Alumni Spotlight: What It’s Like to Work as a Software Developer in Healthcare

“To be in this type of career is to be a life-long learner, and staying curious is a great way to stay in awe of learning something new and getting excited all over again.”

These wise words come from Tech Elevator graduate Drew Riedel-Brown, who now works as a Sr. Associate Software Developer/Engineer at CoverMyMeds.

Read the full Q&A with Drew to learn more about his decision to attend a coding bootcamp, his experiences as a new developer in the healthcare space, and his advice for others interested in pursuing this career path.

What drew you to software development?

What a great question! This may be an unexpected answer, but honestly, it was my dad. My dad has been a developer his whole career, and I grew up watching him as a professional in this industry. He had a home office, so he often split time between our home and his corporate office. I got used to seeing stacks of coding books, dual monitors, whiteboards, etc. so he could dive into problem-solving more successfully. He loves what he does, and he is really good at it. And there is something about watching someone do something they love that is kind of infectious.

To be clear, I remember thinking as a kid “Ew gross, I never want to do what my dad does,” because it seemed really boring at the time (haha, the joke is on me). And yet, years later and well into my career, I ended up working for a healthcare IT company (my current employer) as a front-line manager for our contact centers and got to work on projects that were very tech-heavy.

So as an adult and professional, I suddenly found all of this content fascinating, thought-provoking, and exciting. I realized software engineering was a genuine path that we could use as a company to solve many of the problems of our generation — and that it could also be a potential career path for me! So shout-out again to my dad, it was his modeling that made it feel accessible and possible.

And the rest is history!

Why did you choose Tech Elevator? 

I knew that I didn’t have a 4-year degree in computer science but that the demand for software developers was still strong in my industry. I realized I needed to take an intentional step to fast-track my growth in this space, and I’ve had several friends and colleagues in my network take the plunge with Tech Elevator and successfully pivot in their careers. It was their examples and trust in Tech Elevator that made me feel confident I could have the same experience!

I will say, I did look at (and interview with) other bootcamps. While those conversations were enlightening and fun, I did not actually know anyone who had taken advantage of those offerings or had any sort of input on how things “actually” were once you got into the program. I just kept coming back to Tech Elevator and their proven track record of success, and thinking if it could work for other people that I love, respect, and trust, why not for me, too?

What’s your current role like? What kinds of projects are you working on? 

I’m in an Associate role, so it’s very much about learning. Right now, I am trying to own the long-term of my onboarding process (with plenty of support) and learn the ins and outs of our business, solutions, and platforms.

The things I find myself spending the most time on are juggling a few “new-to-role” priorities, which include things like teaching myself Ruby (the primary language in our tech stack), shadowing/pairing with other developers on how they approach our technical work/projects in a large enterprise like McKesson, and then (the really exciting part) taking on lower-stakes projects with support and applying those coding skills!

Lately, those lower-stakes projects include adding simple features like event subscribers and activities to existing products, writing end-to-end testing guides, or doing code reviews for my peers. I am learning an endless amount of new things every day, and it’s a great problem to have!

What do you like about your role? What challenges have you faced so far?

There are so many things I love about the new role. The things that come to mind first are how much I get to learn each day, how much I get to collaborate with other developers, and how I get to see how every “Dev” solves problems a little differently.

It’s fascinating to see how nuanced something otherwise so technical can be – solutions are rarely prescriptive, and thinking outside of the box is encouraged. My peers are kind, smart, and thoughtful. There is a lot of creativity in this space, and all opinions are strongly welcomed.

In terms of challenges, I realize that all that room for creativity means there is not always a ton of structure in how to approach this role (especially when you are new and trying to get your bearings). While I had an initial onboarding, it’s been a fun challenge to figure out how to navigate my way into this space and identify what my needs are – learning how to say “this still doesn’t make sense to me, tell me more about X” and being willing to fail and not know something is a useful skill that I’ve come to appreciate.

There is kind of a necessary level of being “comfortable being uncomfortable” in spaces like this, and I think it’s important to know that going into it.

