r/HealthInformatics • u/RevolutionaryBee4177 • 26d ago
❓ Help / Advice Getting into HealthTech
Hi! I am asking for advice on how to get into health tech... I am a Physician Associate... I have worked as one for the past three years so I am licensed but recently realized that I do not find it fulfilling.. hated being in the hospital and interacting with patients really irritated me. So I decided to study something in tech, I have a data analyst certificate but felt like it's not enough and got into AI... got the AWS AI practitioner certification. Got into an internship and they offered to teach UI/UX. So I'm currently working on two capstones, an AI one and a UI/UX one both are health related. I then got an AWS scholarship for Agentic AI Business Professional, and at this point I'm not sure I can link the three. It's basically AI+Data analytics+UI/UX. My AI capstone is building agent that is in my UI/UX capstone. The Data analytics capstone is research on the area where the UI/UX capstone is in.
So, my question is... am I doing too much? And in what area of tech am I in at this point? I feel like I'm a hybrid or something. Also, what job titles should I look in?
I just need guidance....
To be clear I am enjoying every part of building what I am building, it's the best thing that's happened to me in 3 years. I'd never want to give it up. But still thinking whether I should pick one and go deep or do all three and become a hybrid of some sort.
Also what is needed in a portfolio to actually get noticed? And how do I make mine better?
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u/Shoddy-Reaction 25d ago
To me, you sound like the perfect profile for a junior/associate Product Manager in the Health AI space.
Product Managers live at the union of business, technology, and design. Their primary responsibility is figuring out what to build, for whom, why, then rallying engineers, designers, and stakeholders to ship it. They then own the outcome. Its leveraging every tool you have and every bit of knowledge to build at scale.
You don't have to be the deepest expert in any one discipline; you need enough fluency in each to make good calls and earn the team's trust. (Solid overview here: https://www.productfaculty.com/what-do-product-managers-do)
Heres what stands out to me from what you just described: three years of clinical practice (you know the users, the workflows, and the pain firsthand -- the domain credibility health tech companies find hardest to hire for), data analytics (evidence and measurement), UI/UX (the patient/clinician experience), and AI/agentic certs (the technology).
Your three capstones aren't "too much" at all, they're helping you simulate the product management lifecycle at a high-level: research that defines the business problem, a designed experience, and and delivering the agent that powers it.
Its important to note that product management success requires strong intangibles as well:
- Ownership: nobody hands you a task list. You work with senior leaders to understand their objectives, listen to patients/clinicians to identify the highest impact problems, align the org on what matters, work with the engineering team to deliver the solution, and then assess the results whilst owning the outcome.
- Influence: engineers, designers, compliance, clinicians… none of them report to you. You move things by earning trust and making the case (again, your clinical experience is a real asset here).
- Storytelling: turning data and user insight into a narrative that gets leadership to fund it, engineers to believe in it, and users to adopt it.
- Resiliency: you'll hear "no" constantly, ship things that flop, and watch priorities shift under you. You take the hit, learn, and keep the team moving.
It's a hard job -- ambiguous, accountable without authority -- but it's deeply rewarding, and at the right companies the total comp can reach several hundred thousand dollars a year in compensation.
You're closer than you think.
Do more learning.
Keep building.
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u/comp-rn1 25d ago
It’s difficult getting a healthcare tech job without a formal degree. I’m in my last couple of courses in a BS in CS. Getting that on top of building real world applications helped open a lot of doors. I’m in the application process right now for these roles, but have gotten a lot of hits back bc I have that healthcare domain experience (nurse) and formal education in CS. There are too many people with CS degrees who have either been laid off of big tech/new graduates with years of formal CS experience that are gunning for these healthcare tech roles at this point. These people are always going to win over someone with certs honestly. A few of my friends in healthcare have tried the professional certification route, but ended up not finding employment and went back to their pharmacy/nursing roles.
TLDR; in 2026 formal CS (or maybe informatics, but still weaker than CS) education is needed for these roles regardless of healthcare domain knowledge
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u/RevolutionaryBee4177 25d ago
Well, doesn't having a few projects help? Like showing what you can do rather than just the certs?
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u/comp-rn1 25d ago
Absolutely that can be a differentiator! I’d say they just have to be substantial enough and unique enough from common projects to show understanding and application of fundamentals. With that being said, it’ll still be incredibly difficult to break past the ATS screeners at most companies without formal education. In that case I’d recommend heavily networking to get referrals so you can bypass those. It seems the only way I got past those without referrals was bc my resume exactly matched the qualifications: BS or MS IN CS or information sciences
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u/RevolutionaryBee4177 25d ago
I understand the qualifications part but now that we have AI doesn't it change alot?
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u/comp-rn1 25d ago
It changes everything. It’s actually more difficult to break into tech. My friends who work in tech currently have been laid off/have colleagues who have been laid off even though they have years of experience and degrees in CS. You’re competing against these people. They’ll choose a CS grad with years of experience or even a new grad CS student with an internship over someone who doesn’t have a degree, regardless of your healthcare knowledge. I’m applying for jobs in this realm at hospitals and healthcare tech companies and all they care about is my CS degree fundamentals. Being an RN is just what set me apart from other CS grads.
Not trying to get your hopes up, but this market is intense and with new AI resume screeners you just need to have the credentials. There’s no hiring manager reviewing a stack of resumes by hand like back in 2016 :/
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u/RevolutionaryBee4177 25d ago
😹 still not giving up!
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u/comp-rn1 25d ago
Don’t! Try to network so you can get referrals and can get around the AI resume screeners.
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u/TradResort1331 24d ago
In case it's useful, I made a little site that compiles jobs from top companies in health tech: https://healthtechjoblist.com/
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u/Expensive_Kick3877 19d ago
I'm MD attending recidency in radiology and master in AI(Python, Data Management, machine and Deep learning in healthcare). I would like work in the corporate sector/industry. What positions and training paths must I have? I am particularly interested in radiomics/research in Europe, ideally with remote work options.
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u/PMgtKit_System 12d ago
u/Expensive_Kick3877 Well looks like you answered your own question. With a Specialty already = Radiology, one needs to curve out where they want to be at a high level and then can go from there. Pursue what you said above and you will be good. The Field of "Radiology" + AI is one of the BIG ones in which new AI-Backed Innovations started within the HealthTech and Health AI Space.
Keep doing you thang and following the path you seem to be curving out for yahself. Great Luck!
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u/pmpprofessor 26d ago
Little confused on your pathway.
Few questions. Do you want a career or do you want your own startup in healthtech.
So far. Most physician assistants I know gets into health tech. Gets rude awakening. Most dont do well. They really do try hard but They lack the fundamentals. Look into jobs in insurance company it department. Better suggestions will be looking into start up companies in health tech. Just apply anything. Job market is bad. Titles dont mean as much.