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My Mom lives in Bellingham, sisters in Portland. I spent 2 weeks out that way this month, and have been wanting to move to the Pacific NW for years (I moved away from there when I was 19....30 now).
I first wanted to move to Portland, but Seattle is very appealing. The job market looks much better as well. I have 5 years experience as an LPN and just graduated with a degree in Information Technology/Network Administration. I'd love to get into Healthcare IT.
I just applied for my WA Nursing license...ideally I'd find temp housing, work for a temp nursing agency while hunting for an IT job. Any ideas, leads, suggestions?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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While there are more jobs available here than most areas, there are still far more applicants than jobs available. You seem to have the odds against you, since there are a lot of IT people with great experience looking for work, but experienced nurses seem to always find jobs. They just opened a new hospital in Issaquah, and there are several other medical facilities undergoing expansion on the eastside. Even the major hospital in Everett just completed a new building.
Exactly! Just feel lucky Seattle is the city I want to be in and it's not as bad off as a lot of other cities
Yep! I see way more openings there vs. other cities. I disagree with the poster telling me the odds are against me. Not all people wanting to work in the healthcare IT field have a clinical background, nor are they female.
I'm not in Seattle, but I've been in the IT field a while now, and own my own startup now. I can't imagine anyone but the most junior IT person having a difficult time finding employment in most any major city, especially a tech hub. Although the OP just graduated, see my comments below. Having a clinical background should easily offset the lack of experience. Some general comments:
1. Everyone I know in IT who is unemployed is that way by choice. They could all find jobs if they wanted. Granted, I don't know anyone in IT living in Smallville either. Seattle is not Smallville though.
2. It's common to receive many resumes for vacancies. I'm not sure it is really very indicative of anything. Probably half (or more) of the resumes I have ever received were from people already employed, but were looking to improve their salary, work environment, etc. In fact, I think you see more of that in an employee's market. When people know they can easily find work, they become less willing to tolerate anything they don't like in their current job. So yes, for every IT vacancy there are often many applicants. I don't think there are many "unemployed" applicants though. If someone with a job gets another job, it just moves the vacancy to another company. It generally means that the lesser experienced/qualified applicants end up working in the less desirable jobs/companies.
3. Healthcare IT is a great niche to work in right now. IMHO, it right underneath computer/network security. There is a major push going on to digitize medical records. Doctors' offices and healthcare facilities throughout the nation are migrating to all digital records. The healthcare bill is mandating/encouraging a good amount of this. Do you realize the level of effort required to take an entire industry into the digital age? It's enormous! The OP indicates she has a clinical background. Let me tell you something, an IT specialist who also knows and understands the domain and has some SME expertise is rare. Having a healthcare IT specialist with a clinical background while digitizing a medical facility will also be something any halfway competent manager would relish. Such hybrid employees are hard to find.
In a nutshell, I'd hardly worry about finding employment.
[EDIT] I would seek out the software vendors that are digitizing medical facilities and apply with them. They might not be located in Seattle, but they certainly have people working there. Think of the mechanics of digitizing a facility. There are substantial software installation, maintenance, and training requirements. These doctors are going from paper to digital and it isn't easy. I had a good discussion with my wife's doctor in San Diego about this recently. He almost made me wish my startup was in this area. Now imagine you are one of those software vendors. You are having to send out either SME's with little tech expertise, or techies who can barely talk to the medical staff to deploy the software. They might be sending out both. Now imagine you get a resume across your desk from someone who knows BOTH. A person who is both technically qualified, and has a medical background. In other words, the perfect person to send out to deploy your software. The perfect techie to interface with doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel. Things will settle down after a few years, but you could probably make a good living hooking up with a software vendor as a field service rep/deployment specialist. Just a thought.
Last edited by CarawayDJ; 01-02-2012 at 02:19 AM..
I'm not in Seattle, but I've been in the IT field a while now, and own my own startup now. I can't imagine anyone but the most junior IT person having a difficult time finding employment in most any major city, especially a tech hub. Although the OP just graduated, see my comments below. Having a clinical background should easily offset the lack of experience. Some general comments:
1. Everyone I know in IT who is unemployed is that way by choice. They could all find jobs if they wanted. Granted, I don't know anyone in IT living in Smallville either. Seattle is not Smallville though.
2. It's common to receive many resumes for vacancies. I'm not sure it is really very indicative of anything. Probably half (or more) of the resumes I have ever received were from people already employed, but were looking to improve their salary, work environment, etc. In fact, I think you see more of that in an employee's market. When people know they can easily find work, they become less willing to tolerate anything they don't like in their current job. So yes, for every IT vacancy there are often many applicants. I don't think there are many "unemployed" applicants though. If someone with a job gets another job, it just moves the vacancy to another company. It generally means that the lesser experienced/qualified applicants end up working in the less desirable jobs/companies.
3. Healthcare IT is a great niche to work in right now. IMHO, it right underneath computer/network security. There is a major push going on to digitize medical records. Doctors' offices and healthcare facilities throughout the nation are migrating to all digital records. The healthcare bill is mandating/encouraging a good amount of this. Do you realize the level of effort required to take an entire industry into the digital age? It's enormous! The OP indicates she has a clinical background. Let me tell you something, an IT specialist who also knows and understands the domain and has some SME expertise is rare. Having a healthcare IT specialist with a clinical background while digitizing a medical facility will also be something any halfway competent manager would relish. Such hybrid employees are hard to find.
