Going Freelance from My Third Year Without Becoming a Board-Certified Specialist: Why I'm Glad I Chose It and What I Think Now

In the previous post, I wrote that if you don't have a particular goal in mind, it's better to become a board-certified specialist.

Going Freelance in Your Third Year as a Doctor Without Becoming a Board-Certified Specialist: Is It a Real Option?After junior residency, I didn't enter a specialty residency program and instead worked freelance for a little over a year. Here I write about the good sides and the hard sides of this path that I learned along the way. My conclusion: if you don't have a particular goal, you're better off becoming a board-certified specialist.2026-10-16

In this post, I'll write about why I chose this path and how I see it now.

Conclusion

I'm glad I chose this path. Even so, I plan to enter a specialty resident program starting next year.

What happened, in my case, to the time and money I listed as the good sides in the previous post? From there, I'll write in order up to what I want to do now.

I Used Up My Time on Travel

A chick doctor places heavy work baggage on one side of a large balance scale and a pocket watch and a small flower on the other, comparing them intently

The main reason I went freelance from my third year was to travel abroad. In terms of the good sides from the previous post, that's time.

Travel for two weeks, rest for two weeks, work for two weeks to top up my travel funds, then set off again. That's a life you could hardly have as a salaried employee.

People told me, "You can still go after you become a board-certified specialist," but I couldn't see it that way.

Railway tracks running across a snowfield are blocked by a barrier, and a chick doctor holding a suitcase has stopped and is gazing at the distant horizon

The places you want to go won't necessarily be there for you forever.

The war in Ukraine began, and it became impossible to ride the Trans-Siberian Railway or visit Kyiv. In hindsight, war then broke out in the Middle East as well.

Also, if I got married or had children, wandering around on my own would become difficult. Nor do I know whether I'll still be in a state to enjoy it when I'm older.

With all that in mind, I gave priority to traveling abroad.

How Many Days a Week Does a Doctor Need to Work? Calculating Living Costs and Savings Rate When You're Not Aiming for FIREI work out how much I need to earn each month from an estimate of my living costs and my savings rate. I cover spreading big purchases into monthly amounts, using the 4% rule and your savings rate to see how many years until you could live without working, what your earning power is worth, and how I think about things as a doctor who isn't aiming for FIRE and works about two days a week.2026-10-17

A chick doctor walks lightly from north to south across a large map shaped like the Japanese archipelago, pulling a suitcase

Now, a little over a year later, I've done a fair amount of the traveling I wanted to do. There are still a few countries I'd like to visit, but I'm quite satisfied.

My Attachment to Money Faded Too

At a small wooden table, a chick doctor relaxes with a satisfied look, a small jar about half full of gold coins and a cup of warm tea in front of it

My thinking also changed about money, the other good side. Back when I was a junior resident, during the two-year initial residency, I thought the more salary I got, the better.

But I found that the amount I need to live on, and the amount that satisfies me, are actually not that large. With travel, an expensive undertaking, also winding down, I have less reason to be fixated on money.

As a specialty resident, my pay would drop a little, but only for a few years. Once that period is over and I have a specialty, it would actually rise a little. I've come to think there's no need to dread those few years that much.

I've done the traveling my time was for, and I have less reason to be fixated on money too. I have little reason left to deliberately stay out of the program.

Board Certification Is the Entry Point to Meaningful Work

A chick doctor takes blocks shaped like a stethoscope and an emergency bag out of a large assorted box and rearranges them in its own order

So, now that I've done what I wanted to do, what do I want to do now?

Honestly, the way I work now is boring. In the previous post, I described it as a feeling that my mind was slowly melting.

Right now I work this way to earn money, but I don't want to keep doing work like overnight on-call shifts where you can usually sleep through the night for decades to come. I've come to feel that if I'm going to work anyway, I want to do work I find enjoyable.

A chick doctor stands in front of a large full-length mirror, holding a compass in one wing and carefully examining its reflection

As I wrote in the previous post, you won't run out of work even without a specialty. Now, in my fourth year, I work two to three days a week in a part-time position at a hospital in a rural area, while continuing to take one-off locum shifts at other hospitals.

When my shifts at my part-time job end, I travel around to hospitals in various regions, each several hours away one way. It's normal for me not to go home for about two weeks.

I'm the kind of person who doesn't mind this much to begin with. If it were only about money, I think I could keep freelancing without any problem while earning a sufficient income.

But when weighed against meaningful work, it's a different story. To do work I find enjoyable and meaningful, I need at least the level of expertise that comes with being a board-certified specialist.

In front of a large door, a chick doctor lifts a key hanging from its neck with one wing and stares at the door's keyhole

Finishing junior residency is only the foundation for everything. You can't stand alongside specialists from other departments, and you can't become someone they consult.

There's also how others see you. Honestly, you're taken lightly quite a bit, and people end up thinking, "We can't really leave this to them."

Board certification is your access pass to meaningful work. It's not impossible to build skills without holding the qualification, but rather than taking a niche route that's hard to explain, it's easier to go along with the established path.

In exchange, for a few years I'll have less time and less money than now, and I do think it will be tough. Even so, I now feel I can offer those years as the price for meaningful work. So, for now, I've decided to become a board-certified specialist.

I'm Glad I Went Freelance for a While

On the far side of a narrow suspension bridge, a chick doctor turns around and looks calmly back at the bridge it crossed and the distant mountains

I don't think low pay is fine just because the work is meaningful. Even so, the reason I can move on to specialty residency with conviction now is that I went freelance for a while first. If I hadn't, I don't think I'd be convinced.

For those making this choice from now on: if there's something you want to do instead of becoming a specialty resident, I think you should do it. Even if there's nothing in particular you want to do, if you don't want a grueling way of working, you can get by just fine on this path.

On a bench in the shade of a tree, a chick doctor has a notebook open on its lap, pen paused, leisurely gazing up at clouds drifting across the sky

That said, I think it's also an option to go freelance for a while in order to have a period, with free time on your hands, to think about who you want to be.

How will I look back on this choice once I've actually made the move? I'll write about my thoughts then in another post.