I.T. Jobs/Careers in the Health Care Sector (Lebanon: job openings, school)

[bdj5773]

I'm torn between the Nashville area and the Fayetteville, AR area. Love NW Arkansas and growing like crazy. Even though growing by leaps and bounds, the I.T. jobs are not as prolific as they are in the Nashville area. I used to live near Nashville back at the turn of the century. Actually down in McMinnville. Moved away from there in 2004 to the St. Louis area and have been here ever since. I have traveled back through Nashville a couple of times since moving away and couldn't believe the amount of growth and change within a short period of time. I especially noticed this around Mt. Juliet and Lebanon. Unrecognizable. To the issue at hand: I currently work in I.T. at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes Hospital are integrated, which makes for a massive complex covering several city blocks. Plus Barnes is nationally recognized as one of the best health care facilities in the nation. WashU is also recognized as a top notch medical school nationally and globally. I've been here in I.T. for five years working as a Level 2 Senior Desktop Support Technician and am currently looking to get into the Security side of things. Health Care is big in Nashville. I see job openings frequently for Vanderbilt and HCA. What health care facility/hospital should I look to for a position/career? I realize this is a broad question that will elicit many opinions, but perhaps I can get some perspective of what I'm up against and where to look and where to steer clear from. I'm drawn to Vanderbilt. However, I've read both positive and negative things about them. Of course, this is true with every place. Seems like Vanderbilt has really good benefits though, but pay may not be up to par. Vanderbilt and Barnes/WashU seem to have a lot in common. They are both nationally and even globally recognized as top notch health care facilities. Working at Barnes has afforded me the opportunity to gain a lot of knowledge in this particular I.T. sector. I regularly receive accolades and recommendations and positive reviews more than any of my peers I work with, including being the go-to tech for Executives, including the President and the Vice-Presidents. In fact, I was told that if I ever need to go elsewhere that the President would write me a personal letter of recommendation. Just hoping to get some good feedback that hopefully will help me in my pursuit. I am not at all interested in a contractor firm like Robert Half. Been there and done that and have put in my time already. Look forward to the responses.