Healthcare vs IT which career path is more reliable today?

[Shameonyou]

for someone to have job security

for someone to have a shot at getting a job once they are done with school, earn a cert, etc.

which would you recommend if you had to advertise one to an undecided?

your thoughts?

 

[BlvdBrawler]

I'd say they're about equal. No field is 100% safe, but people are always gonna be sick, and computers are always gonna break and need upgrades.

 

[Rawtid]

I agree with @BlvdBrawler Healthcare informatics/info systems is a great combination of both and a lot of schools are offering majors in that field.

IT is definitely more broad, imo because you can transfer skills from one field to the next while healthcare skills will mainly be beneficial only in the healthcare field.

 

[Stuntone]

IT is drying up somewhat, with cloud computing and virtual every, a lot of positions and vendors are and will continue dissappear. I've been in the IT since 1999, seen a lot of changes. They're finding ways to be more efficient and save money with less workers.

 

[Darts]

Health IT

 

[Sonic Boom of the South]

I work in IT


and the answer is Healthcare:

IT evolves fast as fukk
so you constantly have to update your skill bank

certs that meant good money in the past dont mean shyt now, like a CCNA for example


Now the chances to make the biggest bucks is IT but healthcare is more reliable and changes less

 

[SHO-NUFF]

Health IT

this, i'm a Clinical IS Analyst @ a Proton Cancer Treatment Center
Not only are you an asset for your overall IS skills, you also get to learn tech that is indigenous to the healthcare industry.

I'm talking programs like Mosaiq, or CMS XiO that there is no college course or cert for; just a network of programmers and power users where you get ya weight up over time, and experience

But other hospitals, clinics pay BIG MONEY for, if you've proven to know how to run\maintain it

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

Healthcare, without question. Your options are endless and the field evolves so rapidly that as long as you keep your skillset fresh, you will alway have a job, even if you have to travel.

IT on the other hand is consolidating. If you don't have a wide range of knowledge, its gonna be tough finding good paying jobs 10 years from now...

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

People always get sick.

 

[Black Ball]

I work in Healthcare as a Financial/Capitation analyst. We are always looking to hire and there are never enough good qualifed folks to do what I do. My position is in high demand. If I wasn't such a lazy bum, I'd be out there looking for better opportunities for myself. My boss is always scared I'mma jump ship because she knows I can do better.

 

[unit321]

Well, IT can be applied to more industries: manufacturing, software development, retail, government, healthcare, etc. but in healthcare, it is harder to move out of the healthcare industry, but your specific job experience is useful if you want to move elsewhere but stay in healthcare. Also, healthcare jobs are limited to hospitals and healthcare facilities. There are way more business, organizations, government agencies than there are hospitals. BTW, you don't get free health care for working at a hospital. You get the same health insurance benefits as nurses, technicians, doctors who work at the hospital.

IT isn't totally shrinking. I've been in it since 1998. You need to constantly keep up your skill set. I hate Java. I used to see it as a popular programming language because it was the way a lot of businesses were going and the web was growing like crazy. Now, I wish I were back in UNIX, c and perl and shell scripting. Java, J2EE, JBoss, and Tomcat are constantly evolving and what you knew 5 years is now old. And it becomes obsolete when your company has to move up in version because older versions are no longer supported. The software manufacturers no longer support a version, that forces your company to upgrade, that forces you to learn the new version.
When one technology goes away, a new one is already coming around the bend. Mobile programming is good. Cell phone and tablet apps are a big deal, but again, the syntax and OS are a bit different than non-mobile Java apps so you need to update your skill set.

 

[GoPro]

With IT you gotta have the hookup or mad experience to really start caking unless you're a genius. With healthcare you're straight right outta college as long as your grades are correct. And like Napoleon said, ppl always get sick.

I hope my IT path pans out.

 

[beenz]

for someone to have job security

for someone to have a shot at getting a job once they are done with school, earn a cert, etc.

which would you recommend if you had to advertise one to an undecided?

your thoughts?

I agree with @BlvdBrawler Healthcare informatics/info systems is a great combination of both and a lot of schools are offering majors in that field.

IT is definitely more broad, imo because you can transfer skills from one field to the next while healthcare skills will mainly be beneficial only in the healthcare field.

My degree is in business and information systems and worked in IT before. But I have been in the healthcare industry for like the past 8 or 9 years now.

I dont even do IT anymore, my job is focused towards healthcare informatics. so technically I'm a systems analyst. which basically means I do a lot of stuff dealing with data and quality reporting.

another thing is with the healthcare industry all transition to going all electronic everything, that means the demand for more data, more reports, and more stuff the gov't wants healthcare companies to report on is only growing.

 

[GMOGMediaTV]

First off. IT and Healthcare go hand in hand.

Now a days you can't have one without the other. I used to work at a hospital as a Senior Network & Security Engineer.

Hospitals have now become dependent on computer ran equipment and software to run there facilities.

For example. OSSI software manufactures like Sun Guard provide EMT/911 proprietary software for many local cities across the country.

This applies to hospitals as well.

Don't get it confused, IT is also far more diverse and can expand to many other industries as well.

 

[Stuntone]

Computers can pretty much setup, monitor and upgrade themselves. Human involvement is becoming less needed. 10 years ago, humans had to do it all. Soon one person will be able to maintain 1,000,000 user accounts with Citrix and cloud computing. And he'll be on standby most of the time. I remember big server rooms and 100s of physical servers. Repairmen coming and going daily. Now you can have 1000s of (mirrored) virtual servers on one blade chasis.

Trust me folks, IT is drying up.

On the other hand, people are getting fatter and sicker. Medical and healthcare are