Top 7 Reasons a Biomed Tech Is One of the Best Jobs in Healthcare
By John Pollard
It’s a job with a promising future. One that welcomes all ages and stages — from young people starting careers to mid-career professionals looking for a change. It’s a job focused on maintaining critical skills and building new ones. An exciting job that’s different every day. And a job that makes a real difference.
Sound too good to be true? It’s not! Being a biomed tech is all this — and more! — making it one of the very best jobs on the planet, in my humble opinion, and definitely one of the best jobs in healthcare today.
Want to learn more? Read on!
Top 7 Reasons a Biomed Tech Is One of the Best Jobs in Healthcare
1. Promising Future. Biomed techs are in demand. The employment outlook for biomed techs is positive. Jobs are expected to grow over the next decade, and likely beyond as healthcare itself continues to grow and change. The aging U.S. population, expansion of outpatient treatment centers, and advancing technology innovation are all driving changes in healthcare delivery. At the same time, today’s biomed workforce is shrinking due to retirement, meaning biomed techs will continue to be in high demand as these vacancies are created — in addition to the new positions that will be created.
2. On-the-Job Training. Learning is constant for biomed techs. Imagine a job committed to ensuring you have the skills you need to excel. Employers of biomed techs invest in critical ongoing training, both in-house and off-site, through mentoring and traditional settings like seminars, to help techs stay up to date on the knowledge and skills they need to be their best. It’s a job committed to growth and change, to keep pace with the growth and change in healthcare and healthcare technology. If you want a job focused on helping you be all you can be, then being a biomed tech is for you.
3. Open to All. The ranks of biomed techs are filled with professionals who made mid-career changes. I’m one of them! Following an injury nearly 30 years ago, I left my career as a journeyman carpenter to become a biomed tech. And I’ve never looked back. Others are attracted to the field from a variety of careers because they seek change and a new challenge. Of course, the field is also open to young people who are looking to get their career start — high school graduates as well as those with 2- and 4-year degrees. In fact, biomed desperately needs more young people to join the field. Read more in TKA President George Hampton’s recent blog on the topic.
4. Head and Hands. Biomed techs put both head and hands to work every day. The field requires people who are mechanically curious about how and why things work. Biomed techs need an understanding of math, physics, chemistry, and basic mechanics — all of those laws of math and science you learned in high school. Biomed techs also exercise their brains by considering logic, applying critical thinking, and putting their problem-solving skills to work. Then they get hands-on to bring it all together.
5. Never the Same. Every day is a new day in the world of a biomed tech. If variety is the spice of life, then biomed techs are extra spicy! What new advances will challenge you? What new solutions need to be discovered? What problems need to be solved? Which clinician will need your help? What needs to be repaired —preventatively or on the fly in a crisis? Will you work independently or as part of a team? How will you need to adapt? What will you learn? Bottom line: Biomed techs need to be skilled at being both proactive and reactive. The job definitely keeps you on your toes!
6. 21st Century Skills. Think biomed techs just need hard knowledge and a nimble pair of hands? Think again. Biomed techs need to be empathetic, open-minded, and curious self-starters with high personal accountability. Many of the 21st century skills in demand by employers today are also critical to success in biomed. LinkedIn just released a list of soft skills in demand for 2020 and they include skills critical for biomed techs, such as creativity, adaptability, and collaboration. Forbes also created a skills wish list for 2020, which also features critical thinking, tech savviness, flexibility, judgment, and emotional intelligence — all essential skills for biomed techs. Personally, I believe a candidate’s soft skills are the primary criteria for hiring.
7. Satisfaction. There is nothing more rewarding than knowing you’ve made a difference in someone’s day — and, more importantly, you’ve made a difference in someone’s life. Biomed techs empower clinicians to change lives every day, by giving nurses and doctors the essential tools they need to treat patients. Whether it’s a sterilizer, an MRI scanner, or a heart-lung bypass machine, making equipment safe and functional for patients is a biomed tech’s #1 priority.
If you want to learn more about the field of biomed — and why being a biomed tech is one of the best jobs in healthcare — just ask! You can reach me at john.pollard@ii-techknow.com.
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