If you’re someone who has always been interested in how things work and have dreamed about finding a way to change the world during your career, you’ve probably been thinking about pursuing engineering as a job path. With so many different types of engineering to choose from, it can be daunting deciding what will be the best avenue for you.
One specialty to consider is biomedical engineering. This is a growing field that isn’t set to slow down anytime soon. To help you decide if this is an area you’re interested in, and if so, how to go about starting out in the industry, read on for some top tips.
What Biomedical Engineering Involves
To begin with, it’s important to understand what biomedical engineering involves. If you choose to work in this area, you’ll need to become a problem solver. This type of engineer must combine engineering principles with biological and medical sciences. These professionals design and create a variety of items used specifically in the healthcare industry, such as medical equipment and other gadgets, computer systems, software and more.
Many people choose to enter this field because they’re keen to find ways to improve the quality of life of others and to even possibly save lives. Biomedical engineers also work on optimizing efficiency of processes, reducing costs and helping healthcare providers to provide patients with quality healthcare services in a user-friendly way.
This type of specialist engineer works in numerous environments. If you join the field, you could end up with a job in a hospital, clinic, government regulatory agency, educational or medical facility, a university or in the research or manufacturing arm of a corporation.
Training and Qualifications Needed
To start with, you should have completed a biomedical engineering degree online or at a campus. It’s even better if you have received a master’s or other post-graduate degree in the area, too. If you want to be chosen for a management position at some point, you will likely need to have completed more than an undergraduate degree in biological engineering. Some people also end up studying a more general engineering degree but choose biological science electives during their program.
When it comes to studies, note that usually biomedical engineering students have more of a focus on research than other engineering majors do. As such, when you choose a university, look for one that excels in research. To help you stand out from the competition after your studies, you should also try to land numerous internships during your degree(s). Try to work in well-regarded businesses, hospitals, clinics, research organizations and the like.
Skills You Have to Possess
Apart from your university studies, you’ll also need to hone personal and professional skills. For instance, you’ll need to be good at analyzing data, the needs of patients and customers and test results if you want to design effective solutions to engineering problems. Similarly, problem-solving skills are necessary as is creativity.
Another key skill required of biomedical engineers is effective communication. Throughout your career you’ll work with a wide range of people from all sorts of backgrounds, including various colleagues, patients, medical personnel, technical workers and more. As such, you need to be able to get along with everyone and to be able to actively listen to the instructions, suggestions and ideas of others. You must be able to articulate your own thoughts.
Tips for Succeeding in the Field
To succeed as a biomedical engineer, you must be good at building relationships and be positive, personable and perseverant. Coming up with working designs and solutions can take time and thus requires patience; you must be able to keep on going even when you’re feeling frustrated. You need to be passionate about the field and committed to excelling in it as well as reliable, organized, detail-oriented and tech-savvy.
To get great results as a biomedical engineer, you must be someone who is open to continually learning. It is important to stay up to date on trends and new developments in the industry and to keep on working to grow your own skills and knowledge level as time goes by.
