed if you heard "investment banker" or "surgeon"? 

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Dear god, please don’t pick your entire career on the basis of what has more perceived “prestige”. You’ll be miserable.

 

Grass is always greener. True story I had to get a quick operation a while ago and my surgeon was actually talking my ear off about how his brother-in-law is in IB and he (the surgeon) thinks it’s the coolest job in the world. Meanwhile I was sitting there thinking man, if only I had this guys gig. He cuts a quick patch of skin off my back in 15 minutes and then walks away as his admin folk type up my $1,000 bill

 
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So let's say hypothetically that the most prestigious job in the world were sucking my cock. Like no joke, it's literally the most prestigious job, hypothetically speaking. If this were the case, would you pursue this option? Don't reply though, PM me the answer.

 

Ask bankers they’ll say “I could never do what a surgeon does”. Ask a surgeon, they’ll say “I could never do what a banker does”. Doesn’t matter. In my opinion, banker. I come from a family of physicians, including a few surgeons. They’re all nerds man. Same with my pre med friends. Which is great, the world needs nerds. 

 

Surgeon. Bankers provide a great and skilled service yes, but you cannot possibly compare a banker to someone who is in higher education for +10 years to learn how to literally open the human body and fix it.

Also prestige is in the eye of the beholder, half the country can’t possibly stand financial institutions but nearly everyone can respect a surgeon.

 

Being a surgeon is way harder. You can be an investment banker out of college. To be in surgery you have to do what’s akin to being an analyst for 8 years straight and then you’re still not done with the BS. However, bankers make more money and is arguably just as competitive to get in. All else equal, it’s a toss up, but because you actually have to be intelligent to be a surgeon, I think they take the cake. Idiots make it into banking all the time. This is not the case for surgeons because it is a career that deals with life and death on the regular.

Regardless, basing your career off of what is most “prestigious” is a sure way to fail.

 

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