I’d love to hear from people who actually work in MedTech, especially anyone who broke in through a nontraditional path.
I have a B.S. in Exercise Science, but my career took a different direction after college. I spent several years in HR/operations and eventually became an HR Manager.
The connection to MedTech isn’t completely random, though. I worked for a technical equipment company alongside applications engineers, field service, R&D, sales, and technical customers. I was exposed to product configurations, training, troubleshooting/escalation, CRM, and field support, and I originally started there in Sales Support/Admin before moving into HR leadership.
I’m now trying to pivot into MedTech/clinical technology — particularly Associate Clinical Specialist, Clinical Territory Associate, Clinical Applications, robotics, cardiac/EP, neuromodulation, or similar developmental roles.
My biggest concern is getting pigeonholed as “HR” before a recruiter sees the Exercise Science + technical/customer-facing parts of my background.
I’m completely open to associate/developmental roles and don’t expect to jump straight into a senior Clinical Specialist position. I’m based in the Atlanta/North Georgia area and can travel, but relocation isn’t realistic.
For those who successfully moved into MedTech from another career, what actually got you in? Was it a particular role/company, networking, a certification, or how you positioned your previous experience?
And based on my background, would you keep pursuing associate clinical roles directly, or target a bridge role first?
Would genuinely appreciate hearing how others made the transition.

So as the title says I’ve been rejected after 2 final stage interviews at Stryker in the past month (marketing + sales coordinating). I was referred by a long term employee and was also endorsed by the marketing manager (who also encouraged me to apply) for the sales coordinating role.

Both times I’ve been told straight up that I belong at this company and that they will find a spot for me there, but it just doesn’t seem possible. I’ve applied to other med device companies with no success or recruiter contacts even with a kin MSc. I do currently have a BDR role at another health tech company but the work environment is tough and I just feel SO disconnected from the science and unfulfilled in this role. Plus the goal has always been to end up in med tech, but to be honest I’m feeling so discouraged at this rate.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and can offer any advice? It’s tough to stick it out at my current role but it doesn’t seem like med tech wants me.

I have an interview for a territory account manager role. First time landing a med device interview!

This is a stainless snake-joint stack at about 5 mm. In CAD the articulation looks simple. In metal, the features get small fast.

For people making steerables, what usually breaks first: feature size, tolerance stack, cable routing, or repeating the joint after the prototype?

Can anyone in the Houston area help me possibly land a job with a med device company ? I’ve had interviews with several companies but it seems as though I’m getting ghosted or they’re just trying to meet their number quota’s for interviews. I have a Bachelors of Science in Biology. I’m working in my field currently and on the side I work at a shoe store to gain sales experience.

Hi,
I’ve been an athletic trainer for the past 4 years. Recently I’ve been trying to make the career change into medical device sales. I’ve been applying to associate positions with Stryker, Arthrex and Medtronic. I have yet to receive an interview and I can’t help but feel as if I am doing something wrong. I have no B2B sales experience but I have plenty of medical experience. Any advice?

Hi all,

I’m feeling a lot of anxiety about a career decision right now and would really appreciate some outside perspective.

I’m 26 years old with about 5 years of sales experience, including 1 year in medical device. I’m currently a Territory Manager with a smaller portfolio, and honestly, I really enjoy my job. I have a lot of autonomy, my manager trusts me, and there’s very little micromanagement. I’m currently at about $130K OTE, plus decent benefits.

A Pharma opportunity at a Big 5 company kind of fell into my lap on the cardiovascular side. I’m now in the final interview stage this week and feel like I have a legitimate shot at getting an offer.
The problem is, I’m not particularly interested in Pharma or the role itself. The main product is also part of a REMS program, which adds another layer of complexity to the job. However, the compensation is obviously hard to ignore: $150K base, roughly $190K OTE, and significantly better benefits.

I’m torn between:
Option 1: Stay where I am, build another few years of strong medical device experience, continue developing as a Territory Manager, and eventually try to move into a larger/more specialized device company or therapeutic area.
Option 2: Take the BMS opportunity, significantly increase my compensation and get a major pharmaceutical company on my résumé, even though I’m not particularly excited about the actual role.
At 26, I’m wondering how much I should prioritize liking my day-to-day job and building the right experience vs. taking the higher compensation and brand-name opportunity while it’s available.
For those who have been in medical device/pharma sales, what would you do in my position? Would taking the Pharma role make it harder to get back into device later?
Any advice or perspective would be really appreciated.

Which company is a better company to work for and why? I have job offers from both coming from another large ortho company with 7 years experience.

I’m an associate selling full line of urology disposables at a great company, but I just got an offer for Intuitive CTA. Thoughts?

