Peernovo
Medical and surgical

How to become a surgeon

Official title: Surgeon

Also called: General surgeon, Cardiothoracic surgeon, Neurosurgeon, Orthopaedic surgeon, Otolaryngologist, Paediatric surgeon, Plastic or reconstructive surgeon

Surgeons consult with patients and operate on people to treat and manage disease and injuries.

Main tasks

How to become one

You need more than one qualification to become a surgeon. You need University Entrance to do the study or training for this job. Required: to complete the Health Sciences First Year programme at the University of Otago OR the first year of the Bachelor of Health Sciences, Bachelor of Biomedical Science or Bachelor of Science with a health major at the University of Auckland; a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery; 2 years' experience as a supervised junior doctor in a hospital; 5-7 years of specialist training and examinations to become a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; to sit the Specialist Fellowship Examination to be admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; an Annual Practising Certificate; to pass a police check. Registration body: Medical Council of New Zealand.

See the full Tahatū profile

Ways in

Pay · Past change · AI and this job

Who does this work

Related jobs

Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz

Questions people ask

How do I become a surgeon?

You need more than one qualification to become a surgeon. You need University Entrance to do the study or training for this job. Required: to complete the Health Sciences First Year programme at the University of Otago OR the first year of the Bachelor of Health Sciences, Bachelor of Biomedical Science or Bachelor of Science with a health major at the University of Auckland; a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery; 2 years' experience as a supervised junior doctor in a hospital; 5-7 years of specialist training and examinations to become a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; to sit the Specialist Fellowship Examination to be admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons; an Annual Practising Certificate; to pass a police check. Registration body: Medical Council of New Zealand.

How much does a surgeon earn in New Zealand?

The Tertiary Education Commission estimates median pay at $226,680 a year, before tax. Most common pay is $206,030 to $247,330 a year.

Has the number of people working as a surgeon grown in New Zealand?

It has grown: TEC records an increase in the number of people doing this job between the 2018 and 2023 Censuses. This is past change, not a forecast.

Will AI change the work of a surgeon?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

This content is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahatu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. All or some of the information has been modified by Peernovo. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this content.

Qualification information from NZQA, used under CC BY 3.0 NZ.

This work is based on/includes Stats NZ's data which are licensed by Stats NZ for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence. Census data via Figure.NZ.

Includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Sources: Tertiary Education Commission, Tahatū Career Navigator (career ideas, pay estimates, entry requirements and study options, CC BY 4.0, modified by Peernovo); Stats NZ, 2023 Census (via Figure.NZ) and the National Occupation List (CC BY 4.0); NZQA qualification information (CC BY 3.0 NZ); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Links between career ideas and ANZSCO groups, degree fields and broad job groups are Peernovo's.

These results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Graduate outcomes: these results are not official statistics. They have been created for research purposes from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), which is carefully managed by Stats NZ.

Updated 4 October 2026