Today we want to share with you an interview with Dominika, who works as a Medical Device Analyst at SoftSystem. Dominika will talk about her career path, from working in a laboratory to working in IT, where she integrates medical devices into laboratory systems.
This interview can be an inspiration for those pursuing a career in IT.
Tell us what your career path looked like before working as a Medical Device Analyst at SoftSystem
I am a molecular biotechnologist by training. In fact, since graduation, my work has been related to the laboratory, whether research or industrial. Before becoming an analyst at SoftSystem, I worked as an assistant professor-teacher, at one of the universities in Rzeszow. There I had the opportunity to participate in research projects and conduct scientific research, which resulted in several publications. I was also the beneficiary of an intra-university research grant. Unfortunately, I was not able to complete this project, due to a change of job, but I have no doubt that it was left in good hands. Most of these projects focused on analyzing the biological properties of natural plant compounds on cell models of different types of cancer or normal skin cells. Working at the university also gave me the opportunity to work with students. I ran laboratories, including microbiology, immunology, etc. While working at the university, I also decided to take a postgraduate course in pedagogy to learn techniques to facilitate my teaching work. It was a really fun time in my career and life, but it was time for a change….
How did you come up with the idea of becoming an Analyst?
There won’t be some great story here, it was pure coincidence. While still in my previous job, I was looking for the right direction for my career. I knew that being a lab technician and working in a lab was not what I wanted to do until retirement. I looked through the job ads that were available on various portals. There were a lot of ads for a lab technician and one that stood out – in SoftSystem. I opened this ad, read the characteristics and decided that I would take a chance and submit my application. I had no idea what a job as an analyst in the IT industry entailed, but I had knowledge of working in a laboratory. At the time, I think I made one of the best decisions of my life in terms of my professional development, and it wasn’t easy.
Give us an idea of what your work looks like now and what challenges you are currently facing.
Most of my working time I spend implementing, testing and setting up applications directly at the customer’s site. As an analyst on the DMI team, my job is to prepare the integration between the medical instruments or laboratory systems that generate/deliver the results and SCC and SoftSystem’s products. In short, to automate the delivery of patient results from the instrument to the hospital-laboratory system. When we get a project, at the very beginning, we have to gather the requirements, analyze them and adapt the system solutions to the needs that have been reported to us. This seems super-simple, but this is the stage where we spend the most time. We need to thoroughly understand the workflow so that our proposed solutions add value for the customer. Once we have a solution, we test the integrations, initially doing simulations, so that later with the customer we can already use the physical instruments. During the course of the project, the customer happens to make new suggestions, changes, sometimes unwanted “bugs” appear. Then we have to adjust our implementation plans accordingly, produce new functionalities, which sometimes involves starting from scratch.
Sometimes we are asked to prepare a presentation of the solutions that are used in the integration of the modules I mentioned above. This is carried out for the needs of the client or internally for our company. As an example, I can give a training-workshop that I managed to prepare recently. There I present the workflow in the laboratory from the preparation of the sample taken from the patient to the moment of analysis on the flow cytometer in integration with the modules: SoftFlow, SoftWebDMI and an external system for analyzing the results. It is very well attended, and this is due to the fact that many application developers have a chance to step into the proverbial lab technician’s shoes and see how to work with systems from the other side of the code.
Last, but not least, as members of scrum teams, we work on the development of our primary tool for work, SoftWebDMI, among others. We complete documentation in the form of requirements, stories, use cases, acceptance criteria or create user documentation.
What do you like most about your job?
The challenges posed by clients and the implementation of instruments. Each new implementation is slightly different from the previous one, new platforms, systems, technologies appear. There is no chance for monotony and boredom in my work. Due to the fact that we work with the client, there are also trips directly to their workplace. Then we have the opportunity to observe the lab’s working techniques, operate the instruments, in other words, get to know everything from behind the scenes. We also occasionally explore the local area in our free time.
Last year I traveled to the United States for about two months. This trip certainly broadened my experience in the implementation area and allowed me to visit Florida.
Of course, I can’t forget about the team – I can’t imagine working anywhere else… Brainstorming on every problem that comes up, implementation support available at virtually any hour, and that friendly atmosphere in our team.
What do you consider your greatest professional success?
Maybe trivial, but for me the biggest success is every single correctly implemented instrument that a customer uses. Gathering documentation, requirements, setting up or creating new drivers, testing, all the way from the beginning of a project to the end is like walking up a mountain. When you view the top from the bottom you think, “This is going to be a tough road. Halfway through, the thought arises, what good was it to me? But when you are already on the ridge, near the summit, you feel a sense of pride that in spite of everything you managed to get where you planned, and in your head, you are already planning the next expedition.
What are your future career plans?
Ahead of me is the exam to become a certified requirement engineer. I hope that after closing this stage, I can open another one. I would like to continue my development through training and expanding my competence in requirements engineering or business analysis. However, I am not limited to these areas. You never know what the future will bring, and I see continued growth in the combination of the IT and medical industries.
What are your interests, passions outside of work?
I really enjoy reading books. There is quite a large list waiting for me and it keeps growing. Almost every trip to the bookstore ends with the purchase of a new item.
On the other hand, if I have more free time, we try to go on some kind of mini expedition in the Bieszczady Mountains or cities of Poland with my family.
However, I look forward most to vacation time. Then I try to travel outside of the country to discover new countries, cultures and savor regional cuisine.