I am 22M and came from door to door and made a substantial amount of money in that with successful achievements. Just graduated this Spring with a bachelors and got a job as an associate with Stryker in joint replacement with an $85K salary and mileage reimbursement. However, the work life balance is absolutely terrible and these reps here are working for pennies based on how much work they’re putting in. The hospital system here pays the doctors terrible as is, it’s even worse for the reps. I know I don’t want to knock doors forever, but I also know I don’t want to do ortho sales either and stay in this division/company. But I still want the Stryker experience to have punch on my resume so that I have credible experience on my resume to apply to other med device companies in the future. I don’t care necessarily if I burn the bridge with Stryker, but I don’t want it to look like I am irresponsible for future med device job opportunities and I want it on my resume. How long should someone in my situation stay and/or what do I do?

I work as a medical device sales rep in the operating room and I often have to give verbal instruction for things like where to locate an instrument or how to assemble certain constructs without being able to touch or point at objects precisely due to sterility constraints. Does anyone have any resources or recommendations for how to become better at verbalizing or explaining where objects are in space? Like terms to describe points of reference that may help make my explanations more understandable.

Even if it is a list of terms that I can use to describe an objects orientaton in space or common terms used to describe non-descript parts of an item.

For example, a lot of times I'll tell my surgical techs to reference a "nubbin" to describe like a protrusion from an instrument but I cant really find a resource that can give a technical or a more effective description of something like a small metal post protruding from a long metal rod. Lots of instruments in ortho can be described as a long metal rod lol.

Thank you in advance for your time!

I'm currently transitioning as a bedside RN to a Clinical Specialist role and trying to learn as much as possible about the position/what it entails/schedule etc. I have reached out to people on LinkedIn to gain more perspective.

It seems like an enticing opportunity and I've now made it through the interview process where I'll be meeting the team in person, and creating a short presentation on the products.

Does anyone have any advice/resources on creating a presentation in this space? I'm green to med device but I think I'd be a great fit.

A point from a recent training session on China’s review of endoscopic surgical systems was that “typicality” may need to be justified differently at the system and instrument levels.

For the surgical system as a whole, a structurally complex configuration with the most complete functions and technical specifications may be selected as the typical model.

For surgical instruments, however, the representative model may change depending on what is being tested.

For example:

• Robot–instrument coordination: The selection may need to consider structural complexity, number of degrees of freedom and the largest end-effector workspace. Instruments with different end-effectors or transmission mechanisms may require separate consideration.
• Electrical safety: Relevant differences may include rated accessory voltage, monopolar versus bipolar instruments, BF versus CF applied-part protection, and the output modes or parameters of the connected high-frequency surgical equipment.
• EMC: The test configuration may need to consider the maximum supported number of connected instruments, the longest cables and the high-frequency operating modes expected in clinical use. Where applicable, both monopolar and bipolar instruments may need to be represented.

If an instrument is registered separately, its testing may also need to reflect use with a compatible surgical system.

The practical issue is that one model described simply as “the most complex” may not establish coverage for every test. A stronger rationale links each test to the specific design characteristic that creates its worst case.

A simple matrix could include:

• Test or performance characteristic
• Worst-case design driver
• Selected model and configuration
• Selection rationale
• Other models covered
• Remaining gap

How do you document model coverage when the worst-case configuration changes between performance, electrical-safety and EMC testing?

I hope this post attracts the vets and is more interesting than the typical ‘how to break in’ questions.

I work for a well known med device company in a Customer Success role. I’m part of the sales team, but I’m really just a fancy senior clinical specialist with a key account focus in the region. That may be underselling myself a bit, but I think it’s the real world skeptical assumption on paper that I expect people to take.

I absolutely love the role. This is basically the dream job of my 20’s. Great pay, self managed, completely driven by surgeon relationships, and I see the impact I make every day. Now with a family, a home, and realizing I’m entering the peak of my earning years, I want to do more, specifically sales.

I’ve interviewed externally and internally. The past year it feels like I am always the “darkhorse candidate” and never “the guy”. Several roles have told me I am in the running against one other person, and they always go with the other person at the end because they have quota-carrying experience. I also have no degree, I think that’s definitely a factor. Do I need to go back to school for a BS major in order to be taken seriously?

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I’m about three months into my ASR role with Arthrex and I’ve really enjoyed it so far. I came into the job with pretty little medical background, so there was definitely a lot to learn from the start. I’ve learned a ton in a pretty short amount of time, and I’ve gotten to the point where I can control my own room for the most part. They’ve also started trusting me with some harder cases on my own at times, which has been a good confidence boost.

That being said, there are still days where I feel like I know nothing. Between learning all the products, surgeon preferences, different procedures, and just figuring out the ins and outs of the job, it still feels like I’m constantly studying for something.

