Working in Technology

Part of the appeal of working in IT is that there should be a constant stiving to learn and excel. Programming and technology depends on being cutting-edge, staying ahead of the curve. As someone who works at Symantec once told me: 'Technology is an arms race - you've got to do it better than all the other guys out there.' Of course, Symantec is security software, so his view may be a little more militaristic than, say, a data analyst.







Anyways, I digress. Another part of the allure is that IT is in huge demand: the job market is booming, and I don't really forsee a time where humanity will have automated our business and medical processes enough to step away and leave the computer systems in the hands of the machines. The Transhuman Singularity isn't here, and the need for technical specialists is only accelerating. What I do see as a threat includes outsourcing software and hardware development, viruses such as Stuxnet (broad-reaching, networking-crippling, 'contagion'-style viruses), and having a lack of well-trained technical staff. It is fairly easy to earn a degree from DeVry university, even in Computer Science, but what is it really worth? Grads from Carnegie Mellon and MIT are regularly offered 80k-100k once they matriculate, but with college, reputation counts as much or more than grades - unless you are attending graduate school, it hardly matters whether you were a A+ or a B- student.



Healthcare IT is a curious spot to be in, because we exist in an economic bubble, but it is a bubble that is pushing the job market higher. Due to Federal regulations (Medicare reimbursements vs. mandatory medical record system implementation), almost every major hospital system in the nation, along with a majority of the smaller players, is revolutionizing their medical practices by introducing an electronic medical record system (EMR). This means that unemployment for healthcare IT specialists is currently, and will remain, fairly low.



A word of caution - I don't know whether the push to establish all these health informatics college majors and graduate programs is a good idea, overall. While I see the employment field as robust, I fear that the health informatics programs may just be an educational bubble - someone is probably better majoring in information systems or computer science, instead of focusing on merely one sub-set. The same can be said for computer security degrees. Narrowing down too tightly before graduation will unduly hamper your career options after college.



Our department's CEO showed us a slide (I don't have it currently), with the national averages for unemployment, vs. the technical field. National unemployment averages around 8.x% (it varies by the month). Information technology (as a whole) hovers around the low 4.x%, while healthcare IT clocks in at a remarkably low 2.x%. When the implementation bubble decompresses, I expect that the unemployment rate will rise to around the national technical average (4.x%), but healthcare IT will remain a strong contender for at least 5-10 more years.

Related articles

• SNHU Launches Health Informatics Degree for High-Growth Career Field (prweb.com)




• EMR - Data Mining Combats Disease Spread (medcitynews.com)

The Boggan's Market: Adventure Paths, Vol. I

The Boggan's Market: Adventure Paths, Vol. I

http://amzn.com/B0096RXU0U

Come find your way to adventure in this fun book - choose your own path through the mysterious market at the edge of the forest. Explore another world with this interactive book of fantasy and magic. Fight ogres, meet gypsies, and achieve your dreams!

For something completely different, check out the choose your own adventure book I wrote. Good fun!

Don't Get Lazy, and Learn for Life

I am enrolled in Drexel's MSIS, and have only a few classes to go. Currently, I'm finishing up my pre-req courses to finish the Masters of Science in Information Systems (MSIS). Before this, I completed my MSLIS (MS Library and Information Science), also at Drexel.

Both programs I completed online; part of my work's benefits includes a hearty stipend for education. Working full-time doesn't leave a lot of time for attending courses at the actual campus, even though theoretically I'm about 3 blocks from the iSchool's building. There isn't anything more or less challenging about online graduate school, except that the coursework needs to be attended to on a different schedule, and the connections that I've made in the online programs are perhaps a little less solid. There's something to be said for face to face contact with your professional and academic colleagues.

