Sometimes referred to as side gigs or hustles, portfolio careers essentially describe the situation in which a doctor has multiple roles within their working week. Usually they have a primary medical role and one or more additional roles alongside this, which may still be within the medical arena (e.g. medical writing, health tech), or outside of it (e.g. yoga teacher).
Over the years this has become increasingly popular, and has the potential to offer many advantages, such as:
Autonomy
Deciding what you would like your career to look like and include gives you more autonomy, something which I know many doctors feel is lacking in their primary medical role. Designing your career to work for you supports your autonomy and increases your awareness of the choices open to you.
Balance
As you will well know, clinical work is intense and can be stressful, particularly in the current climate, and so spending some of your week in a less stressful environment can help to counter that.
Enjoyment
The range of potential side interests is diverse, and allows you the opportunity to tap into areas that light you up and to find something that you really enjoy. Something which plays to your strengths and allows you to truly engage.
Creativity
One thing which I have found is frequently cited as lacking by doctors that I work with is the opportunity to use their creative skills. The ways in which we can be creative as humans is very broad – fortunately it is not just limited to how good you were at art when you were at school (you may be able to tell that it took me a while to get over the personal recommendation by my art teacher not to take it at GCSE level).
Flexibility
The pandemic has changed many things, one of which is that people are now increasingly inclined towards flexibility. Options for this may be limited in the world of clinical medicine, but having a portfolio career may introduce this possibility, with the potential for remote working to fit into your lifestyle and needs at any particular time.
Freedom
Realising that there are ways to earn money outside of clinical medicine is surprisingly freeing, and can have the beneficial side effect of the clinical role feeling less heavy as you no longer feel all your eggs are in one basket. Many doctors notice a positive impact on their enjoyment of their primary medical role when it no longer represents the entirety of their career.
Growth
You may be feeling a bit (or a lot) stagnated, and exploring side avenues affords you the opportunity to learn new skills and to continue to learn and grow. Likewise if you don’t feel that your clinical role is providing enough opportunity to tap into your preferred strengths. And, if you’re considering a larger career pivot, it can be a way to test drive alternative career ideas before fully committing.
Variety
The spice of life! More important to some people than others, portfolio careers definitely have the potential to add this ingredient into the mix.
You may have noticed that I grouped the potential advantages to reflect certain values. The list I gave was just my take on this; everyone’s values are different, as is the definition of what that value means for the individual. But, with any career decision that you make, I would strongly recommend that you first take the time to fully understand yourself and what drives you.
It's important to be aware that portfolio careers will not be the right route for everyone, or now may not be the right time. Having just listed potential advantages, equally there can be disadvantages. Some things to consider are financial situation and security, the risk of adding in extra commitment if you are already feeling overwhelmed, impact on routine and structure, balancing different roles and ability to boundary-set around this.
Everyone’s situation is different; there is no one-size-fits-all. Just because a portfolio career suits your colleague doesn’t mean it will suit you, and vice versa.
Here are some starter questions to consider if you are interested in the idea of a portfolio career.
Ask yourself why:
What will having a portfolio career give me?
How does this align with my values?
What are the advantages?
What may be the disadvantages?
Ask yourself what:
What does my ideal portfolio week look like?
What types of activity energise and engage me?
What strengths do I want to tap into, and which skills would I like to develop?
What constraints are there?
Ask yourself how:
Who do I know that already has a portfolio career that I could talk to?
How can I use my connections to create opportunities and enhance my knowledge and understanding?
Who else needs to be involved?
What other support do I need?
How will I manage any risk involved, such as financial?
How will I balance this with my clinical work and ensure firm boundaries across the two?
In conclusion, although not for everyone, a portfolio career works well for many doctors and has the potential to enhance your enjoyment of your clinical role as well as increasing overall job satisfaction and sustainability.