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From College to Career: 10 Common Challenges New Grads Face in Their First MedTech Job (and How to Get Ahead)

5/28/2025

Starting your first job in the medical device industry out of college is exciting—but it can also feel overwhelming. The transition from classroom to career is full of new expectations, unfamiliar dynamics, and high stakes.

While every new grad’s journey is unique, many face the same core challenges in their early roles. These challenges can be so consistent across the board it’s common to hear medical device employers complaining about the same ‘song and dance’ behind closed doors over and over again. Their chief complaint – why are so many undergraduates unprepared for industry when they leave academia?

While this article isn’t going to necessarily tackle the purported problems within academia, it will bring to light the issue and how you, recent or soon to be grad, can be better prepared to address it in your own career. Parents – if you have a child who is in college at present, make sure they read this article. While yes, it will help them with their job once they have it, but it could also help them land the very job we’re trying to keep.

So here’s the good news? Most of these new grad, or new career hurdles for that matter, are manageable with the right mindset and proactive strategies. Here are the 10 most common challenges new graduates face in their first job—and how to get ahead of each one with realistic solutions.

1. Lack of Real-World Experience
College taught the theory, but not necessarily how you apply it. This is a giant issue, especially in the engineering world where theories don’t always lend themselves to real world applications. Case and point – the concept of Laplace Transforms. While understanding the concept may be valuable for personal knowledge, memorizing all the transform pairs or doing hand calculations is rarely required in industry. Today, we have dozens of tools which help us through this process such as MATLAB, Python, etc. In this example we may understand the textbook principle behind it, but have no bearing on its usefulness in a real world setting.

What also doesn’t help is just not having any experience at all. Academia and industry are two completely different structures, requiring different approaches and mindsets to be successful. Having literally no working experience whatsoever when you graduate from college is another way people struggle early in their career as we’ll learn in #2-10 below.
Get Ahead: Intern during school, or do part-time work, take freelance projects, and don’t hesitate to ask questions. Learn by doing, observing, and iterating.

2. Weak Communication Skills
Knowing what to say isn’t enough—you also need to know how to say it. Communicating solely through text or message boards is a disaster waiting to happen.
Get Ahead: Practice concise, professional writing and public speaking. Use feedback to refine your tone and clarity. Watch how skilled colleagues communicate. If you have something critical or sensitive to communicate never wait until the last minute and always try to do so in-person or at a minimum via video. Stay off text and emails when communicating information which can be construed as sensitive.

3. Poor Time Management
Deadlines in school were flexible. In work? Not so much. If you know you have a deadline coming up on Friday, August 1st (to pick a random date), the time to communicate you are potentially at risk of missing said deadline is not on Friday, August 1st. It’s not Thursday, July 31st either. Procrastination is dead giveaway you don’t have your crap together, which then signals to everyone around you the very same message. A last note here – being late or tardy is just flat out unacceptable. I tell my employees – if you are one time, you’re already late. If you have a meeting to attend, show up 5 minutes early, set up your laptop or notepad and be ready to rock when the meeting starts. Walking in the door at that time and then setting up your gear is disrespectful.
Get Ahead: Use calendars, to-do lists, or project management tools. Prioritize daily, time-block your schedule, and avoid multitasking.

4. Unrealistic Expectations
Many grads expect fast promotions, creative freedom, or perfect alignment with passions—immediately. You will not be CEO in your first year of your career. Make your bones, or establish one’s bona fides, is a good ole fashion reminder that things take time and you need to be willing to allow for that time to pass, assuming you’re doing the work required to benefit from said time in the first place.
Get Ahead: Reframe the first year as a launchpad for learning. Success is about growth, not glory. Ask for feedback, not titles. Seek training and ways to develop your skills. The compensation, titles and exciting work will follow, eventually.

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Square-1 Engineering Featured in Medical Design & Outsourcing Industry Pub

5/22/2024

Special thanks to Medical Design & Outsourcing for covering our press release with our new office in Minneapolis Saint Paul (MSP) Minnesota.

Stay tuned for more news and updates as we continue to grow our presence and support in MSP.

Square-1 Press release link at MDO: https://lnkd.in/gzeCd-Py

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Medtech Snapshot Featuring Trisha Aure - 21 CFR 820 vs ISO 13485 (Part 2)

3/5/2024

Medtech Snapshot Part 2:2 continues the discussion as Trisha Aure covers considerations when transitioning from 21 CFR 820 to ISO 13485.

Hear how due diligence and training play a crucial role in the transition process and the impact it has on our employees.

#iso13485 #regulation #compliance #fda #21CFR #riskmanagement #medicaldevice #medtech #news #podcast #snapshot #regulatoryaffairs

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Medtech Snapshot: Obtaining User Needs on the Cheap with Barry Fulkerson

10/19/2023

Our most recent Medtech Snapshot features product development executive Barry Fulkerson as he takes us through his strategy of obtaining user needs data on the cheap and how creating a patient advisory board can help get you there.

We have archives! To watch and listen in to our past Medtech Snapshot episodes visit https://www.sqr1services.com/white-papers/category/snapshot

#userneeds #medtech #snapshot #medicaldevice #productdevelopment #conceptdevelopment #patient

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Medtech Snapshot: Compliance Debate featuring Stephanie Rallis-Daw & Robert Lahaderne

10/11/2023

We're breaking the mold!

Medtech Snapshot returns with an enticing debate as #RAQA medtech industry experts Stephanie Rallis-Daw, RAC, CQE, CMDA and Robert Lahaderne, MBA spar on the topic of "When starting a new job/ project, what is the most common medtech compliance shortfall you can expect to encounter at your new company?"

New to Medtech Snapshot? Check out our archive of past episodes at https://www.sqr1services.com/white-papers/category/snapshot covering topics in R&D, Quality, Clinical and Manufacturing. Honey for your eyes and ears, friends.

#medtech #snapshot #podcast #medicaldevice #compliance #quality #regulatory #documentation #training

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White Papers & Articles

From College to Career: 10 Common Challenges New Grads Face in Their First MedTech Job (and How to Get Ahead)

Square-1 Engineering Featured in Medical Design & Outsourcing Industry Pub

Medtech Snapshot Featuring Trisha Aure - 21 CFR 820 vs ISO 13485 (Part 2)

Medtech Snapshot: Obtaining User Needs on the Cheap with Barry Fulkerson

Medtech Snapshot: Compliance Debate featuring Stephanie Rallis-Daw & Robert Lahaderne

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From College to Career: 10 Common Challenges New Grads Face in Their First MedTech Job (and How to Get Ahead)

Square-1 Engineering Featured in Medical Design & Outsourcing Industry Pub

Medtech Snapshot Featuring Trisha Aure - 21 CFR 820 vs ISO 13485 (Part 2)

Medtech Snapshot: Obtaining User Needs on the Cheap with Barry Fulkerson

Medtech Snapshot: Compliance Debate featuring Stephanie Rallis-Daw & Robert Lahaderne

About the Author

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