GE Healthcare positions in Florida?

[JustinH]

I have been searching around here but couldn't find the thread.

Anyways I recall about a year ago someone on here was posting some positions for technical work with GE healthcare.

To be short, more of my family is moving to Central/Gulf Coast Florida, and I want to start charting the waters down there to see what is available job wise.

I am a sys admin in Texas, and frankly ready for a new challenge.

I have to do some more research what is required to get into the technical maintenance of hospital equipment, but I definitely have the skill set and aptitude to do it.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I know Mr Nice will post health care job openings. Send him a pm.

 

[AirgunSavant]

Good luck
Florida prices are jumping and a few years back I was surprised to see some of the highest property prices being
in Central Florida. Not what I would have thought. But Florida is booming as always with healthcare

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant
Good luck
Florida prices are jumping and a few years back I was surprised to see some of the highest property prices being
in Central Florida. Not what I would have thought. But Florida is booming as always with healthcare

Gulf side of florida looks like a bargain compared to Austin. 50% discounted.

 

[Mr Nice]

You just need a 2 year degree in electronics or prior military. I did field service for 22 years at GE, great job with lots of benefits. Lots of jobs where you currently live in Texas since there are sooo many accounts and big population. It would be easier to first get a job in Texas, then transfer to Florida.

Robotics is the future of surgery and that's where I would want to be if I were you. Amazing equipment if you watch it in person during a surgery. I never got into robotics because it wasn't around back then. I was recently at a teaching hospital and they had 6 robots in their Surgery.

https://www.intuitivesurgical.com/

 

[AirgunSavant]

Originally Posted By: JustinH
Originally Posted By: AirgunSavant
Good luck
Florida prices are jumping and a few years back I was surprised to see some of the highest property prices being
in Central Florida. Not what I would have thought. But Florida is booming as always with healthcare

Gulf side of florida looks like a bargain compared to Austin. 50% discounted.


Same here.

 

[JustinH]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
You just need a 2 year degree in electronics or prior military. I did field service for 22 years at GE, great job with lots of benefits. Lots of jobs where you currently live in Texas since there are sooo many accounts and big population. It would be easier to first get a job in Texas, then transfer to Florida.

Robotics is the future of surgery and that's where I would want to be if I were you. Amazing equipment if you watch it in person during a surgery. I never got into robotics because it wasn't around back then. I was recently at a teaching hospital and they had 6 robots in their Surgery.

https://www.intuitivesurgical.com/






Thank you for that information.

 

[Mr Nice]

JustinH,

Some GE employees work at hospitals and take care of 'general biomed' equipment. The others do field service on:

Diagnostic Imaging (X-ray, CT, MRI, Cath lab / EP lab, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, OEC C-arms, bone density, mammography). GE also repairs multi vendor equipment from Philips, Siemens, Toshiba, etc...

Life Care Solutions (anesthesia machines, ventilators , patient monitoring found in Surgery / PACU, ICU / ER, telemetry systems, equipment used for newborns such as the Giraffe OmniBed incubator and warmer).

We also have people trained on equipment such as cardiac ballon pumps and perfusion heart - lung bypass equipment that is high risk and many can't touch due to lack of training. I got the OEM training and do the PM's in the region to reduce costs by not having the manufacturer come out and do the PM that costs $5000 for each perfusion equipment. I do all the PM's on perfusion equipment in my region since I got the training and I have all the necessary test equipment. Mandatory PM's every 6 months keeps me busy so I can easily justify all my OT. Sometimes it's user error and they refuse to use the equipment for open heart surgery until it's tested and verified it's working properly. Last year I had $30K in OT from helping out with PM's and doing my regular contract management job. A colleague is trained on surgical lasers and does field service on multi vendor lasers.

The biomed field is very big and constantly changing, check out 24x7 magazine and TechNation for more info. Maybe attend the monthly Biomed Association meeting in your area and talk to some of the biomeds.

Biomeds are the grease that keep any hospital's wheels turning smoothly. Neither the IT Dept or Facilities Management (engineering) can do what we do.

July 3rd and 4th is an official GE holiday and we are off, yet hospitals will pay $300 an hour to have the GE Biomed on site for stat calls when there is a surgery going on and need immediate assistance.

 

[Rock_Hudstone]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
You just need a 2 year degree in electronics or prior military. I did field service for 22 years at GE, great job with lots of benefits.


I have niece in Colorado that will be graduating from high school next year, (this December actually) very smart and motivated but not sure in what direction to go. Would an electronics degree make sense for her, or is it mostly a male dominated field?

My younger nephew would probably do well in that field, but he is still a few years away from college age.

 

[Mr Nice]

Surprisingly more women are getting into this field over the past few years. GE has paid internships and has a $10K per year for tuition reimbursement if she wanted to someday get into management or higher level position up the ladder and needed a masters degree.

I've met many women in equipment sales that do very well.

 

[NJ_Car_Owner]

As a Biomed person myself - it is an interesting field! Pet peeve of mine is that IT people get paid more!

Starting out you do mostly lower end stuff and as you gain experience you get more important stuff to work on. You never get rid of the lower end items just get more involved with the higher end. Field service can be a good thing as can being in-house, my advice is to only work directly for the hospital or either GE and or Philips. Too many companies out there that have garbage benefits and sometimes low salaries.

