r/MedicalDevices

I’ve been in medtech for 10 years+, and have slowly begun looking elsewhere, but struggle to see where I might be a fit. 5 years+ in surgical division at Medtronic and after that 5 years+ in advanced imaging diagnostics with PET/CT, MRI etc. All years working in sales as territory manager or product specialist.

Which other areas in business should I look into?
Medtech is well-paid, so a job as an account manager selling furniture or something like that, doesn’t seem very attractive. Couldn’t afford a huge downgrade in pay.
Anyone with a background close to mine, that has left, found and build a new exciting career elsewhere?

Started my career straight out of school about 2 years ago and have been with Stryker Sports Medicine as an associate. I should be able to be promoted to rep within the next couple months. However, I don’t want to stay in orthopedics/sports med. I want to transition to other divisions. Major factor is pay. The more I talk to reps at mine and other companies in ortho, the more I hear that pay seems to decrease year in and year out. Ideally I want to find a company and division that I enjoy and stick with them long term. Right now in Sports Med, I don’t want that and don’t see my self making a career in this specific space.

I’ve interviewed for a few rep positions in cardio but they ultimately said they wanted someone who had previous cardiac experience. Would you recommend going for a CS position instead and riding that for a few years to hopefully move to a rep? Same with neuro and other divisions that have clinical specialists

Any of you made the move? Any regrets? Any advice?

I’m looking to break into medical device sales. Specifically orthopedics and wondering if someone can give me a good idea of what the work schedule is like. I know it varies but I’m just curious!

Would anyone recommend working as a clinical specialist? I wanted to know a little bit more about the role and what you do on a daily basis. Do all positions require you to be on call or are there any 9-5 options? And how is the salary?

Currently in one of the largest device manufacturers. I’ve previously worked in mid cap to large size device manufacturers, and I’m in the interventional space in a shared service role.

I’m considering a move to a startup. Rewarding tech and huge patient potential but so, so different. Much broader role I think I’ll love, the team is amazing. That said, I know I’m in for some culture shock!

If you’ve moved to a startup, what do you wish you had known prior to the move? What surprised you?

we're a mid size med device team combination product type of company. we mostly got the requirements side under control at this point. its the design review and approval cycle that keeps getting chaotic.

right now we export stuff to Word, mark it up in a review meeting or over email, then one person has to merge everything back into the tool. by the time the review closes the requirements have sometimes changed, so keeping the review record tied to the right version gets harder than it should be.

we've got a 510(k) coming up so the design reviews cant just be a rubber stamp. they need to hold up if an auditor starts pulling threads. trying to figure out how other regulated teams handle this. is the review process built into your requirements management software or are people still stitching it together with Word and email?

I’m an ICU nurse with 10+ years of experience under my belt looking to get away from the bedside and increase my earning potential (currently making around $110k/yr). What that means for me right now is either a complete career pivot or go back to school for my CRNA. I’m currently working on networking my way in to a device specialist/field rep position for a large company’s pacemaker/crm division that could result in a job in the near future. CRNA would mean probably 4 years until I’m actually out of school and working. Just looking for thoughts on comparing earning potential, quality of life, career advancement. Basically, is the juice worth the squeeze in med devices?

TLDR: Med device career or CRNA?

Hello everybody,

I just received my PR as of last month, and I was wondering of ways to land a job in the industry. Is there something I need to acquire beforehand? How is the job market, and would I have any significant chances of getting into?

Some basic info: I am 28, hold a Master's degree in Medical Biotechnology and about 1 year and a half experience as Product Manager for a pharmaceutical company outside Canada as well as in sales, but in a different industry.

Besides that, I have worked as a research associate and a biological technician as well.

Your feedback would be highly appreciated!

I’ve been trying to pivot into marketing for a while now with no luck. Background: BS in Microbiology, MPH with a focus in health communications, and 8 years in healthcare/biopharma where I’ve done a lot of physician-facing content, KOL relationship building, campaign collaboration, and communications work, just never under a formal “Marketing” title.

Every marketing-titled role I apply to wants years of marketing-specific experience I don’t have, even when my actual work overlaps a lot. Communications roles feel like a more realistic entry point but I’m worried they pay less and might not actually lead anywhere closer to marketing.

Trying to figure out if an MBA is really the only way to make this jump, since it feels expensive and slow. Are there specific certificates or one-off courses (Google, HubSpot, etc.) that actually move the needle with hiring managers? Would love to hear from anyone who’s made a similar switch, especially from healthcare/science into marketing.

I just had a talk with my managers. Figured I’d get some feedback.

They think when reps wear a suit and/or business casual attire out in the field is 10x better than scrubs.

Now we understand when in cases you must wear scrubs. But when out in the field, suits/biz casual.

Thoughts? My personally I think scrubs only unless after hours. Then it’s suit and tie.

I just have a general question - all day long there are posts about trying to break in to the industry. I’ve been in it for a little over 5 years and have started to think about getting out.

I’ve seen so much change through my short time to where it isn’t what it used to be. The ball is always in the hospitals court, companies changing comp plans, etc. Are people trying to get in just to say they are in med sales?

So, out of curiosity why is there so much interest to get in when there are many other successful sales roles.

