True, things do get better when you are a consultants, but it still isn't easy, or at least not as easy as what most people fantasise it to be.
But frankly speaking, if one is speaking purely from the salarial perspective, the amount of effort and sacrifice put in by the local medical graduates in order to become consultants isn't worth it; passion really plays a huge part.
For myself, it was about AUD60ish thousand per annum in school fees alone. Now it is about AUD80K per annum. I think it costs about the same to train a junior doctor in Australia?
But the difference is that the hours here are much lesser than in Singapore, and most people work extra hours (such as myself) because they want to, not because they have to.
I'm curious too!
But it needs to be done in moderation. It isn't really a good idea to overwork anyone to the tune of >12 hours a day just to gain experience; your mind doesn't absorb anything after 10 hours of pressurising work.