I make a pretty good salary, have a company car although my commute recently is only 3 or 4 blocks and all the benefits of working for a large company. I am an in-house person that sometimes floats into the field, I've been doing it for 32 years and I'm trained on some high end equipment - Anesthesia equipment and balloon pumps along with some lower end stuff. OT is there to be had, sometimes you need to work different shifts and maybe weekends as well.

But with all the good stuff there's bad as well. The industry is changing. Most of the hospitals either have their own in house people and tend to pay less or or go to third party companies (GE/Philips/Aramark to name a few) and may go from contract to contract and it can be a little unsettling when an account is being lost and you wonder what to do. It happens and if the company doesn't have a spot and you can't relocate - no job. Of course there is the possibility that you'll be hired by the new company coming in.

Unfortunately, depending on where you go you may or may not be recognized as part of the "medical team". Some doctors and nurses will recognize us for what we are and some will look at us as a bunch of pea ons. If your personality can handle that (along with the general working in a hospital and seeing stuff a lot of people won't) then it can be a field for you. Personally, I've been doing this for so long that I no longer handle people treating me as an inferior person the same way as I used to - but that's me.

Good luck if you do decide to do it!

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted By: Rock_Hudstone
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
You just need a 2 year degree in electronics or prior military. I did field service for 22 years at GE, great job with lots of benefits.


I have niece in Colorado that will be graduating from high school next year, (this December actually) very smart and motivated but not sure in what direction to go. Would an electronics degree make sense for her, or is it mostly a male dominated field?

My younger nephew would probably do well in that field, but he is still a few years away from college age.




Encourage any female to go into a male dominated field. I know a few such largest jet airline pilots, project managers, software developers, auto techs. They all excel and beyond some of them get moved up easier to keep diversity etc. I have been mentoring a female developer into a lead because she is excellent at job but really that the executive (female) wants female leadership also. Our company of 200 folks is only 10% female.

 

[Mr Nice]

For me it's OK if we don't get the recognition of the hospital staff, ultimately we are just doing what we are supposed to be doing and getting a paycheck. No pat on the back needed or 'thanks' from the staff is ever expected.

With 2 pensions from GE (company and voluntary), a great 401K plan, employee stock purchase plan, company car, paid training for the last 30 years, OT approved without having to explain why it's needed, 6 weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, paid personal business, paid tool allowance / safety shoes, tuition reimbursement, paid travel , etc... etc.... makes up for the little recognition we get.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: Rock_Hudstone
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
You just need a 2 year degree in electronics or prior military. I did field service for 22 years at GE, great job with lots of benefits.


I have niece in Colorado that will be graduating from high school next year, (this December actually) very smart and motivated but not sure in what direction to go. Would an electronics degree make sense for her, or is it mostly a male dominated field?

My younger nephew would probably do well in that field, but he is still a few years away from college age.


Yes, definitely it's a good career field. Lots of women at GE repairing equipment, then with further education they get into management , quality & compliance , or they go into sales, etc... lots of career avenues.

GE does have 1 year paid internships for those who are interested in either diagnostic imaging or the general Biomed side of the business. After the internship they offer a full-time position in your region.

For those wanting to get into this field I definitely recommend going into field service and specializing in the high end stuff.

 

[NJ_Car_Owner]

I see you drank the GE Meatball Koolaid! LOL!

Seriously - GE is one of the better companies out there in this field - work for some of the lesser ones and you might feel differently. When I worked for GE, actually the company I worked for was bought by National MD, GE stiffed us in a lot of stuff. I hear had I stayed for a couple of more years I would have gotten most of that stuff back but I went onto another company with equally big pockets. The company has allowed me to live a pretty good lifestyle without worrying about having to do OT. They pay well, give bonuses, pretty good benefits and overall tries to keep us happy.

As far as recognition is concerned not really looking for it. Maybe in Fl they are different but I have had "professionals" here in Jersey treat me and other staff members like dirt. But it's a personal thing that I don't tolerate too well.

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
For me it's OK if we don't get the recognition of the hospital staff, ultimately we are just doing what we are supposed to be doing and getting a paycheck. No pat on the back needed or 'thanks' from the staff is ever expected.

With 2 pensions from GE (company and voluntary), a great 401K plan, employee stock purchase plan, company car, paid training for the last 30 years, OT approved without having to explain why it's needed, 6 weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, paid personal business, paid tool allowance / safety shoes, tuition reimbursement, paid travel , etc... etc.... makes up for the little recognition we get.

 

[Mr Nice]

A lot of the old timers here are former National MD or Marquette Medical employees.

 

[Rock_Hudstone]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
[For those wanting to get into this field I definitely recommend going into field service and specializing in the high end stuff.


So what is the career path? Two year electronics degree and then what?

Seems like a mechanical aptitude would be a major plus for field service, but that is not something most women have naturally.

 

[Mr Nice]

If you can disassemble and reassemble a toaster.... you have the mechanical aptitude to work on medical equipment. Electronics aptitude is needed for troubleshooting, but modern equipment has error codes just like your vehicle.

Don't have the service manual ?
Call the manufacturer's 1-800 tech support for help or ask them to email you the PDF of service manual.