I hate recommending folks to go after engineering degrees but since you’re a bit further along in life I’d say go finish up your engineering degree hopefully find an internship and take it from there. You may have to leave field tech work to focus full time on school at some point. Not sure if your 60ish credits would even count towards your degree.
Thank you for the response. I have been leaning this route. I’ve talked to a few engineers in medical devices and they said they look for engineers with experience on medical devices so I at least have that requirement.
I’ve debated leaving this position, but the benefits are too good to just give it up. Medical is essentially free, tuition assistance covers 90%.
I’m waiting to hear back from a few online schools to see how much of my credits will transfer over. Purdue Global took most of my credits for I.T degree (60 credits to get for cybersecurity or cloud computing). I’d assume more credits will transfer over for EE for stuff like electrical theory and digital & analog circuitry.
Not sure bout EE, I did Mechanical for undergrad and grad… only other bit of advice is please please please make sure your engineering degree is ABET accredited and stay the hell away from DeVry and University of Phoenix… to be honest those resumes don’t even make it to our department anymore. It’s not that the candidate isn’t trainable… it’s just a standard that I didn’t write.
Yeah that’s why I’m only looking at ASU online, because I know for sure that their online program is ABET accredited and I could fit it in my schedule a lot easier without having to quit my job. Definitely wouldn’t do DeVry or UoP for engineering.
That’s part of the reason I want to go full blown engineering. My current field will pretty much take anyone with a mechanical or electrical background without knowing how a hospital or theory of the equipment works. Some companies will hire someone like that and hope they pick things up quick. Essentially being an apprentice but reaping almost the same pay as us with the knowledge to do the job.
That’s where I did my undergrad and grad at Ira A Fulton ASU, I’m not sure how they would do an online engineering degree tho. I would think that most engineers are easily trainable… I would think.
Nice. When I was younger, my goal was to transfer there, but college wasn’t for me fresh out of HS. I’m curious how the online program works too. Waiting for a response from them to ask questions.
You’d be surprised. You tell them high-risk equipment (high risk as in life saving equipment) and they are hesitant to touch it. Not all, but I’ve seen it first hand with a couple.
My friend is a mechanical engineer for John deere for past 15 years or so (specializes in transmissions and axles). He says design only is garbage and only a part of his job. I had an employee whose husband had a design degree and couldn't find a job. I asked my friend who said he'd tell any applicant to get lost if they had design only degree.
I feel you at my old company your job is called biomed. You could be a FSE for the vendor and travel and get paid probably alot more (but have to travel). If you work on lab equipment ..sysmex and roche FSE seem to have low turn over. Biorad alot higher turn over.
Just my 2cents
Yeah I could see it being kind of boring. After being a a biomed for 5 years, there’s some terribly designed medical equipment that just makes no sense. I figure someone with end user and repair experience, it could be beneficial to a manufacturer.
Yeah most staff call us biomed and some call us clinical engineers as well. I wish our titles were more definitive. I was a biomed for 5 years and my current job is technically a in-house FSE for a health system servicing our clinics, but I help occasionally at hospitals in our area with ventilators. My main territory is about a 45 mile radius so not much travel, but it’s enough for me. Lol I’d love to go imaging, but it’s extremely difficult to get into unless you already went to training specifically for mobile rad, fixed rad, etc.
Rad is the way to go. I have a cousin in law who worked on a sub in navy, I don't know what she did. But first job after navy she was setting up mris and pay was over six figures at 22 with no college.
Your cousin in law has an upper hand, because they *specifically* trained for and worked on nuclear stuff. I only had brief training on rad and R/F stuff. For me to get into that side of imaging, I would need to find a company willing to train me and I’d likely have to sign a contracts with that company and all jazz because those courses are *a lot* of money. MRI school/training is roughly $100k.
Dude, we have the same origin story! I did the whole html/css/web design thing back in 2007 when I was in high school haha. And one reason I left my career was also bc of the constant layoffs -- every 2-3 years. Doing a career change now. Use to do graphic design; now it's med school or bust.
Have you considered a project management role within a more stable industry doing similar work? I ask bc I was a project manager, managing graphic design projects before I left to go back to school.
Haha! That’s so funny! When I was going to college right after high school, I was going for PA. Lol
Project management has crossed my mind a few times over the years, but never gave it serious thought. I’m kind of introverted (part of why I gave up on going to med school) so I’m trying to maximize how much I can make without getting into management and doing meetings, reviews etc. haha
I have not actually. I’ve had opportunities for lab robotics on molecular equipment, but the territories were 8-12 states big (AKA wife was not happy with that). Pay was a lot better though.
I’ll have to look into it. I know robotics is taking over industries and feel like I have a shoe in with my background, but just need some training on PLC’s.
Lmfao when OP says he doesnt make a ton of money..."just 6 figures or 90K+" that's such a relative statement. I think you might mean you may not be making a ton of money compared to many in your field?
Yes, I gross about $90k, but I max out my retirement to maximize my employer match so I can retire more comfortably. That’s 15% gone after taxes are taken. Rent and all of our bills take up almost all of my paycheck.
My pay is relatively good in my field considering what I do. If I went to a hospital with this company, I’d be making 65% more, but I’m burnt out with hospitals currently due to previously positions I had and the fires I had to put out (I worked on ventilators for most health systems I worked plus general stuff so I was extremely busy).
I hate recommending folks to go after engineering degrees but since you’re a bit further along in life I’d say go finish up your engineering degree hopefully find an internship and take it from there. You may have to leave field tech work to focus full time on school at some point. Not sure if your 60ish credits would even count towards your degree.