In a nutshell, I'd hardly worry about finding employment.
[EDIT] I would seek out the software vendors that are digitizing medical facilities and apply with them. They might not be located in Seattle, but they certainly have people working there. Think of the mechanics of digitizing a facility. There are substantial software installation, maintenance, and training requirements. These doctors are going from paper to digital and it isn't easy. I had a good discussion with my wife's doctor in San Diego about this recently. He almost made me wish my startup was in this area. Now imagine you are one of those software vendors. You are having to send out either SME's with little tech expertise, or techies who can barely talk to the medical staff to deploy the software. They might be sending out both. Now imagine you get a resume across your desk from someone who knows BOTH. A person who is both technically qualified, and has a medical background. In other words, the perfect person to send out to deploy your software. The perfect techie to interface with doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel. Things will settle down after a few years, but you could probably make a good living hooking up with a software vendor as a field service rep/deployment specialist. Just a thought.
Thank you for taking the time out to write this! Such thoughtful and great advice. I am definitely going to seek out software vendors. I have a variety of healthcare experience in different fields, am very personable, have great basic IT skills and learn quickly. I would be a great fit for a position such as you described. Now off to do some research! I am VERY open to relocation.
I hear seattle is quite nice during the summer months. If i had the income i wouldnt mind moving their. Thats where the 2002 movie The Ring was filmed (also outside seattle).
Good luck with your search. Just remember this. Companies that create software for any particular industry (especially skilled professions) can't have enough people in their company who have worked in the industry. You have no idea how useful that is. I could write a book on all of the ways hybrid employees can help your company. My background is in the military, yet my company seems to be gaining the most traction in the firefighter community. If I had a vacancy in my company now and a resume came across my desk from someone with firefighting experience, that person would be hired. Right now I know that I am sometimes asking the (firefighter) customers dumb questions. I'm sometimes making awkward recommendations that don't make much sense. I'm not speaking the terminology. I'm not anticipating what they need before they say it. I'm not seeing all of the opportunities out there. If I have a firefighting related question I can't walk into an office down the hall and ask someone. If I get to the point that I need to hire people to go out and deploy/train my software at a customer site, and all I have is pure techies...they are going to ask the same dumb questions, make the same awkward recommendations, fail to see the same opportunities, fail to speak the terminology, etc. That would leave me with a choice. Do I hire a firefighter and try to make him a quasi-techie, hire a techie and try to make him a quasi-firefighter, or do I have to hire both to do the job? You can clearly see how any applicant with both technical and firefighting skills would get the job. Rest assured, this is the same dilemma being faced by all of the IT companies in healthcare, especially the ones digitizing offices. They will have medical professionals on their staff, but they surely will not have enough to go out to all of the customer sites. Like I said, you can't have enough employees with domain expertise.
So stick to your desire about getting into healthcare IT. It is a very wise choice. It's wise because of the enormous amount of digitization occurring nationwide right now, and wise because you have some domain expertise. That makes you unique and separates you from 95% of the other resumes. And finally, do not worry about getting a job. You are in a good situation and entering the job market at the perfect time for your skill set. The average unemployment rate anywhere should mean nothing to you.
Good luck with your search. Just remember this. Companies that create software for any particular industry (especially skilled professions) can't have enough people in their company who have worked in the industry. You have no idea how useful that is. I could write a book on all of the ways hybrid employees can help your company. My background is in the military, yet my company seems to be gaining the most traction in the firefighter community. If I had a vacancy in my company now and a resume came across my desk from someone with firefighting experience, that person would be hired. Right now I know that I am sometimes asking the (firefighter) customers dumb questions. I'm sometimes making awkward recommendations that don't make much sense. I'm not speaking the terminology. I'm not anticipating what they need before they say it. I'm not seeing all of the opportunities out there. If I have a firefighting related question I can't walk into an office down the hall and ask someone. If I get to the point that I need to hire people to go out and deploy/train my software at a customer site, and all I have is pure techies...they are going to ask the same dumb questions, make the same awkward recommendations, fail to see the same opportunities, fail to speak the terminology, etc. That would leave me with a choice. Do I hire a firefighter and try to make him a quasi-techie, hire a techie and try to make him a quasi-firefighter, or do I have to hire both to do the job? You can clearly see how any applicant with both technical and firefighting skills would get the job. Rest assured, this is the same dilemma being faced by all of the IT companies in healthcare, especially the ones digitizing offices. They will have medical professionals on their staff, but they surely will not have enough to go out to all of the customer sites. Like I said, you can't have enough employees with domain expertise.
So stick to your desire about getting into healthcare IT. It is a very wise choice. It's wise because of the enormous amount of digitization occurring nationwide right now, and wise because you have some domain expertise. That makes you unique and separates you from 95% of the other resumes. And finally, do not worry about getting a job. You are in a good situation and entering the job market at the perfect time for your skill set. The average unemployment rate anywhere should mean nothing to you.
Thank you! Your encouragement means a lot to me! I am going to stick to my guns, and find that job in Healthcare IT. What you said all makes perfect sense. I have a friend who works in the IT department near me, and he always comments he wishes the techies were able to communicate with the hospital staff better.
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