Hello and greetings to everyone. I am a medical doctor and blogger, as well as a digital content creator. I am talking very briefly about myself here. I will divide it into two steps: medical life and creative life.
Medical Life
I am a medical doctor and content creator. I was very young. I had just passed my MBBS, and I started my first job with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in 2007. In one year, I worked in three settings or situations with MSF-Holland. Firstly, I went to a Rohingya refugee camp to give medical treatment. We used the MSF Guidelines to treat patients. It was the most amazing treatment manual I'd ever read. Second, I worked in a diarrhea treatment center, setting up two huge tents by MSF that covered up a big playing field after the Dhaka flood in 2007. People who suffered from diarrhea came to that tent with severe dehydration. A huge drum was there in the middle of the tent, full of oral rehydration saline. Sometimes, we used cholera saline intravenously. Third, after the SIDR cyclone attack, I was sent to Mothbaria, a seaside area, with an international team to explore the damage. We hired a hotel to set up a temporary office there. We sent multiple mobile clinics to the victims' villages. We gave treatment, medicines, soaps, and blankets. Another team took responsibility for the village ponds and treated the undrinkable, rotten water to make it clear. On that mission, I learned from Peter, my American supervisor, that an MPH degree is essential to growing in these jobs.
I prepared for the entrance exam to the Master's program in Public Health after preparing for a few months as there was tight competition. I got a big chance in epidemiology at the National Institute of Public Health (NIPSOM), Bangladesh. I was admitted there, and Meerjady Sabrina Flora was our class teacher. She had a Ph.D. then. Our faculties were great. They made us competent to conduct public health research. We are still grateful to them. My dissertation was titled
It was incredible, and it took six months of day and night labor to complete. As a result, I got an 80% on the dissertation.
After completing my MPH, I took a job as a research medical officer for an arsenic research project conducted by Columbia University. Soon I got a prestigious job, based in a rural area, as a project coordinator (PC) at a research organization named CIPRB (Center for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh). My duty was the coordination of the project titled "Prevention of Child Injuries through Social Intervention and Education (PRECISE)," funded by UNICEF and supported by the Government of Bangladesh. I quit my job after six months when I felt I had to go into clinical subjects as I was in a state of forgetting the clinical side. I took a job as a medical officer in the pediatric surgery department at the M.R. Khan Shishu Hospital and Institute of Child Health, formerly known as the Institute of Child Health and Shishu Sasthya Foundation Hospital. It was great.
I was learning surgical skills and managing operative pediatric patients. I learned a lot about the correct dosages of medicines for small kids and correct fluid management, and I was able to identify the surgical conditions of babies. However, I was amazed to see the anesthetic apparatuses and the lives of anesthesia doctors. So, after one year and a few months later, I was admitted to a one-year post-graduate training program in anesthesiology. So, I quit my previous job, which was a training job too. However, I was intrigued by anesthesia.
After completing one year of training, I got another job in the anesthesia and ICU departments at a medical college hospital. It was a good job, with the full opportunity to learn and manage the operative and ICU patients. In this hospital, I became familiar with ICU protocols and ICU management, including ventilatory support for the patients. The days I did duty were the days I read new novels from the pages of living human books. After the end of a 24-hour shift of exhaustive duty, I felt that there was no blood in my body. I was there for a year and a half. Then I got a job opportunity in a big hospital in a rural area where I had to give anesthesia independently. I enjoyed that job until three years passed. Then I returned to my previous job in the ICU, and I was there for the same duration as I was there before.
Look, I did not get into any further degrees of anesthesia or surgery. I was the only earning member of my family, and that was impossible for me. I couldn't make time for several years to go through academic studies. So, I was just a trained doctor.
I was bored in the ICU, and I had to be released for the first time. My age was probably increasing. I left the job again and started the anesthesia job on a call basis in some rural hospitals. It gave me a lot of freedom. But I discovered that there was high competition in the free market. I was astonished to realize that surgeons also give anesthesia to make money. So I had a hard time surviving. I also started general practice. But I saw that patients went to the village pharmacist for their treatment. They prescribe antibiotics, painkillers, and all sorts of drugs. They are not supposed to do it, as they are not qualified as doctors. But people assumed they were doctors. If they are unable to cure it, they refer patients to specialists in the city. So, as a new practitioner, I was unable to break the circle. However, I had a few patients. But most patients were gynecological, and they preferred gynecological practitioners. Then, I decided to take another training course on obstetrics and gynecology. As an anesthetist, I knew the gynecological and obstetrical conditions of the patients. So, I felt it would be preferable in my general practice if I had gynecology training. I went to the first hospital where I took my first anesthesia training. It was a six-month period of full-time residential training. I started to do that.
