Main image of article Want a Technology Job in Healthcare? Learn These Skills

For many technologists, working in healthcare is a key goal. Who wouldn’t want to use their technology skills to make people healthier and happier? Many technologists also enjoy the challenge of building the huge, often mission-critical systems that keep healthcare companies (and hospitals) running. 

If you’re applying for tech jobs in the healthcare sector, which skills do you need? And which companies are doing the most hiring? For the answers to those questions, we turn to Burning Glass, which collects and analyzes millions of job postings from across the country. We decided to focus on the past 90 days’ worth of tech-related job postings in the healthcare industry; let’s start off with skills:

For technologists who’ve mastered popular skills such as SQL and project management, this chart offers some good news: Those skills are also much in-demand within healthcare. It’s clear that many healthcare companies want technologists who are skilled in wrangling, storing, and analyzing data. As in many other industries, Python is a key programming language.

Also take note of the industry-specific skills. For example, if you want to land a tech job in healthcare, knowledge of HIPAA can only help. Some knowledge of patient care and other aspects of healthcare may also prove useful. Whatever the requirements, it’s important to note that many healthcare-related tech projects are hugely complex—and the price of failure is often absurdly high.

Which healthcare organizations have been hiring technologists over the past 90 days? It seems like a mix of companies and medical centers, according to our Burning Glass analysis:

These companies are spread across the country, which is likewise good news: Unlike some industries where the majority of opportunities tend to be clustered in a few geographical areas, there’s a need for healthcare everywhere—and thus a need for technologists.