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Darren (Technical Services)

Role at Epic

Technical Services

Background

Hometown:	Edmonton, Canada
Education:	A BSc in Physiology and a BSc in Electrical Engineering (Biomedical Specialization), University of Alberta

Why did you choose to join Epic?

Prior to working for Epic, I worked for the University of Alberta (Edmonton) developing cancer cell detection technology based on electrochemical detection of cancer cells through micro-fluidic tubes. I also worked for a hospital in Edmonton in their Engineering Research department helping to improve three-dimensional back shape imaging of patients in their scoliosis clinic. The goal was to reduce exposure to radiographs; I developed a 3-D laser scanning methodology and software to reduce the number of x-rays scoliosis patients need per year and better characterize their condition.

Neither previous career, as interesting as they were, had much upward mobility and career growth potential. They were also based on grant funding so did not have long term stability. I was searching Monster and other career sites for something in the medical field with a bigger or growing company. I had offers from Epic and a Hospital in Washington DC. The hospital job was similar to my previous jobs in limited career growth and grant money. Epic made more sense from a career growth perspective even though it was more software and less hardware related to Biomedical Engineering. What really sold me were the hospitality and corporate culture when I was flown down for the half-day interview.

What do you like about working at Epic?

The constant challenge and new problems to solve with the smartest people I know. It's not very politically correct to say, but there are no 'dumb people' at Epic. I find that even more impressive having been in the workforce before Epic and not coming straight from college. Life at Epic is fast-paced. There is always a lot to do to meet our customers' requests. Fortunately we have strong people who can quickly and easily work together to solve problems without micromanagement or heavy oversight.

What's your favorite project to date at Epic?

Being responsible for the first installation of IntraConnect is by far the largest and most challenging project I have ever worked on. Taking it from an idea to the largest private health care implementation in the US was very rewarding.
On a more personal level, being involved in implementing Epic in Edmonton (my home city) with my former employer was also very rewarding.

What does your typical week look like?

The beauty is the variety from week to week . But if I were to pigeon hole it, it would mostly be made up of customer conference calls advising customers on all aspects of technical projects - architecture, hardware acquisition, project planning, printer testing, application deployment, integrating with other systems/devices. Approximately 20% of my time is spent at a customer's site working on similar topics. One interesting atypical fact for Technical Services: in 6.5 years at Epic, I have been to over 30 different cities on Epic trips between the US, Canada and the Netherlands.