Used Spiceworks a year and a half ago to help me transition from a healthcare degree to real intro IT.
Applied for a help desk job and got hired as an EMR analyst/ trainer but now training portion going away.
Any advice on where to go from here? Already feeling stagnant supporting the various applications and want to learn more skills.
Been taking some into HL7/ FHIR and interfacing seems something I am interested in.
Been dabbling in SQL as well.
No tech experience before this and again mainly supporting the application from a lower level.
Any ideas on how I can grow from this position towards interfacing or anyone have any skills they think could be helpful for this role?
Any interface/ HL7 hands on labs or where to start or resources to learn first?
I do much better with hands on lab versus text.
Thanks in advance all! Godspeed

4 Spice ups

The way I see it, you have a couple of options…first, see what needs your current employer has and if they align with your interests/abilities. They know you and your work ethic, background, etc. so you’re more likely to succeed internally than seeking externally.
Next, you can start up a home lab and see what stands out. Play with different hypervisors, backup solutions, what have you. If this seems like something that grabs your attention, see what certificates you can get (usually vendor-specific) and how much that path costs.
You can also chase rabbits down the proverbial hole with a wide array of networking solutions, infrastructure, etc.

These are things that can get you actual experience without a college degree or the expensive path that’ll take. There are probably dozens of other ways to do it, but this is what stands out to me right now.

Thanks a lot for this detailed response. I think the hard part is my boss(apps manager) does not want me to succeed or show/ learn more for fear with her position versus my director encourages continued learning so it’s a difficult path to walk.
I think the home lab is going to be huge as I am not really able to work on any of this stuff in even our test environments due to control issues so I need a way to put more time into it before going full send.
Thanks!

1 Spice up

That sucks your manager doesn’t want to help you grow…my first boss in IT was an amazing man, whom I credit for all I was able to learn and do! He taught me what I needed to know, then stepped back and let me ‘do’ the thing, and then decide what I wanted to learn next. Hopefully, you’ll have a boss more like your director in the near future (maybe even have a one-on-one with your director??)

There’s various home-lab related threads (including one on where to source equipment) floating around so you’re in good hands here!
Where do you get your homelab hardware? - Spiceworks Originals - Spiceworks Community

1 Spice up

Thanks Jay!

1 Spice up

You’re welcome!