I'm a physician assistant with several years of internal medicine and primary-care experience, along with a background in laboratory science. I'm considering a transition into software engineering, ideally within health tech, and I'm currently studying programming languages and core computer science fundamentals. I'm prepared to invest significant time in learning and building projects.
I'm especially interested in clinical workflows, healthcare data, medication safety, and tools used by clinicians. For people working in health tech or who have made a similar career change, is a starting salary around $120,000 realistic for someone without a computer science degree but with substantial clinical experience? Should I instead expect to begin in a lower-paying junior role?
What would be the most valuable way to demonstrate that I'm ready to be hired: a strong portfolio, certifications, open-source contributions, networking, or something else?
1 Answer
The market is cyclical, and junior software roles are currently crowded. Some companies are reducing entry-level hiring or expecting tools powered by AI to handle simpler tasks, so the transition may take longer than learning the fundamentals and completing a few projects. That doesn’t make the plan impossible, but it does mean you should be prepared for a competitive search and possibly an initial role below your target salary.
Health tech is one of the more sensible areas to target because you already understand clinical environments, terminology, and real-world workflow problems. Consider adjacent roles such as clinical informatics, implementation engineering, healthcare data analysis, or technical product roles if they can provide a path toward software development.
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