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Many of the EMR IT workers I know have some sort of clinical background as well, even if it's just an LPN. I definitely think a nursing degree would help advance an EMR career, as well as giving you something to fall back on outside of IT.
I've been in healthcare admin for about 15 yrs. I'm in mgmt now, doing well. Hard to answer your question without knowing other details but I'll give you my opinion based on just what you posted. First, as a hiring mgr, I look for a good fit. So if you had good experience with a different EMR but were a better fit than others, I'd go with you. Knowing how one EMR operates translates into others. Ramp up time wouldn't be a big deal so your experience with a system that is soon to be outdated is still valuable IMO.
If you've been in healthcare for any length of time, you know that we are all heavily educated so a Masters gives you street cred. Hard to get far without that from what I've seen. But I don't know what the market is like outside of the top institutions. I've held positions at the top hospitals on the east coast (NYC and Boston) and know many on the west coast, some in Texas, and a couple other States. Most mgmt have a Masters degree.
You just got your bachelors (congrats)...slow it down.
The degrees you mention vary a lot. And #3...an MSN? What the hell are you talking about? That's a confusing one. You need a nursing degree before pursuing a MSN. You gonna do that? Do you plan to practice? If not, it's likely a bad choice. Don't know what your thinking.
MBA is a maybe but no need to concentrate in project mgmt. If you want to pursue that, get a PMP.
Business Analytics? Well, that has been and continues to boom in healthcare. That's the space I've been in for the last 10ish years. It means many thing though.
So the reason your question is hard to answer is that you are scattered. I can't tell what you want to do or which direction you want to go. Stay in IT (and are you really in IT or is it more IS?)? Change to analytics? Get into Management?
An MBA is broad so can be a good choice. The word analytics seems to make people's mouths salivate. I've seen people who say they do analytics who were complete buffoons and knew nothing of the field. Some genuinely think they do (because they learned what a pivot table is so ya know...they are now analytical geniuses - that's sarcasm), and others are tying hard to fake it. If you were doing real analytical work for a couple years then I would be in favor of heading in that direction for a Masters degree. Or, if it is something you are genuinely interested in, I'd be in favor as well.
If I were you I'd take a break from education and focus on building your career, while paying special attention to where you want it to go. Let that drive where your education goes.
If you stay in the computer (IT) field, the degrees do not matter for the most part.
About the only people I recommend getting masters for in IT are perhaps people who want to move up on the management side of things.
Last edited by maus; 05-19-2017 at 03:29 PM..
Reason: edit
Why do you feel that you need a Master's Degree? Or certifications?
It sounds like what you need is just to be more aggressive in your career by taking on large visibility projects & increasing your network for future opportunities. Are you wanting to stay in the medical field?
What could you see yourself doing? Being a very specialized SME for a specific tool/ platform that you are passionate about? Technical project management? Product management?
Yes, I would like to stay in the medical field. I would like to be a SME for a specific tool; which is currently working out great for me. I could stay in the EMR world forever because I love it. My concern is that the field is booming right now, but what about 5 years from today?
Get into the Network Security field if you want to stay in I.T. It's one of if not the biggest growing field in I.T. out there now, and will be for some time. You probably are degree'd enough for that already, and would just need some certs in the field.
Or, you could become an EPIC administrator at the hospital.
I wouldn't bother with a Master's, unless you KNOW a specific career you want to do, and it requires one.
Funny you mentioned Epic; that's what I am doing right now.
Well, step 1 is avoid "IT"... it's too general a term - better to narrow it down right away to networking, software development, etc. A degree in network security is probably a bad idea. Small companies won't usually need that as a specialization, and any other companies won't be looking for someone with a degree but no experience. The high demand is for folks with experience (not just in "security" as such, but knowing enough about development/systems/etc to help make sensitive judgment calls).
The good thing is, you can get experience without a degree, and I'd recommend that by all means if someone is disciplined enough to self-learn for maybe ~1 year. I'm biased because that's how I got in, but folks at my company definitely saw firsthand that the self-taught people can be pretty darn good. Taking initiative over a significant timespan is always worth a lot of points.
I also wouldn't be terribly optimistic about a lot of tech areas in the future... especially traditional networking (software-defined networking will be pretty dominant, and in the hands of not too many players) But for now, one can still get while the gettin's good.
I have worked as technical manager/middle management in IT for well-known University hospitals - top 10 nation-wide. As well as in the entertainment industries.
Can't go wrong in IT but you want to move into technical management, eventually, and an MBA (2 years only) or security masters (?) is usually (but not always) required to break the middle management or 160K ceiling.
IT is blowing up. GET EXPERIENCE in management with well known companies, even if you have to move or travel to do it.
Good luck.
Thank you for the advice but I am not management material I love to do my own stuff, not tell other people what to do
If you enjoy working in IT, focus on certs and forget about a master's degree. The only people I know working in IT with master's degrees are immigrants who came here on student visas and used a degree program as a workaround to the H1B lottery.
Most IT managers I've known do not have master's degrees. Some did not have a bachelor's degree.
As a demonstration of how ubiquitous and non-differentiating an MBA is these days, the majority of C-suite admin assistants I've encountered over the last few years have MBAs. I'm sure these women are smart and capable, but their job duties certainly do not require an MBA. My brother has an MBA; he's a comptroller. He had to get an MBA. Most people don't.
Another poster suggested network security as an area of specialization. I wholeheartedly agree with that recommendation. If that doesn't blow your skirt up, you could try big data or application development; focus on Python, Java, Ruby on Rails, etc. If you can learn those, the .NET framework would be a very easy tool to add to the box. I'm still seeing a lot of demand for .NET framework developers, but it's not exactly bleeding edge stuff. There's also still a great deal of demand for full stack MS SQL Server developers, MS SQL DBAs, Oracle PL/SQL developers, and Oracle DBAs...but if you're just starting out in your career, I wouldn't shackle myself to older technology like that.
Me, I'm in my 40s and have worked in IT for 20 years. I'm practically married to the Microsoft stack. You're not. Choose wisely!
Thank you so much for the suggestions! I have been looking into both big data and application development. Would you recommend school or self study for these?
Many of the EMR IT workers I know have some sort of clinical background as well, even if it's just an LPN. I definitely think a nursing degree would help advance an EMR career, as well as giving you something to fall back on outside of IT.
Thank you for the advice but I am not management material I love to do my own stuff, not tell other people what to do
If you really prefer to work independently, forget about Project Management. That field is all about managing other people. For project management, I was going to suggest skipping an MBA and working toward a PMP. This is a marketable certification that is often mentioned in job postings....but if the work doesn't appeal to you, no point going in that direction.
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I love to do my own stuff, not tell other people what to do
Choose wisely!