So you’ve worked at CoverMyMeds for a while in various capacities. How was the post-bootcamp job search for you – or were you always planning to work from CoverMyMeds after the program? 

That is true! It was my time at CoverMyMeds that helped fully ignite my passion for the technical space, and I realized that this would be a great place to continue to cultivate my skills. It also didn’t hurt that CoverMyMeds (a McKesson company) offers a yearly education stipend that is significant, and largely covered the costs of my tuition for Tech Elevator.

That being said, I did allow myself to connect with a variety of employers via the Pathway program and explore what was out there. I learned that there are a lot of like-minded people out there who are passionate about the same things I am. It gave me chances to have conversations without any sort of expectation, to ask open and candid questions, and to be open-minded to what success could look like after the program.

By the end of my time with TE, I did realize that CoverMyMeds (and McKesson) has been incredibly generous to me over the years, and it’s kind of a professional “home” for me that would take a lot for me to ever leave.

It also doesn’t hurt that between my organizational and domain knowledge and my burgeoning developer skills, I had a strong chance of translating that knowledge into success in acquiring an internal role. The clincher was that a lot of other developers at CMM were incredibly supportive of my journey, and I was lucky to have multiple mentors who took a personal interest in my growth and were cheerleading me every step of the way.

So what else could I do? This community of peers is truly some of the best and brightest, and I am beyond fortunate to have these fabulous humans in my corner. And we get to do some really cool work supporting patients, so it’s a win-win all around.

Is there anything from former roles/jobs that you’ve been able to carry over into your new career in software development?

Absolutely! I could talk about this for a while, but I will try to focus on a couple of key skills I leaned on during my time in the bootcamp.

1. For one, I think my time working with a start-up taught me to be adaptable and willing to fail. Learning to code, frankly, means being willing to fail a lot, and adapting frequently to meet your learning goals or understand the path to the solution.
2. A second skill I valued was self-awareness and emotional intelligence. It’s hard to fully capture in a paragraph, but this process is incredibly emotional. My time as a people leader taught me to check in with myself and make sure I was taking care of my internal self (much like how I checked in on my previous team members). How was I doing with my impostor syndrome? How was my time management going? Was I feeling overwhelmed or afraid? What do I need right now?
3. Lastly, I would say perhaps one of the other biggest skills was staying curious. All this learning I did is truly a privilege and something I “get to do” rather than “have to do.” Learning new things allows my world to expand, and for my life and understanding of things to get a little bigger every day. I can ask things like, what does this do? Or, how does this person approach this problem? And this curiosity allows me to move forward on a collective pilgrimage with other learners. I realized we never really “arrive” at an end destination in a role like this, and the knowledge and best practices change all the time. To be in this type of career is to be a life-long learner, and staying curious is a great way to stay in awe of learning something new and getting excited all over again.

Do you have any advice for incoming students?

Yes, absolutely! Alongside the skills I mentioned earlier to keep in your back pocket, I’d also say to simply trust the process.

It’s incredibly easy to think “What have I done?”, especially when you’re learning something new and challenging, but honestly, you’re smarter than you think! If you’ve come this far, you can finish the program with some hard work, resilience, and collaborative learning with your peers.

Beyond that, I would also put in the work early and often. We typically get a week to turn around a homework assignment, but it’s much easier to learn and absorb the material when you’ve done the reading, the practice work, and attempted your assignment before your classes, rather than doing them the night they are due. (I learned this the hard way.)

Also, never pass up a learning opportunity! Even if you are given something optional (like katas, or the mid-term assignment)…do it. Don’t skip! Any chance to apply/synthesize your new knowledge or skills is magical for your learning process.

Lastly, whether it’s during the Tech Elevator program, at work, with a TE Alum, or an industry contact, find a mentor in this space (or several). It’s SO much easier to keep putting one foot in front of the other when you can ask someone who’s been there about how they got through it. I had several peers from my company who’d been through this process (or something similar), and their solidarity, commiseration, and guidance provided me with both sanity and direction when I felt really lost or disoriented.

Interested in enrolling in a coding bootcamp?

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