Drexel's iSchool is highly rated (#3 in IS, #9 in LIS), for what it's worth. The school is in the Top 100 for national universities, and it is also a major research institution. Compared to the University of Pennsylvania, there's a distinct lack of that Ivy League absolute passion - I work with Penn grads, and am married to a Penn grad. I can tell you that Penn deserves it's #5 ranking. Drexel graduate students are excellent, but I'm unsure of the undergrads; within both of the MSIS and MSLIS programs, students have pushed and been pushed to succeed.

Drexel's reputation is definitely oriented towards IT, IS, and Comp. Sci. When I applied to graduate school the first time, I looked at six programs - Wisconsin, Drexel, and a few others. Part of my goal was to find a quality distance program. The hard part isn't getting into a program, but finishing it. If you're applying to graduate school, find out the matriculation rates for the program you're thinking about entering into - that's a helpful piece of advice. Drexel accepts about 20% of the MSIS applicants for their Master's program, and (as of a few years ago), had about 400 applicants a year. Thus, they have an annual class of 80 for the MSIS. Within most PhD programs, things are much more selective - I know that the University of Washington put their numbers out there for the entering classes for both UW's MSLIS and PhD programs a few years back. I'm always vaguely curious about the snapshots of scholastic competitiveness.

What can you do with a MSIS? Well, Drexel's program includes a chunk of management courses (budgeting, software analysis, etc.) I'm looking into developing my career more towards data modeling and application architecture, for which the MSIS is well suited - and since my work will continue to pay for education, I'm also going to explore Syracuse University and Boston University's certificate programs.

"Don't get lazy" is a good motto to live by. Syracuse has a Data Mining certificate, and Boston has an Advanced Databases certificate - both are just for intellectual advancement: "Learn for life" is another good mental dictum. I get immensely frustrated with professors and their academic gibberish, but any good university still retains faculty with a breadth of knowledge about their domain(s). Wading through the academic muck is annoying, but the opportunity to learn and achieve is paramount.

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What Does an IT Manager Do?

I had a chance to catch up with my high school friend, who now works it IT. He's been in tech for over 10 years, but originally has a BS in Economics, with a minor in CIS - this was back when state colleges offered things like CIS degrees in Oregon. The University of Oregon flip-flops on what it offers any given year, with funding allocated kind of sporadically; thus, the UO doesn't offer a social work degree, even though it is a social service hub, and doesn't have a CIS program, even with the tech field booming...



Chris serves to highlight that people in IT often have it 'in the blood', or like a 'fire in the head' In his words:"I first started getting into computers back when I was in middle school.  My brother had a couple of friends who had Commodore 64s and I was fascinated by them.  I tried to program in BASIC on an Apple, but wasn't too successful.  I dove into programming when I started as a CIS major at the UO in '94". This is a classic evolution of an IT professional, but with CS programs nationwide only graduating 15,000 graduates last year, and an expected need of 150,000 professionals (each year, mind you!) then there is going to be a serious tech-crunch soon. We may have even passed that event horizon.

Regarding the professional evolution into management (Chris, again): "I've been managing the IT Dept for about 7 years now.  I started working for this company as a user-support staff member and worked my way up in the company." Everybody starts somewhere, and I think that technical jobs have a kind of "promote from within" framework often built into the job itself - if you know how to do everything the business needs, then it makes a lot of sense to keep/elevate you.

As an IT manager, there are a few huge domains that fall under his baileywick: policy writing, researching and implementing Federal, state, and local technical guidelines, maintaining network security,  phone system/server (data/communications, moreso) management, and the departmental budget. I'll let you read his words, because his passion for security is evident.

1. Network security: "This area covers network analysis, responding to incidents, reviewing attempted breaches, penetration testing, and network hardening.  I don't get to do as much of this (on the clock) as I'd like to, but I do play around with tools in my free time.  In order to retain a secure network, you have to keep aware of security issues in software as well as monitor access points and implement multiple levels of end-point security (antivirus, anti-malware, spam/phishing, etc.)"

2. Server/network management: "My department is rather small for the size of our organization and we all wear various hats.  I haven't been a part of most server implementations, but I now help with managing all servers (Windows, Linux, and OpenBSD) as well as our network switches.  I manage all server functions (firewalls, email, printers, file shares, collaboration software, Hyper-V servers, VMware servers, security system, etc.)"



