For the most part, the biomedical equipment repair career field is dominated by professionals with a two-year associate degree. In my observation, a four-year bachelor’s degree in this field is fairly late on the scene. Many four-year graduates move on to the research and design track, as opposed to performing hands-on maintenance. However, I have recruited and hired many talented HTM professionals who do not have a degree. But, they are the exception. For every successful person who doesn’t have a degree of some sort, I can probably name 10 who do.
A college degree costs money and takes at least a few years of hard work while being basically flat broke the entire time. And, when you get the degree, employers typically want you to have a few years of experience before they will hire you and pay you enough to make a decent living. It’s a catch-22: you can’t get a job without a little experience and you can’t get experience without a job. The double-whammy is that a degree isn’t typically sufficient to get you over the hump. So, what is a degree good for and why should someone commit to getting one? On a tactical level, what is the best way to go about securing a degree and getting the foundational experience to propel an aspiring biomed into a successful career? Those are big questions but I believe that I have answers which are practical and not terribly difficult to apply.
First, let me answer the question, “Why do I need a degree when I can already do the work?” Part of the answer is, it’s symbolic. Attainment of a degree clearly demonstrates commitment to the industry. It also demonstrates intrinsic interest in the work.
The line of thinking is, if you can tolerate several years of academic training and not wash out, you probably like the actual work for the sake of the work. Symbolically, the attainment of the degree indicates that you’re dedicated to the field. I could do my own taxes and I could write my own estate plan. I can do taxes for other people if I was asked and I definitely know more about estate planning than my attorney-girlfriend. But, no one would hire me to do either. I’m just not that into taxes or estate law to commit to making a living at either. The industries and the customers that they serve prefer to have the work done by dedicated professionals. For the most part, this translates to people who’ve put in their time and even gone into debt in order to join the guild. I like to think that if something bizarre happened to the tax code, I could rely on my CPA to know how to deal with whatever fancy twist Congress could dream up. I sleep better at night knowing that if I get an audit letter, I’d be in good hands. For me, good hands belong to someone who fulfilled all of the academic requirements of an accredited accounting program.
The catch-22 I previously mentioned is something I hear about almost daily. A person spends several years in academia and then upon graduation, struggles to find suitable work in his or her field. That’s certainly frustrating. The academic phase serves some of the functions of career launch but not all of them. Go back and read that last sentence another time. The degree is part of it but it’s not all of it. The degree is the introduction and indoctrination to the fundamental elements of a career. The student gets immersed in theoretical materials that teach specific terminology, concepts and methods. After these become habit, there is an application phase. But, the student should remind himself, this is academia and it replicates real-world endeavors and even goes so far as to coincide with the real-world. But, it is still academia. How does someone bridge the gap and get the experience coupled with the training?
The answer is, you seek out opportunities anywhere that you can find them. In our industry, we have associations (CMIA, Indiana Biomed Society, etc…) and you go to the meetings and you introduce yourself. You must be willing to clean the bathroom in the biomed shop in order to gain exposure to the seasoned gurus who you hope to become. After a few handshakes, you’ll get the invitation and you can then carve out your own internship/externship. You probably won’t get paid but you won’t be paying tuition, either.
A word of caution: a lot of amateurs will ease off the throttle and relax a little hoping that eventually they will get hired and not have to clean toilets. Wrong answer! You work your homegrown apprenticeship and you keep attending the association meetings and you keep introducing yourself to other people. You position yourself as wanting to know how things run in different shops, because no two shops run the same way. This might take a year and you’ll be making next to no money so be prepared to live lean. In our company, we have a program specifically dedicated to mentoring and developing recent technical grads. We’re the exception in this way. You’ll have to create your own program.
There’s one final aspect that needs to be covered: the art of self-promotion. Every biomed I speak with, from the rookies to the seasoned professionals, is talented at taking things apart and putting them back together correctly. They are all talented at figuring out why something doesn’t work the way it was supposed to work. Where members of this profession tend to come up short is when it comes to consistently socializing with non-technical people. For the most part, this is an area where each individual needs to put in time and effort at learning or improving his or her skills in the area of self-promotion. The low-hanging fruit is to get a hold of some Dale Carnegie materials and read them. But, if you really want to improve your ability to sell yourself and consistently be well-thought of, you will want to join Toastmasters or do presentations at work or in conferences.
There you have it. I hope this advice will be helpful as you seek to start your HTM career.