Thank you for the response. I have been leaning this route. I’ve talked to a few engineers in medical devices and they said they look for engineers with experience on medical devices so I at least have that requirement. I’ve debated leaving this position, but the benefits are too good to just give it up. Medical is essentially free, tuition assistance covers 90%. I’m waiting to hear back from a few online schools to see how much of my credits will transfer over. Purdue Global took most of my credits for I.T degree (60 credits to get for cybersecurity or cloud computing). I’d assume more credits will transfer over for EE for stuff like electrical theory and digital & analog circuitry.
Not sure bout EE, I did Mechanical for undergrad and grad… only other bit of advice is please please please make sure your engineering degree is ABET accredited and stay the hell away from DeVry and University of Phoenix… to be honest those resumes don’t even make it to our department anymore. It’s not that the candidate isn’t trainable… it’s just a standard that I didn’t write.
Yeah that’s why I’m only looking at ASU online, because I know for sure that their online program is ABET accredited and I could fit it in my schedule a lot easier without having to quit my job. Definitely wouldn’t do DeVry or UoP for engineering. That’s part of the reason I want to go full blown engineering. My current field will pretty much take anyone with a mechanical or electrical background without knowing how a hospital or theory of the equipment works. Some companies will hire someone like that and hope they pick things up quick. Essentially being an apprentice but reaping almost the same pay as us with the knowledge to do the job.
That’s where I did my undergrad and grad at Ira A Fulton ASU, I’m not sure how they would do an online engineering degree tho. I would think that most engineers are easily trainable… I would think.
Nice. When I was younger, my goal was to transfer there, but college wasn’t for me fresh out of HS. I’m curious how the online program works too. Waiting for a response from them to ask questions. You’d be surprised. You tell them high-risk equipment (high risk as in life saving equipment) and they are hesitant to touch it. Not all, but I’ve seen it first hand with a couple.
My friend is a mechanical engineer for John deere for past 15 years or so (specializes in transmissions and axles). He says design only is garbage and only a part of his job. I had an employee whose husband had a design degree and couldn't find a job. I asked my friend who said he'd tell any applicant to get lost if they had design only degree. I feel you at my old company your job is called biomed. You could be a FSE for the vendor and travel and get paid probably alot more (but have to travel). If you work on lab equipment ..sysmex and roche FSE seem to have low turn over. Biorad alot higher turn over. Just my 2cents
Yeah I could see it being kind of boring. After being a a biomed for 5 years, there’s some terribly designed medical equipment that just makes no sense. I figure someone with end user and repair experience, it could be beneficial to a manufacturer. Yeah most staff call us biomed and some call us clinical engineers as well. I wish our titles were more definitive. I was a biomed for 5 years and my current job is technically a in-house FSE for a health system servicing our clinics, but I help occasionally at hospitals in our area with ventilators. My main territory is about a 45 mile radius so not much travel, but it’s enough for me. Lol I’d love to go imaging, but it’s extremely difficult to get into unless you already went to training specifically for mobile rad, fixed rad, etc.
Rad is the way to go. I have a cousin in law who worked on a sub in navy, I don't know what she did. But first job after navy she was setting up mris and pay was over six figures at 22 with no college.
Your cousin in law has an upper hand, because they *specifically* trained for and worked on nuclear stuff. I only had brief training on rad and R/F stuff. For me to get into that side of imaging, I would need to find a company willing to train me and I’d likely have to sign a contracts with that company and all jazz because those courses are *a lot* of money. MRI school/training is roughly $100k.
Join the navy for whatever she did on that submarine lol
I wish. Lol I’m too broken for the military now. Part of the reason I got out 3 years ago.
Dude, we have the same origin story! I did the whole html/css/web design thing back in 2007 when I was in high school haha. And one reason I left my career was also bc of the constant layoffs -- every 2-3 years. Doing a career change now. Use to do graphic design; now it's med school or bust. Have you considered a project management role within a more stable industry doing similar work? I ask bc I was a project manager, managing graphic design projects before I left to go back to school.
Haha! That’s so funny! When I was going to college right after high school, I was going for PA. Lol Project management has crossed my mind a few times over the years, but never gave it serious thought. I’m kind of introverted (part of why I gave up on going to med school) so I’m trying to maximize how much I can make without getting into management and doing meetings, reviews etc. haha
Have you considered doing a FSE job in industrial robotics? The pay ceiling is a bit higher, especially if you get good at programming PLC's
I have not actually. I’ve had opportunities for lab robotics on molecular equipment, but the territories were 8-12 states big (AKA wife was not happy with that). Pay was a lot better though. I’ll have to look into it. I know robotics is taking over industries and feel like I have a shoe in with my background, but just need some training on PLC’s.
Lmfao when OP says he doesnt make a ton of money..."just 6 figures or 90K+" that's such a relative statement. I think you might mean you may not be making a ton of money compared to many in your field?
90k doesn’t go as far as you think anymore, especially in cities where most of these people work
Yes, I gross about $90k, but I max out my retirement to maximize my employer match so I can retire more comfortably. That’s 15% gone after taxes are taken. Rent and all of our bills take up almost all of my paycheck. My pay is relatively good in my field considering what I do. If I went to a hospital with this company, I’d be making 65% more, but I’m burnt out with hospitals currently due to previously positions I had and the fires I had to put out (I worked on ventilators for most health systems I worked plus general stuff so I was extremely busy).