I saw the financial discomfort. I was thinking about online income. But I had only a little understanding of that.
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Blogging and Digital Content Creation
Digital marketing, affiliate marketing, graphic design, SEO, SEM, video marketing, freelancing, web design, content creation, and YouTube are some of the terms that come to mind. What didn't I try?
I was seriously thinking of the terms above. At first, I did not even know much about these. But I loved computers. I loved working on computers.
My first question was what I would learn first. I asked my friend. He said, "SEO." I did not even know what SEO was. I thought it was very complicated. But I knew I could do it, no matter how difficult it was. A friend asked me what the landing page was. I started to discover that I had questioned what the domain and hosting were. What is SEO? One question led to another. I started reading Moz, Semrush, Neil Patel, Yoast, SEO by the Sea, SEO Journal, and many more blogs and videos. It took months to clean it all up. I also took online training from Yoast and other resources. Soon, I bought some domains and hosting. In the meantime, I have become an expert on technical SEO, on-page SEO, off-page SEO, device responsiveness, copywriting, content marketing, keyword research, and so on. I made landing pages on my own. Then I discovered that it needed design. I needed logos; I needed banners. So, eventually, I had to learn graphic design. First, I used mobile apps. But I was looking for perfection. Then I decided to learn Adobe Illustrator. Adobe, in the following few months, has opened many doors for me. I took courses on graphic design. Then, I understood the color schemes, the theories of modern design, and alignments. I had to keep stopping making websites until I learned to design properly.
First, I used WordPress and plugins for website content management. Then, I assumed there may be more freedom and more advancements in the field. I quickly learned HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. It was a big step forward for me.
Look, I still wasn't able to earn money. I opened Upwork and Payoneer accounts. But then I realized I was a student. I need to be a professional to earn money. However, if I wanted to earn money by hook or by crook, I could do that. But I cannot do anything without perfection. Perfection requires a full pledge of knowledge and skills.
Thank you, God. I learned website design, graphic design, SEO, and content writing. However, some topics are on the way, like UI/UX. But why was I learning these things? How did I earn money? I knew the answer: affiliate marketing. I had to write about products, and the product manufacturer or marketer was supposed to pay a small commission. The other way of earning an income, the active one, was not possible for me. because I did not have any products. So, I found passive income easy. But in reality, people who have their own products are easier to sell. For me, I had to be familiar with the marketplaces. Again, I had to be familiar with the products people buy. So, it needs extensive study and up-to-date knowledge. Soon, I discovered that people enjoy seeing images and watching videos rather than reading articles. According to studies, the next few years will be dominated by video. Video marketing will be the solution for next-level businesses. I was forced to learn videography.
Luckily, I saw an ad from a prominent YouTube channel in Bangladesh, Mayajaaal, that they would conduct a course for selected people to be video marketers. I applied for that and was luckily selected. It was an extensive course, and it took almost 6 months to cover all the topics. It was a very practical-oriented course. It covers the roots of each topic up to the leaves. The brothers who taught us had an in-depth understanding of what they talked about. All audio treatment software, including Audacity, Adobe Audition, and all the plugins; all video editing software, for example, Filmora, Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, and DaVinci Resolve Studio; how to do room treatment for voice-over; how to take beautiful shots; how to make videos without a camera; all types of microphones, camera, and drone shots; and there were many more, including how to earn by freelancing and marketing. They learned them in ten years and gave us six months. It was an amazing experience.
Now that I have started my journey, I wonder how to reach the top. Every day I start my journey with new wisdom. I learned from my life that you should never be stopped anywhere.
Now, what do I desire? I have been looking forward to a hospital job (clinical or managerial) at home or abroad. But I am now charmed by my creative work on the Internet. I hope this will go well for me.