3. Phone system management: "We implemented a VoIP system last year and since I helped build the system, I've been managing users and troubleshooting issues with it.  We do have a company that performed the main installation, but since I'm fairly familiar with the system I'll handle most issues that pop up.

When it comes to the department budget, a huge element is project management, which didn't even get mentioned in his job scope. Trust me, though: as an IT professional, his job scope definitely includes project management for the business: "I've recently given that task to one of my employees, but I still retain the management of the department's budget. Besides just managing the numbers, you have to pay attention to what projects WILL cost to implement and what the long-term hit on the budget will be.  For me, this means finding a balance between open-source solutions and ones with calculable costs (e.g. Microsoft licenses.)" I thought it was great that he's looking into open-source, because that's where the future of affordable technology is, and often where the cutting-edge computer science can be found -well, that and DARPA.



When we got into goals, certifications and more education came up as topics. Possibly a law degree, which would be an interesting take on things - tech and law make a solid, if unusual, combination. Also security certifications, which are probably a good bet as well.

When I asked him what advice he would have given himself in the past, as a student, he had some pretty spot-on words for his previous self: "I wish I would have found an area of focus (IT Security) earlier in my career.  I've always been attracted to that area, but never knew how to get there.  I think that part of my issue was bad timing: main-stream companies are only now taking IT security more seriously."

Also: "Although it's good to see a situation from both sides, be quick at making the right decision even if it's going to ruffle some feathers.  You can try and please as many people as possible, but decisions are always going to rub someone the wrong way."

Lastly: "Be more proactive with what you want to focus on.  Jobs aren't going to fall into your lap."

There you have it: a view from the trenches of a system administrator and IT department. manager.

Epic Systems, Epic Certification, and the future of EMRs

Well, I just finished my second round of classes in the Epic EMR system. The first time, I trained in MyEpic/Radar and Reporting Workbench - and I successfully passed the certification exams for these two modules (for lack of a better term). I'm unaware of the official terminology for individual Epic system applications.

Next, I will be taking the Resolute Professional Billing test. While I'm not going to go into specifics about the exams themselves (except to say that they are open-book, open-notes, and open-system), I would like to comment about the certification process. A popular question online is 'how do I become Epic certified?' The short-hand answer is that you must work for an Epic-enabled health care system. Forbes magazine has a collection of articles about the Epic CEO, Judy Faulkner, and how selective she is with her system - the gist is that she picks health systems to use Epic, and has denied hospitals the right to use her software.



Epic itself is a great place to visit - a sprawling rural campus in the heartland of Verona, Wisconsin. It is a treasure-trove of curious artifacts and quirky, geeky humor. The training rooms are named such titles as 'Mordor' and 'Cyclops'. There is also a large slide in a building aptly named 'Heaven', and a replica of the temple in the initial scene of 'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom' (think: 'Throw me the idol and I'll throw you the whip!' - that scene). I guess Epic is kind of like Geek Paradise.

The Epic system itself is a highly customizable, fully certified, cutting-edge EMR software application. It is still a database application, and will require highly skilled operators to keep it tuned and running smoothly. My company has an Epic team dedicated to the system - probably about 40 staff all together. Our IT/IS department is much larger than that, and Epic reaches into our analytics, financial, and clinical workflows. Essentially, Epic is inseparable from Penn Medicine.

Our healthcare system is blended into Epic to the degree that we (data/analytics/clinical care) are indistinguishable from the EMR. This is the dawning of a type of personalized medicine - while people don't recognize EMR systems as artificial intelligence and knowledge capture/engineering systems, Epic and other EMRs are uniquely situated to store all types of data, even genomic and phenotypic.

Ultimately, the EMR systems of 2013 will give rise to the virtualized medicine of 2043 - it is only a matter of time until the merging of medical record systems and technology will leap the Singularity gap and become an instrumental part of everyday medical care.

