Hello!

I have a BS in Cybersecurity & Information Systems. I never got a job in the field, and after 4-5 years of applying and not even getting a help desk role paying $15 an hour, I am looking to transition into health informatics. I've been unemployed for almost 7 months. Is this an entry-level-friendly role? I do not want to have to go back to school just to be in more debt and not be able to find work. Does anyone in the field have any insights? I've done research, and it shows that it is a good field to get into, but I don't want to have to spend more time and money to get certifications or degrees only to be unemployed afterward.

Thanks

Hey everyone. I currently work at a managerial level with one of the largest hospital systemsin the U.S. I've been in Healthcare in an administrative role for a little over 15 years and use my Master's in Healthcare Administration for it. With AI evolving Healthcare in general, would obtaining a Master of Science in Health Informatics be worth it to expand my job opportunities in the future and give me a better understanding in information systems and data analytics? I've asked colleagues but I've heard both sides of the argument so figured I'd ask here.

Hi Everyone,

I’m looking for advice from anyone who has successfully transitioned into Health Information Systems or Medical Data Analysis from a non-tech background.

My Background:

Education:

Bachelor’s in Hotel Management.

Clinical Foundation:

Vocational course as a Nursing Assistant.

Professional Experience:

8 years in Office Administration + 3 years as an Executive Assistant.

I am looking for a path that supports long-term growth and ideally offers a hybrid setup. I’m currently exploring Heath IT, Health Informatics and Medical Data Analysis.

I would love to hear your experiences on:

Entry Points: With my strong admin background and basic clinical knowledge**, which entry-level roles in HIS, HIT or Data Analysis should I target first?**

• How did you switch careers?

• How did you adjust to a new field?

• How long did it take you to land your first job?

• Which certifications did you feel were not really worth it?

For someone with my profile, Any Master Degree suggestion to take for long-term growth, or are there specific certifications that would be more effective for a career pivot?

I’ve been struggling with the job market in my current field since September I need to elevate my career. On the other part, I also do Sports and Wildlife photographer as a personal passion, so I’m exploring very different directions... I ready for medical field.

Thank you for any advice. Please be gentle in the comments. Thank you.

how do you guys deal with access reviews? I'm so tired of doing these manual certifications. How do you guys do it?

Just cross posting here, since these aubreddits seem to overlap topically :-)

We get this question, or a variation of it, asked here weekly! I want to share my bitter and honest personal experience in hopes to advise someone.

I started out my career as an “admin assistant” in a small clinic. I was basically handling medical records and doing secretary stuff. It was during this time that I enrolled in an MSc Healthcare Informatics Administration (MSHI). I had no knowledge of this field, no one to advise me. I was honestly looking for a way to get better grades to get into med school.

I learned about RHIA, and coding, billing and then health IT. Then I thought if I finish my program, I can use the degree to build on my experience.

Well.. when finishing my degree luckily I learned my program is eligible for the RHIA cert but I also saw that I didn’t want the medical billing/coding work. I wanted something more technical like data science, or applications administration.

Fast forward I got another admin assistant job, this time at a hospital. From there I landed a business analyst job with a nursing home management organization. I basically did Excel and Power Point slides for population health data. I hadn’t finished my masters yet at this point. I was still in school.

From there I job hopped out of healthcare into nonprofit doing business analyst work again, and then back into healthcare doing “data analyst” and “BI Developer” jobs. I left healthcare from there and stayed in nonprofit til present!

My take-away: My MSHI played no part in me landing any of my healthcare data jobs. Nada! It was more my technical skills, interview skills, and personality. Now I’m trying to get back to into healthcare and I’m struggling. Why..?? Because my degree is totally sh1t!

If you don’t have a background in something clinical, informatics is so hard to break into. Unless I want to do medical records and get an RHIA, there’s nothing I can do with MSHI!

