Going into the military completely changed my life. These past 6 years have been a whirlwind of opportunity to better my life. And instead of having one career path, I have two and they are running simultaneously.

DMN: Why did you ultimately decide to return to the civilian sector?
MJ: Since I came back from deployment I wanted to reconnect with my daughter so I stayed with my unit from deployment and serviced their medical equipment in all of their medical units. So I would go to New Jersey, New York or Pennsylvania for two weeks in the month and then stay here with my daughter for two weeks in a month and I did that for about a year and it helped to keep my skills fresh and I could spend time with my daughter. Then in the end of 2011 one of my old NCO's [non-commissioned officer] called me and asked me about the GE externship program. He submitted my resume and then I was off to California. He said it's a great opportunity to learn about GE and gain more experience as a biomed and he said there's also a digital imaging field engineering portion along with it. I wanted to see what it would be like to be a digital imaging engineer because I had never worked on X-ray, CT or MRI equipment before so it would have been new to me. In March 2011, I started the GE externship program in San Diego with the Sharp Healthcare System at two of their locations. And that was a changing point in my career because I stepped outside of my comfort zone not knowing anything. It boosted my confidence in myself and my work ethic and my knowledge of being a biomed. I was the first soldier in my unit to go into the GE externship program and since then there are four to five others doing it.
DMN: What are your plans for the future?
MJ: I got two military promotions while in California and now I have a job starting in Atlanta with Emory University Hospital.

Back to HCB News

More Industry Headlines