Already, I see data stores and genomic/biotechnological research combining into a meta-engine of genetic research. Science and the genome are going to become rapidly intertwined within each other's helix of functionality. I doubt we will recognize the science of 2043, only two generations after the advent of personalized healthcare - and this movement will be pushed ahead by the medical record systems developed by corporations such as Epic.

Related articles

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• Why Tablets Are The Future Of Electronic Medical Records [REPORT] (readwriteweb.com)

Free Online Public Data Sources: An Annotated Bibliography

Free Online Health Data Sources: An Annotated Bibliography

By William Murakami-Brundage

1^st edition, February 2012

There exists a shortage of usable data sets and public health data. Whether your interest is biomedical engineering, health informatics, data mining, or public health analysis, this annotated bibliography should contain something that will aid your search for knowledge. It is my pleasure to compile this resource for you, and I hope that you find it as useful as I have during my work as a health informaticist and data scientist. Thank you for using this research in your work, and I wish you the best on your data endeavors.

For this first edition, this bibliography is compiled alphabetically. As things progress and this work grows, it can be certain that a different shape will emerge. At the same time, the basic concept still holds true: keep it simple. If you are looking for a database, data set, visualization tool, or government health data fact, you can probably find it within one of these data sets. Please feel free to write me at http://velluminformation.com with any specific data requests or questions, and I will be happy to aid you if possible.

An Annotated Bibliography: Free Online Health Data Sources

1. caBIG Knowledge Center: https://wiki.nci.nih.gov/display/cabigkcwikis/Knowledge+Centers

The caBIG Knowledge Center is a databank hosted by the National Cancer Institute. Under its umbrella are a wiki, a forum, and a whole host of databanks. These include: caGrid Knowledge Center, Clinical Trials Management Systems Knowledge Center, Data Sharing and Intellectual Capital Knowledge Center, Imaging Knowledge Center, Molecular Analysis Tools Knowledge Center, Tissue/Biospecimen Banking and Technology Tools Knowledge Center, Vocabulary Knowledge Center, and the Development Code Repository, a Subversion server dedicated to knowledge center development code.

2.  Centers for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/DataStatistics/

This repository includes data and statistics via topic, including: Aging, blood disorders, cancer, chronic diseases, deaths, diabetes, genomics, growth charts, heart disease, immunizations, life expectancy, MRSA, oral health, overweight & obesity, physical inactivity, reproductive health, smoking & tobacco, STDs, vital signs, and the workplace.

3.  Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Data Compendium: http://www.cms.gov/DataCompendium/

“The CMS Center for Strategic Planning produces an annual CMS Data Compendium to provide key statistics about CMS programs and national health care expenditures. The CMS Data Compendium contains historic, current, and projected data on Medicare enrollment and Medicaid recipients, expenditures, and utilization. Data pertaining to budget, administrative and operating costs, individual income, financing, and health care providers and suppliers are also included. National health expenditure data not specific to the Medicare or Medicaid programs is also included making the CMS Data Compendium one of the most comprehensive sources of information available on U.S. health care finance. This CMS report is published annually in electronic form and is available for each year from 2002 through present.”

4.  Community Health Profile:  National Aggregate of Urban Indian Health Organization Service Areas, December 2011: http://www.uihi.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Combined-UIHO-CHP_Final.pdf

This report contains statistical data for the Urban Indian Health Institute’s research: topics include sociodemographics, mortality, access to care, alcohol use, and environmental, heart, mental, and maternal/child health. Compiled from the national service areas located within the USA.

5.  Data.ed.gov: http://data.ed.gov/

Includes data tools and data sets: for example, Fiscal data for public schools and universities, common data core sets, educational progress and primary/postsecondary data. Data sets include legal data, Federal resources, and trends in science and mathematics for students. Data sets are in a variety of formats, XML, CSV, and XLS.