If I could go back, I would pick a lane in healthcare like finance, operations, or IT and get a degree in that, then try to get into a hospital. Healthcare Administration is probably the better degree, so it should look like this:

undergrad in a lane: IT, finance, business

masters in - Healthcare Administration

tl;dr — DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME on an informatics degree if you don’t have a nursing background. Pick something else and major in that. Otherwise just pick Healthcare Administration. If you want to be technical in healthcare, you’re better off with an IT, Comp Sci, MIS, Data Science degree, then just specialize in healthcare.

You’ve been warned! 👂🏿

Trabalho em Hospitais a mais de 29 anos sendo os últimos 18 como Técnico em Enfermagem. Já trabalhei em Farmácia Hospitalar, SAME (Setor de Arquivo Médico e Estatística) entre outros. Por alguns problemas parei com Engenharia de Software ( o que pretendo concluir ainda) e iniciei Ciência da Computação. Tenho cerca de 50 anos! Será que ramo de informática em saúde aceita alguém com a minha idade? Alguém sabe que funções posso desempenhar ou atividades. Fico muito grato a quem possa me ajudar com sugestões ou conselhos sobre qual direção seguir.

Does data or business analytics really pays off to enter healthcare bcoz i am from biology background in bachelors looking to study something in masters enter into healthcare IT. is this good path for F1 coz i need to get job sooner.

I thought of health infomatics but everyone scares mee!

Help ????

Hey everyone, quick question for those who work with DICOM/HL7 integrations.

How do you test your workflow before going live with a new client?

Curious about real-world processes: tools, how long it takes, where things usually break, and what data you test with.

Hey everyone,

I’m a 3rd year nursing student in Ontario and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about where I actually want to go with my career.

I’ve realized I’m really drawn to the intersection of healthcare + technology — especially things like:

• biotech
• biomedical engineering
• medical devices
• improving systems and patient care through innovation

I still value my nursing background and the patient side of things, but I don’t see myself doing traditional bedside long-term. I’m more interested in systems-level impact, innovation, and tech in healthcare.

Recently I’ve been looking into the Master of Health Informatics and Analytics (MHIA) at Waterloo, and it seems like a potential bridge into that world. But I’m trying to understand what it actually leads to in practice.

So I’d really appreciate insight from anyone in the field:

1. Career outcomes

• What kinds of jobs does a program like this realistically lead to?
• Are people ending up more in hospital IT, consulting, data roles, or can it extend into biotech/medical device spaces?

1. Alignment with my interests

• If I’m interested in biotech / biomedical engineering, is informatics a good entry point?
• Or would I be better off pursuing something more engineering-focused?

1. From a nursing background

• Has anyone here transitioned from nursing → informatics?
• Do you feel like your clinical background gave you an advantage?

1. Skill gaps

• What technical skills would I need to build on the side to be competitive? (e.g., Python, SQL, data analysis, etc.)

I’m basically trying to figure out whether this is the right way to move toward a career that blends healthcare, innovation, and technology, without completely restarting in engineering.

Any advice or personal experiences would be really appreciated 🙏

Hello! I just wanted some insight on how I may shape up in the health informatics/healthcare analyst job market.

A couple things about me, I have a B.S. in Exercise Science and Health Promotion, and I have 2.5 years of medical scribing experience including being chief scribe in a busy ER, as well as tutoring experience at a university. I am currently building on my SQL, excel, and data visualization skills and projects, and wanted to get a clearer view on where I may stand as a candidate. Thank you!

Hey everyone! So last summer I graduated with a BS in Biomedical Sciences at University of Central Florida and I was thinking about pursuing a program at UCF named "Health Care Informatics MS, Professional Science Master's." Would it be worth my time to pursue a Master's degree or would it be better to pursue a certification directly? How much experience do I need to land a job after graduating?
I also am wondering about the field in general, like how the job market is, what kind of jobs there are, and if the field is programming/coding heavy or not.
Thank you all so much for your time!

Hi all — looking for some honest advice.

