Originally Posted by Thomas Percy
Medicine has in recent year been described as high paying jobs with the best life style. None of my son's pediatrians work 5 days a week (3-4 days) and they can actually takes years off for having kids without being punished by the labor market too much.

The good thing about being an academic is that you can choose when to do work (excep the few hours a week teaching), but I don't know any seriously sucessful academics who don't work all the time.
And some academics work all the time, because the love their research and it doesn't feel like work.