By Roger A. Bowles
One of my co-workers mentioned an old saying, “May you live in interesting times,” and although I have heard this saying before, lately it seems more relevant than ever. We are certainly living in interesting times in the world at large and in education. I mentioned in previous articles that we were looking for instructors, both in biomedical equipment technology and medical imaging systems technology. Recruiting for those positions has been a challenge.
Just as important as recruiting new talent into the HTM field is finding people willing to teach the next generation. The pay for educators, at least at our college, has always been below par. We used to know instructors who came here were coming here because they really wanted to teach. It certainly was not for the money. Last month, the college made it a little easier with an across-the-board shift in salaries for many programs at Texas State Technical College. Our program’s salary range shifted upward by about $30,000. That is not saying my pay went up by 30,000, just that the total range went up by that much. Still, the 10 percent increase that I did receive was better than a kick in the head.
Under the old pay plan, an instructor could come in at between $45,000 and $72,000. Yes, ridiculous when compared to today’s pay in the field. Our entry-level graduates make that much in the field. It was difficult to get someone with at least 5 years of experience to accept pay between $45,000 and $75,000. Now, the pay range is $81,000 to $108,000.
Yesterday we interviewed a young man for a biomedical equipment technology instructor position. He did not know about the recent shift in salary but is an extremely successful TSTC graduate from about 11 years ago. He wants to give back. I think he will be pleasantly surprised at the new range when they offer him the position. I hope that he accepts the position because he will breathe new life into the program.
The aging of the HTM field is a topic that has come up quite frequently in articles and conversation. Looking around at my colleagues (and myself), it is even worse in the education sector of HTM. Most all of us will retire in the next 5 to 10 years. Yes, we are aging gracefully but that is really just a nice way of saying we are looking worse! I’m glad we have a potential new hire with a good 25 years ahead of him. Hopefully, he will want to share column-writing duties with me after he settles in.
Speaking of the future of this program and this industry. I loved seeing the “40 Under 40” feature in TechNation. All of them are very deserving of that honor. I hope to see TechNation do this again in the near future. One of those “40 Under 40” honorees is Rhiannon Thurmond, a 2006 graduate of our biomedical equipment technology program at Texas State Technical College. She is a true leader, mentor and inspiration for beginning BMETs. We are proud of you, Rhiannon. Keep up the good work!
In closing, I again reach out to any of you considering teaching and giving back to the industry. We are still looking for an individual with a strong imaging background to teach here in Waco, Texas. The salary range probably isn’t exactly what it is out in the field but the job satisfaction makes up some of the difference. Please go to our website (www.tstc.edu) and click on “Discover More” on the left side of the screen and then “Work at TSTC.” Reach out to me if you have any questions (Roger.Bowles@tstc.edu).
– Roger A. Bowles, MS, EdD, CBET, is a biomedical equipment technology/medical imaging technology instructor at Texas State Technical College-Waco.