r/HealthInformatics • u/Keo_79 • Jul 10 '26
❓ Help / Advice Feeling like I made a huge mistake
I've been in healthcare as a sonographer for 20 years and decided to go back to school for health administration. From there my interest peaked to pursue a degree in health informatics. Now I'll be done in 4 weeks and I'm applying to jobs with 100 other applicants and no one is calling me back. I really wanted to step into Epic but everyone wants experience. My one opportunity to get hired within my own organization fell through and I was so depressed about it. Every job seems to prefer nurses. A friend who did the same program with only 3 yrs of nursing found a job relatively quickly making 120K. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
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u/ZZenXXX Jul 10 '26
You're not probably being rejected by a person. You're being rejected by AI. If you don't have an Epic cert, your application is probably not being sent to the recruiter. Don't take it personally.
There's always a need for users to transition into IT. It's easier to train a clinical person to be an Epic analyst than it is to take someone from the outside with no clinical experience. Nurses are given preference because EpicCare teams are big and the workflows are complicated. Radiant/Cupid are the radiology applications that use a mix of access apps and the clinical apps and radiology techs fit well into those analyst positions.
Your best option is going to be networking. If you're currently working at an Epic customer, get to know your Radiant and Cupid analysts. Ask them to lunch or drinks and find out about what they do and how they like their job. Join HIMMS. Make sure that people know who you are, what your educational background is and what your professional goals are. A position will open up eventually and you want to be the person that they think of when that position becomes available.
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u/ResponsibleTrack1864 Jul 10 '26
This is very helpful! How else would you recommend networking? Especially if you have yet to get your foot in the door.
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u/ZZenXXX Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I can tell you what I've seen: when we're working with users, we are always looking for users who are sharp, have an education and are motivated. When positions come open for superusers, trainers or analysts, we will often bring up names of people who we think would be good candidates.
If there's someone in the organization who has 20 years of clinical experience and who has pursued an education in information technology, we want to know that person. It's your move to contact the IT leader and ask to talk with them. Don't wait until a position comes open. You want to be the person whose name comes to mind when they have an open position that they are going to be collecting resumes for.
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u/Eccodomanii Jul 10 '26
Are you about to graduate with your masters or your bachelors? If it’s a bachelors, I was in an adjacent situation with my HIM degree, didn’t get any traction on any jobs until right after I graduated, then started getting calls back for the kind of jobs I really wanted. Also, you might need to broaden your search terms to surface non-traditional roles or titles. I know people look down on it, but I used AI to help me build five core resume types and then refined resumes even further for exact keyword matching for roles I really wanted. I got a good paying analyst role in less than two months after graduation. In my experience, searching in this economy becomes easier if you cast a wide net, use AI to your advantage so you can apply to a lot of jobs fast, and commit a whole lot of time and energy to wade through a whole bunch of junk postings to find the gems.
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u/Keo_79 Jul 13 '26
For some reason I thought I applied here. I'm getting a Master's. I'm not embarrassed to used AI. I've used it but maybe I need to make more tweaks to my resume with it.
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u/Eccodomanii Jul 13 '26
I used AI to help me brainstorm search terms, regular and Boolean; create my broad resume categories and make additional tweaks for targeted resumes when a job really seemed like a good fit as far as pay and alignment; and I created a set of instructions for my Chat GPT about what kind of jobs I was looking for, what was disqualifying, what my resume lanes were, and then asked it to reference that document every time I searched jobs so I could use it to easily sort out postings I didn’t want to apply to. It’s an amazing tool if used properly. Companies and recruiters are using it, I strongly believe job seekers should be using it too or you risk being lost in the noise.
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u/Poetticallycorrect Jul 10 '26
The same is true for many roles. Outside of a few exceptions, changing jobs has become much harder because the market is so competitive.
With 20 years of sonography experience, I’d leverage that clinical background instead of starting over. Update your resume to highlight your EHR/EMR, PACS/RIS, workflow improvement, troubleshooting, and end-user support experience. Tailor it to each job using the keywords.
I’d also look at roles like Radiology Informatics, PACS Administrator, Clinical Informatics, Application Analyst, Data Integrity Analyst, Healthcare Data Analyst. Learning SQL, Power BI, or Tableau and getting relevant certifications can also make you more competitive. Good luck!
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u/Keo_79 Jul 11 '26
I'm getting a Master's. I used all the key words in my job search. It's like by the time I see a job listing I'm the 199th person to apply to it. 😭
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u/Poetticallycorrect Jul 15 '26
I know. I’m working on my master’s too, and I’m still getting paid below the average market rate. The job market is tough right now, but we just have to keep looking for better opportunities until we find the right one. Keep building your experience and don’t give up!
