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Healthcare Practitioners and Technical · Holland code ISR

Pediatric Surgeons

Diagnose and perform surgery to treat fetal abnormalities and birth defects, diseases, and injuries in fetuses, premature and newborn infants, children, and adolescents. Includes all pediatric surgical specialties and subspecialties.

Also called: General Surgeon, Physician, Surgeon, Thoracic Surgeon, Cardiovascular Surgeon, Hand Surgeon, Plastic Surgeon, Vascular Surgeon.

O*NET 29-1243.00

At a glance

Preparation needed
Job Zone 5 of 5
Extensive preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.

What the work involves

The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.

  • Analyze patient's medical history, medication allergies, physical condition, and examination results to verify operation's necessity and to determine best procedure.
  • Conduct research to develop and test surgical techniques that can improve operating procedures and outcomes.
  • Consult with patient's other medical care specialists, such as cardiologist and endocrinologist, to determine if surgery is necessary.
  • Describe preoperative and postoperative treatments and procedures, such as sedatives, diets, antibiotics, or preparation and treatment of the patient's operative area, to parents or guardians of the patient.
  • Direct and coordinate activities of nurses, assistants, specialists, residents, and other medical staff.
  • Examine fetuses, infants, children, and adolescents, and diagnose health issues to determine need for intervention, such as surgery.
  • Examine instruments, equipment, and operating room to ensure sterility.
  • Examine patient to obtain information on medical condition and surgical risk.

Who tends to enjoy it

How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.

  • Realistic66
  • Investigative92
  • Artistic9
  • Social67
  • Enterprising24
  • Conventional49

The same work abroad

Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.

European occupation titles (ESCO)

  • specialised doctor · DE Facharzt/Fachärztin · FR médecin spécialiste

Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)

  • Specialist medical practitioners and consultants (2212)154,900 employed
  • Generalist medical practitioners (2211)197,900 employed
  • Other health professionals n.e.c. (2259)111,700 employed

Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.

Japan

Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “医師”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.

Median monthly pay
¥971,300
Middle half earn ¥666,600 to ¥1,338,000 a month.
Workers in the category
145,170
Regular employees in firms of ten or more.

Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.

Pay across Europe, for the whole group

Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.

Median annual earnings, Professionals, by country
CountryMedian pay
Belgium€61,714
Germany€59,529
Ireland€56,877
Austria€55,374
Netherlands€53,595
Sweden€43,567
France€41,515
Spain€35,735
Italy€33,649
Portugal€26,072
Poland€14,380

Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.

Is it a fit for you?

Interest is one input, alongside ability, pay and what is hiring near you. The career interests test takes about thirteen minutes and ranks occupations by how closely their profile matches yours.

Take the career interests test

Occupation data: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Values were rounded, tasks limited to the most important eight, and combined with the sources named in each section; O*NET has not reviewed or endorsed this adaptation. Pay and outlook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. International titles: ESCO, European Commission. UK classification and employment: Office for National Statistics, Open Government Licence.