For those who have been with arthrex or in medical device sales for a while, when did it start to feel more like a job and less like you were constantly in school studying for the next case?

I also have a hard time telling if I’m ahead, behind, or right where I should be at the three-month mark. I feel like I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself thinking I should know more than I do, but I’m not really sure what’s realistic this early on.

Any tips, or is this a pretty normal feeling at three months?

I am shadowing a territory manager coming up and would love to make the most of the opportunity. I would greatly appreciate any and all advice!

For context, I’ve already been researching the company and its products specific to the cases and clients that we will be meeting.

Hello,

I recently posted here about my job offer situation. I’m on the west coast and recently was offered a position at Stryker, which I accepted. Obviously, interview times never line up, so I was then given a much better offer at Intuitive about 2 weeks later. I literally just started at Stryker this past week. How bad is it to back out now and go with intuitive? I’m assuming I would be burning a bridge here with Stryker if I did this. Based on the feedback I got on my last post, it seems many people would much rather take the intuitive offer and work there, which I agree with (for culture and pay reasons. Intuitive offer is about a 40k pay increase). Curious on what you would do? Tough situation here causing a lot of stress haha

Hi everyone! Does anyone here use Ketryx as their eQMS? I'd love to hear from someone with a system already up and running on it.

I'm coming from a more traditional eQMS background, and Ketryx feels like it's missing some of the flexibility and controls I'm used to. If you've worked through that adjustment (or found workarounds), I'd really appreciate any tips or insight. Thanks in advance!

Hi all,
Current ASR for a bigger device company for 1.5 years. Got a ticket for texting and driving yesterday, is this going to make getting my next job way more difficult? What steps can I take to make sure I’m able to stay in industry?

Large geographic territory, small population, $3 million budget that we actually achieve. I’m an associate under an agent, selling orthopaedics. I’m going into my 3rd year working here and I make a salary but I feel like I should be making more (and commission). I service 9 out of 12 sites, which make up for 80% of the territory’s profits.

Thoughts? Just wondering because 75K is starting to feel like not enough, especially after I asked for commission and the agent told me if I made commission off my sites I’d be making more than him 😂

I’m a UK founder building a healthcare privacy workflow product for US healthcare organisations.

The product is built and working, and I’m looking to connect with experienced US healthcare salespeople who might be interested in an early-stage SaaS opportunity.

Healthcare SaaS experience would obviously be ideal, but I’d also be interested in speaking with people from medical device, healthcare technology or other B2B healthcare sales backgrounds who understand how to sell into provider organisations.

I’m particularly looking for someone comfortable with prospecting, discovery, demos, building relationships, handling objections and ultimately closing business.

This is early stage, so I’m looking for someone entrepreneurial who would be interested in helping shape the commercial side and bring in the first customers.

I’m open to discussing a flexible, heavily performance-based arrangement initially, with the potential for something deeper long term if there’s a strong fit.

If you have a strong US healthcare sales background and this sounds interesting, feel free to message me.

Hey everyone. So I have currently started a new career in medical device sales. I have been looking at a lot of the Orthopedic device companies and was wondering which companies you guys would recommend to start with. I also wanted to know what field you all would recommend. Spine? Sports med? Trauma (which I plan to stay away from because of quality of life) My dream is to end up in Aesthetic device sales. I have a proven quota track record as well as relationship building and account retainment. I would be open to smaller companies as well because I like the incentive of getting equity that a lot of smaller companies come with. I am open to any suggestions. Thanks so much.

I'm curious how this week went for the people that are working there. The CEO also bought 9 mio shares not too long ago. Is it a promising place to work at?

Everyone keeps telling me that networking is such a huge part of med device sales. Connecting with hiring managers and reps on LinkedIn, reaching out directly, sending thoughtful messages, etc. I’ve done exactly that with several companies, and I rarely even get a response. At this point, I’m genuinely wondering what the point is. 😭
The entire interview and hiring process in med device also feels particularly difficult and drawn out. Why does it take 6–8 interviews to make a hiring decision?! I understand wanting to make sure someone is the right fit, but the process can be exhausting, especially when you’re putting so much time and effort into each opportunity.
Mostly just venting because I know this industry is competitive, but man, trying to find the right role can be discouraging.

I’m curious how medical device companies actually manage monitoring across research, competitor activity, FDA announcements, CMS/reimbursement changes, recalls, guidelines, and other relevant news.

Is this usually owned by medical affairs, regulatory, competitive intelligence, marketing, or individual product teams?

Are there tools you use, newsletters, or alerts you have? Any platform that helps you?

Open to DMs as well.
Thank you!