6.  Data.gov: http://www.data.gov/health

“You've found a public resource designed to bring together high-value datasets, tools, and applications using data about health and health care to support your need for better knowledge and to help you to solve problems. These datasets and tools have been gathered from agencies across the Federal government with the goal of improving health for all Americans. Check back frequently because the site will be updated as more datasets and tools become available”

Key elements include a massive index of health data sets: Medicare, geographic data, medical record system adoption, child welfare, and assisted reproduction data. There is a health apps repository/demo site, and a small collection of other data sources that bears looking at, especially for 1. California’s health data, and 2. The Gallup Poll Well-Being Index.

7.  Educational Data Partnership, California’s K-12 Schools: http://www.ed-data.k12.ca.us/Pages/Home.aspx

Data for all of California’s public school system, by State, County, District, and school. Also includes reports, teacher salaries, and data about charter schools.

8.  FastStats A to Z: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/default.htm

FastStats has data for any illness or major life complication that could arise for a citizen of the USA. A small sample includes: American Indian or Alaskan Native health, assault/homicide, cancer, deaths/mortality, emergency department visits, immunizations, kidney disease, life expectancy, marriage, Mexican American health, obesity/overweight, pertussis, smoking, and teen pregnancy. If it is a life-changing event, chances are good that FastStats has at least basic data for it.

9.  Federal Government IT Dashboard: http://www.itdashboard.gov/

“The IT Dashboard is a website enabling federal agencies, industry, the general public and other stakeholders to view details of federal information technology investments. The purpose of the Dashboard is to provide information on the effectiveness of government IT programs and to support decisions regarding the investment and management of resources. The Dashboard is now being used by the Administration and Congress to make budget and policy decisions.

Importantly, there are analysis tools and data feeds, not quite a data set. Also, the source code is available for the IT Dashboard.

10.  Health and Human Services Open Data Initiative: http://www.hhs.gov/open/

Includes details for mHealth Initiative, Startup America, and health data competitions. Also includes data about executive orders and records and reports.

11.  Health Indicators Warehouse: http://www.healthindicators.gov/

The Health Indicators Warehouse has data sets sorted by topic, geography, and initiative. Example data sets include: Chronic Diseases, Disabilities, Health Care, County data, Community Health Data Indicators, and CMS Community Indicators. Also, data sets are available for all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

12.  HealthyPeople 2020: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/default.aspx

The Healthy People 2020 Initiative is dedicated to creating a health environment for everyone, and contains data and publications that strive to meet this goal. It has a specific focus on health disparities and prevention efforts.

13.  Justice Department’s Open Data Initiative: http://www.justice.gov/open/data.html

”Publishing high-value datasets that increase accountability and responsiveness improve public knowledge of the Department of Justice and our operations, create economic opportunity, and respond to need and demands of the public are a core component of our efforts to fulfill The Open Government Directive”

Data sets available include jail data for numerous years, antitrust cases, jail census data, law enforcement data, forensic unit funding, state and Federal correctional facility data, Chapter 7 filing, Freedom of Information filings, hate crime statistics, and prosecutor data.

14.  Many Eyes: http://www-958.ibm.com/software/data/cognos/manyeyes/

Donated data sets, combined with an information visualization application, creates real-time displays from an almost endless supply of data. Everything from average Canadian household expenses, to London’s air quality, to Kobe Bryant’s game scoring, and quite a bit in between. Also, the application is relatively simple to use, which means that any given data set can be visualized with little effort.

15.  Massachusetts Open Data Initiative, Data Catalog: https://wiki.state.ma.us/confluence/display/data/Data+Catalog

A huge repository of open data sets from the state of Massachusetts: economic, education, geography, health, population, public safety, and technology are all covered, as well as quite a few other subjects.

16.  National Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/statistics/tools

Statistical tools and data: SEER data, SEER*Stat software, health disparities calculator, Medicare-linked database, and analytic software. Also includes a bank of statistical methods for cancer, cancer survival, and geographic information systems.