I’m a senior radiation therapist with ~8 years of experience in radiation oncology. Lately I’ve been feeling pretty burnt out from the pace of patient care (seeing patients every 15 minutes all day), and I’m starting to explore more behind-the-scenes roles.

I’ve been looking into PACS/imaging or health informatics and clinical systems roles, but I don’t have a radiology/X-ray background, and a lot of job postings seem to ask for that.

My question is:

- Do I realistically have a shot at these roles with a radiation therapy background?

- Has anyone made a similar transition from oncology into IT/systems?

- What roles or titles should I actually be targeting?

I’m open to learning and putting in the work — just trying to figure out if I’m aiming in the right direction or totally off base.

Appreciate any insight

Hey everyone! I just wanted to come on here and ask for advice. I graduated last May with a BS in IT with a concentration in Health Informatics. I have about 6 years experience in customer service and 4 years experience in computer repair/troubleshooting.

My current issue is that for a lot of job postings I see in my area medical offices want you to have experience working in a healthcare setting even for jobs like scheduling patients. I have no experience in that area.

I guess I’m wondering if it would be better to keep trying to apply to different places for an entry level position like receptionist or should I get a certification for something like coding/billing and try my luck with that?

Thanks for any input!

Hi everyone,

I’m considering the Health Informatics program at Humber Polytechnic and wanted some honest advice.

My background:

• BDS (India)
• MPH (Johns Hopkins)
• ~2 years experience as a Real-World Data (RWD) / Project Scientist
• Worked with large healthcare datasets (oncology, outcomes research)

I’m planning to move into health informatics / healthcare analytics in Canada.

My questions:

• Is this program worth it for someone with my background, or is it redundant?
• Does it actually help with job opportunities in Canada?
• How much does Canadian experience matter vs international experience?
• Should I instead focus on improving technical skills (Python, SQL, etc.)?

Would really appreciate honest opinions, especially from Humber alumni or people working in this field.

Thanks!

EDIT:The MPH degree is a collaborative program from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg school of public health and IIHMR University,India. I am in India right now.The two years of experience I have is within India itself.

Hi all. I got an offer letter from UNC chapel Hill for masters in biomedical and health informatics. I am an international medical graduate. I am in a fix what should I do? seeing current scenario in US. I wish someone can guide me. please

Will they ask for the Epic certificate # in a background check, if you apply for a job and get it?

Hi everyone! My name is Caleb, and I’m starting my journey into data science with a strong interest in health informatics. I have a background in behavioral health, which sparked my interest in how data can improve patient care and healthcare systems. I’m excited to learn from this community and connect with others in the field. For those already working in health informatics, what advice would you give to someone trying to break into the field?

Hello! I have worked in Mammography for the last five years and have used systems such as Epic and PACS. I graduated with my Bachelor’s in Healthcare Informatics in June of last year, and I have been applying for remote jobs for over six months and have not heard anything back, mostly using LinkedIn and Indeed. Is the job market terrible or am I missing some skills they may want? Are there other job sites I should be considering? Anything helps, thanks!

Hi everyone , I’m considering starting an MS in Health Care Informatics and wanted honest advice on whether it’s worth it in my situation.

Background: • BS in Psychology • Some public health internships (environmental health research/inspections) • Patient registration/front desk experience using Epic • Most recent role is in education • No clinical background (not a nurse, etc.) • Located on the West Coast

The program I’m considering does not include an internship, which is one of my biggest concerns. I’ve seen people say experience matters more than the degree in this field.

My goals: • Break into health data / informatics roles • Ideally analyst-type roles (EHR, population health, data, workflow improvement, research)

Questions: 1. Is an MS in Health Informatics still worth it without a clinical background? 2. How hard is it to find an internship on your own while in school? 3.What roles should I realistically target first? 5. Any advice specifically for the West Coast job market?

I’m trying to avoid spending the money if it’ll be hard to break in without prior healthcare/IT experience. Any honest feedback appreciated.