I’ve worked for one of the ortho big 4 doing full line trauma/recon/robotics for 8 years. Started out with a super low salary and have grinded my way up to just over 200k+ full commission with some side lines. I can see the way ortho device is going with contracts cutting prices, credential BS, repscrubs, 3rd party PO services, etc. i have always embraced the grind and love what I do but I will refuse to work harder for a significant decline in income. So I’m just curious about advice on a 5 year exit plan. Any tips or insight is appreciated.

Almost 30(M) and been in medical device for 4.5 years. Currently 3.5 years working in wound care for a very reputable company. The landscape has become increasingly challenging with GPOs, pricing, hospital access, credentialling, etc. Not to mention a commission plan this year that’s been cooked up with scenarios where it’s possible to get a $0 commission statement (quotas became unreasonable, incentive structure became unfavorable).

I was recently recruited by a super reputable biotech company with a near identical OTE. Is this a step back? I always felt pharma was junior varsity to medical device. It seems like the big pay days are over and the opportunity is only getting smaller.

Thinking about applying for an ENT rep role at Stryker - does anybody have any experience in this business unit? It seems pretty neat. Would love to hear anybody’s thoughts and experiences.

Medeia Inc has a commission only med devices sales role available. I’m tempted to go for it, because I’ve been wanting to pivot from clinical research to med device or pharmaceutical sales for quite some time. However, I’ve had a hard time getting my foot in the door. The only companies that have responded to any of my applications have been scams. With that said, I’m willing to take a commission only role if that means getting in.

I just want to know if these guys are legit. There isn’t much on them in Reddit or Google.

tl;dr - my targets are twice as much as my counterparts, but my bonus is either the same or less than them. How do I approach this.

So I just found out my targets for this fiscal year are nearly double two of the other reps in my province, and about 25% higher than a third. That's just Ontario. Nationally, I'm doing double or triple the volume of most reps. The worst part is out of the four reps in Ontario, two carry senior titles, and both have lower targets than mine yet higher bonus dollars if they achieve plan.

My issue isn't the target itself. It's the pay. Our bonus pays as a percentage of plan attainment. If you hit 100% of your number, get 100% of your bonus. So a rep with half my target earns the same bonus (or more, if they're senior) for selling half as much. The bigger the delta between territories, the more work I do per bonus dollar. It’s always been like this, but this year the delta is extreme.

For context: I work in Canada and I've been at the company almost 10 years (in this role for 3), I'm a top performer and have been for years. Top in the country for volume, often for % to plan. President's Club winner. Active on team calls, share best practices, go above and beyond. Not a humble brag, but it's the reason my number is set where it is. They know I'll hit it, so they keep loading me up. My territory has always carried a premium, but this is the first year it's been this far out of line.

Honestly, I'm furious. I want to walk into my director's office and make demands, but I don't have another offer and I can't bluff. I also don't want another job to be honest. I really like my role and what I sell, and would prefer not to leave if I can. But I can’t keep doing this either.

Has anyone dealt with this? How did you raise it without torching the relationship?

Hi everyone!

Reaching out on behalf of a family member who’s been working at Stryker for over 4 years now & need some help advocating for them.

They’ve submitted a request with HR over THREE MONTHS AGO and opened up a case to be exempt from On Call shifts, as they have medical issues & cannot work the 12-15 hour shifts, if not longer. Each on call shift is a week straight. Im talking Friday to Friday, 7 am until 11 pm if not longer.

Every time they’ve come off their week long “on call” shifts they essentially crash. As anyone would. Except for them it’s not normal tired at that point, it’s extremely pain & more. It’s truly disheartening to see how much they’re genuinely killing themselves for their role.

I’ve asked what’s going on with their request (which was submitted with paperwork from doctors and more) and yet STILL no answers.

Has anyone gone through these kind of shifts, especially for this long? I understand one on call shift here or there but for a week straight? They’re scheduled to have two on call shifts in the upcoming month back to back.

I just want whatever insights anyone has regarding who to reach out to, how to escalate, what I can say so they can advocate for themselves. HR has kept them in the dark & every time I ask to follow up regarding their case, they respond there’s nothing they can do until HR approves it. They said they have another coworker who’s been waiting 6 months for their case to be reviewed. 6 MONTHS.

I’m honestly baffled, appalled and genuinely shocked that this is not being looked into. 3/6 MONTHS with no resolution, not even a response? This cannot be legal.

If anyone can give me anything, even an email or a phone number or something, anything at all so I can help, or give them the details so they can help themselves, I’d appreciate it heap tons.

I just graduated with a bachelors degree in business administration specialization in management and I love the medical devices industry, I genuinely don’t know where to apply or what position I could fill in.

Anyone here a current or past rep with Abbott CRM? I’m an ASR for one of the big orthopedics companies and am currently in the interview process for a rep position with Abbott CRM.

Would love to hear your experience with Abbott CRM has been like and specifically what your days typically look like? Right now I’m covering lots of cases since we don’t have clinical specialists. As a CRM rep would I still be covering cases? The recruiter made it sound like that would mostly be the specialists who would then pass leads to me to grow business.

Potential OTE?

Anything else you wish you knew?