17.  National Center for Health Statistics: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/

“Welcome to the National Center for Health Statistics' website, a rich source of information about America's health. As the Nation's principal health statistics agency, we compile statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve the health of our people. We are a unique public resource for health information - a critical element of public health and health policy.”Data covers: diseases, health care and coverage, injuries, life stages, populations, lifestyle factors, and more.

18.  New York City’s Open Data Initiative: http://nycopendata.socrata.com/

Open data sets for everything from subway data to open-access WiFi networks, park maps, SAT scores, and filming locations. Too much of a hodge-podge of data sets to really define – besides the key element that everything is related to New York, there is no strict boundary or catalog.

19.  Open Data Initiative: http://www.opendatainitiative.org/

“The Open Data Initiative is a Web 2.0 site for disseminating public data.”Includes visualize data sets for suburb safety, Australian criminology tracking, and the Saudi Arabian census. May bear further watching, or may be transitory.

20.  Open Government Data Initiative, The: http://ogdisdk.cloudapp.net/

“The Open Government Data Initiative (OGDI) is an initiative led by Microsoft Public Sector Developer Evangelism team. OGDI uses the Windows Azure Platform to make it easier to publish and use a wide variety of public data from government agencies. OGDI is also a free, open source 'starter kit' with code that can be used to publish data on the Internet in a Web-friendly format with easy-to-use, open API's. OGDI-based web API's can be accessed from a variety of client technologies such as Silverlight, Flash, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, mapping web sites, etc.”

Hosted by Microsoft’s Cloud App servers, this data initiative displays visualized data sets and has a section for data developers as well.

21.  Regulations.gov: http://www.regulations.gov/#!home

Database and compendium of government regulations and laws.

22.  VitalStats: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/VitalStats.htm

VitalStats includes data sets for: births, deaths, perinatal mortality, and other public use data files related to vital statistics and their usage in the USA.

23.  World Bank Data: http://data.worldbank.org/

This is the motherload of all data banks. Provides access to over 7,000 indicators for global statistics, including economic, health, education, and environmental; by country, year, and topic. Also has a microdata library.

What Does A Data Analyst Do?

What does a data analyst do?

As a data analyst, someone typically handles data coming from or going into a data warehouse or business intelligence system. They compile the reports, verify the quality (integrity), and use the data to assist executive- and senior-level staff to make informed company decisions. The work can also include information visualization, statistics, and/or database application design, depending on the needs of the organization.

Examples of data warehouses (possibly) include Salesforce, SQL Server 2008, Oracle 11i, and mySQL. These relational database management systems (RDMS) are custom-built specifically for organizations. The logic and programming for even a small database requires expert knowledge, and large ones can require many months and extensive planning. Data analysts often have some formal background in database logic, relational algebra/calculus, and programming, and assist the database developer in constructing a solid schema for the relational database.

When it comes to data, a huge part of the data analyst's job includes programming in the computer language known as Structured Query Language (SQL). Each database system has its own varient or flavor of SQL, but there are basic rules with SQL that apply across the board. Many newer technologies include Hadoop, data warehousing, and Big Data analysis, which are at the cutting-edge of the data-science world in 2011.

There are some evolutionary changes in data science - for instance, data mining has become a standard strategy for uncovering patterns. Data mining is heavily reliant on algorithms and statistical methods, which are used by applications such as RapidMiner, Weka, and/or R (the mathematics program), in order to discover knowledge.

In order to be a data analyst, it is almost always mandatory to have at least some college background. It is a rigorous field, much as any computer science-based occupation. Solid knowledge of current data techniques is vital, and being willing to continually upgrade and train for new skills and developments is also imperative. Having a background in mathemathics, computer science/information systems, statistics, finance, or economics will be a benefit; graduate school is also an option, and can assist with advancement.

Related articles

• Too many cooks spoil the data warehouse broth (go.theregister.com)


• Tech job-seekers: Hadoop skills are in high demand (infoworld.com)


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