EBME Forums Forums Management Professional Issues Skills required of a med. electronics enginee

Well on my degree's project I did build a circuit to simulate the ECG signal through building a circuit made of operational amplifiers and I like to believe that I have a pretty good understanding of how circuits work. What I do have to improve is my technical skills and not sure if I'd be able to start buying things to fix at home...

Dianuj was successful in finding a job through doing voluntary work and I will say that that is a good route to try.
Also, sign up for bank-work at your local hospital as that will give you a foot in the door, so to speak.
Don't be put off by not being called for interviews or not being successful at interviews because it will be good experience for you.
It won't hurt for you to apply for jobs even though you might not meet all of the requirements because your CV may make you considered to be worthy for an 'outside chance'.
Always give additional information about yourself in the application and also contact the department for a chat or even arrange a visit to see them.
We only require candidates to do a couple of very basic pratical tests because, in our experience, it's the basics that candidates fall down on.

Cheers
Mark

I believe that is the route that I will be following Mark. I actually have in the past applied for jobs that I did not meet the requirements and even though I was not called in for those jobs, my cv was forwarded for other positions (this was all done via an agency) although still I did not meet the requirements and funny enough one of the reasons was the fact that I was lacking a driver's licence. Will be looking for volunteer work at the local hospital (Leeds) as of next week cause my working hours don't allow me to go this week and I'm just hoping for the best.
Thanks

Fotis

That is the best route Fotios. It is gonna be a win win situation for you, you just need to spare some time.

you can brush up your soldering, fault finding, components identification skills by playing with broken PCB/boards. You can shadow engineers there and obviously learn about medical devices. if they are willing then you can have some 'hands on' on some low risk equipment.

Leeds is looking for tech. as well so you never know. It's a teaching hospital so they should easily entertain you.

Meanwhile contact TBS GB and Keyhealth Solutions as well, they offer unpaid trainee position to right candidate. Best of luck for your search .

Wow thanks a million dianuj on those two companies! Checking them out as we speak!

I hope you've sorted that out, I know the UK drink drive ad is annoying but it is right, no licence = no job and most companies won't even look at the rest of your CV, as it makes on-call, agency work, community work and any relocations to name a few impossible.

Whilst I can agree that obtaining a driving licence would be a nice (obvious?) way of enhancing his CV (and thereby his chances of gaining employment), I need to make the following observation, if only so as not to discourage our friend Fotios unnecessarily:-

During my "agency" days I was only once asked to drive a vehicle* belonging to the hospital. More usually the tasks "they" wanted carrying out were quite limited and defined ... and on the rare occasions that driving came up as a possibility, "insurance" issues (risk, etc.) generally kicked that idea into touch.

I might add that I know (or at least knew) of one well-known "agency tech" who always travelled to assignments by train (and then bus, or whatever). And - if I were once again to re-enter the fray, I believe that I would follow suit.

When working in London I always used to get about on the Tube (just like almost everyone else) ... even carrying tools and test equipment (often) and even the odd bit of "kit" (from time to time).

* It was a little red Fiesta (this was back in 1992), and the heap of [censored] refused to start when I was ready to return to the main site; so I left it parked at the "other" hospital and took the bus back!

I suppose that depends on where you live Geoff. I did have a problem with my car last year which ended up with it in for repair for a few days. Local train service was ok but bus was non-existent before 9.30am. Without getting a flat nearer to the hospital, without a car it would seriously limit my ability to get into work.

Not sure if you saw the article in IET's magazine recently on the Beeching report and closure of the railways, but it showed the pre-beeching railway map and compared it to today. The south west and Wales was devastated with communities cut off. The deregulation of the buses didn't improve things, a few years ago the local bus service use to be OK, but with the decline of council supported services you only get a bus when a company can make a significant profit.

Thus in some areas without a car you're up the proverbial creek without no paddle.

Re: Beeching. Yes, I'm well aware that being "governed" by short-sighted morons is not just a recent experience for this country. I may have mentioned before that Beeching had planned yet another cull in addition to the first round of decimation, but luckily the government of the day bottled-out on that one. IMHO, in a properly organised (civilised?) country the costs of some services need to be spread (subsidised) over the whole country:- things like the roads and utilities infrastructure, the buses, and the mail (for example). And the railways. We had it all once (it was known as the "mixed economy"); but "clever folk" thought they knew better. Yet more "experiments" that have failed ... and so it continues to the present day.

Otherwise, one of the few good things about hospitals is that they tend to be in populated, urban areas. So if someone is on the "agency circuit" (as I once was), they can usually find somewhere (lodgings, B&B, a Travelodge ... whatever) within reasonable distance of the site. Myself, I always used to try to find a place within walking distance ... but must admit that I had to turn down a few agency "bookings" due to not being able to find a place handy enough, and in time (before the job was due to start).

Funnily enough, one of the places I was able to find lodgings was near Ealing. But guess what ... it wasn't a "shed with a bed" (see recent news reports); although, to be honest, such accommodation is perfectly adequate for the likes of me!

Don't forget, as well, that sometimes hospitals are able to offer accommodation on site.

PS: the last time I caught a bus in Bristol, we had a Polish driver ... who promptly got lost, then turned down a side-street and got "jammed". I ended up getting out to guide him passed the cars parked at either side ... and was even thanked by the plod once they appeared. I then continued the rest of my way on foot. I kid ye not!

We have a band 4 electronics post advertised on NHS Jobs.