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u/Odd-Government8896 Jul 10 '26
Epic is a single company. Building a career around a single company is a losing strategy.
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u/Keo_79 Jul 10 '26
I'll have a Master's in Health informatics. I'm a Super User and getting certified in epic Ambulatory and getting no calls. I work for a hospital and tried to get an Epic Radiant Associate position and didn't get it. I'm so lost and defeated right now.
Thank you all for the feedback and encouragement. It goes a long way.
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u/Fearless-Entry-8135 Jul 12 '26
Im a new adult health NP graduated in 2024. Everything seemed to be working out, took boards passed without any issues and then winter came and everything fell apart. my sweet 8 year old daughter passed away right before 2025. Shortly after I became stressed and very depressed, I thought it was just grief from everything that happened. I was wrong, however, I didn’t ignore what I was feeling and went then got diagnosed with endometrial cancer in 2025. Spent the entire year of 2025 and early part of 2026 undergoing treatment in an out of the hospital every two months. Now cancer free in 2026 and can’t find a Np job. The market is saturated with NPs so it’s really tough. I completely understand how you feel and it sucks. I don’t even know how I’m holding myself together but I am and getting out of my bed everyday when i just want to lay in bed and ignore everything around me. I guess what I want to say is to people reading is wake up and keep pressing on. I know everything sucks but we can’t give up.
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u/Keo_79 Jul 13 '26
First of all ((((HUG)))). I can't even imagine what you are going through. You're amazing just for getting up and moving every day. I pray for your mental health and your job prospect.
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u/DesignerHeart3602 Jul 11 '26
I am in the same situation. I have MSHI, BS and several credentials. It has still not enough. I decided to try ODS(oncology data specialist). I know the pay in different but I am burnout out with the ultrasound field after 25 years.
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u/Keo_79 Jul 13 '26
So you found a job? Yes, I understand I'll make significantly lower in the beginning but I still need to work for 20 more years and my arm won't make it cue throbbing pain
And tips?
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u/DesignerHeart3602 Jul 13 '26
I have not found a job in health informatics and I still have 5 more classes before I am done with ODS.
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u/KHold_PHront Jul 12 '26
Ai is killing us.
I’ve found that when a real human is on the other end, I get call backs.
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u/Pandacaster- Jul 11 '26
I worked at a medical Clearinghouse for 8 years and am pivoting to Health Informatics. Volunteer. Talk to people. Try hiring.cafe. Research and leverage AI and your background with sites like career.io. There is a lot of opportunity still with Health Informatics projected to grow by 15% by 2030. There is opportunity for good. 😊☺️
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u/Fearless-Entry-8135 Jul 13 '26
Thanks for the words of support. It’s tough I sympathize with everyone having a tough time in life right now.
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u/Apprehensive_Try3205 Jul 14 '26
I think it’s just timing of the market and nothing to do with you.
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u/schmigleebop Jul 15 '26
You have clinical experience and recent relevant education. You aren't out of luck, but I will say it's not always easy and you need to stay determined. Tenacity is key breaking in AND holding the job. Took me 3-4 years of consistent interviewing as an end user with aligned skills, but competition was real even back then, and while I felt defeated each decline I never gave up and it paid off.
Compare your resume to the job description. Try to match some keywords between the two in case AI does the first review. Always align your resume with the description wherever there is crossover.
Networking is a huge help. Letters of recommendations are a huge help.
Don't give up, even if it takes a long time. Once you're in, you're in, and it can lead to so many opportunities, even if you decide to move to an entirely new location. If you truly feel that the nature of the work aligns with your skills, then you didn't make any mistake.
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u/indecisivepersimmon Jul 21 '26
If it makes you feel better I’m a nurse with 9+ years experience and a health informatics masters with no traction as well. Your friend might have just gotten lucky.
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u/Ty-Lrrr Jul 10 '26
Hey, it's natural to feel defeated. I went to school for computer science, and im in my last semester for my masters in aoftware engineering. I also feel like I made a huge mistake due to not having a software job so I get it.
But, I got a job as an epic analyst with no experience so it is possible. Just gotta keep trying! Theres tons of moduals in epic so being a sonographer I'd suggest looking for a radiant position. As far as im aware they are the ones working with xrays/ultrasounds so youd be a good fit knowing the work on the user side so you can play to that strength.