The people who build, sell, and support the devices that change lives all had to start somewhere.
This week we focus on how to get started. And how to stop spinning your wheels.
THE EDITOR’S NOTE
A few thoughts from the field before we get into it…
Think about what the FDA just approved.
A heart valve. That grows. Inside a child’s body.
You implant it when the kid is a toddler, 13 millimeters. Then, as they grow, a doctor threads a balloon catheter back in and expands it. No second open-heart surgery. No third. The valve just grows with them. It tops out at 22 millimeters, adult size. And it is made of synthetic polymeric leaflets. Not tissue from a cow or a pig. Synthetic. First time that has ever been approved in the U.S.
I have been in this industry for 25 years, and I still have moments where I stop and think: how is this a real thing that exists?
That is the part nobody tells you when you are trying to break in. You hear about the grind, the competition, the long days in the OR, the lost deals. All of that is real. But you also get front-row seats to technology that is genuinely, legitimately extraordinary. A valve that grows with a child is not a marketing claim. It is an engineering miracle that is now FDA-approved and heading into operating rooms.
And behind every device like that, every cleared product, every first-in-human case, every commercial launch, there is a team. Engineers who solved the leaflet problem. Regulatory affairs specialists who built the PMA submission. Clinical educators who trained the first surgeons. Marketing people who created the messaging that tells the story. Reps who made sure to get the product in the hands of the surgeons who can use it.
All of those people started somewhere. Many of them did not start their careers in med device.
This week is about getting started.
Glad you're here. Let's get into it.
Andy Knapik, Founder
The Modern Med Rep
INDUSTRY INTEL
What's moving in med device this week and why it matters
Five Things Shaping the Industry Right Now
→ The FDA approved the first heart valve designed to grow with children.
The AUTUS Size-Adjustable Valve, developed by Autus Valve Technologies and approved through Edwards Lifesciences, received PMA approval on October 1. It can be implanted as small as 13 millimeters in a toddler and expanded via balloon catheter as the child grows, reaching up to 22 millimeters. It is also the first U.S.-approved heart valve to use synthetic polymeric leaflets rather than animal-derived tissue. For the approximately 120,000 children born each year in the U.S. with valve-affecting congenital heart disease, this device could mean the difference between one surgery and several.
→ Integra LifeSciences cut its revenue forecast after flooding destroyed production capacity at a key manufacturing site.
A natural disaster at one of Integra’s facilities forced production stoppages and sent shares sharply lower. The company makes products used in neurosurgery and reconstructive surgery. Supply disruptions like this have nothing to do with product quality or commercial performance, but they land squarely on the reps and accounts who depend on that supply. Transparent, proactive communication with your accounts is what defines you when things go sideways through no one’s fault.
→ Dexcom faces 11 lawsuits alleging its G7 continuous glucose monitor malfunctioned and harmed users, including children.
Law firm Morgan & Morgan filed two additional suits this week. Three cases involve minors. Four allege deaths tied to blood glucose inaccuracies that reportedly led to diabetic ketoacidosis and hypoglycemic seizures. Product liability is a commercial reality in this industry, and how device professionals handle these conversations with clinical customers matters. More on this in The Med Insider section below.
→ Stryker is targeting the 80 percent of orthopedic surgeons who have never used a robot.
The next phase of orthopedic robotics growth is not about selling more systems to hospitals that already converted. It is about the vast majority that have not. Stryker is pursuing that unconverted segment with compact, more accessible systems designed for the ASC environment and for surgeons who found full-size platforms too disruptive to adopt. This is a meaningful commercial signal for anyone in or entering the orthopedic space.
→ The GLP-1 drug boom is creating unexpected demand for medical device components and drug delivery systems.
LyondellBasell is expanding its drug delivery device materials manufacturing specifically to meet demand driven by GLP-1 therapies. As millions of patients start injectable weight loss and diabetes medications, the pens, auto-injectors, and delivery systems that administer them need to be manufactured at meaningful scale. This is a growing commercial intersection between pharma and device that is creating roles that did not exist three years ago.
MARKET SPOTLIGHT
A deep dive into the segments, companies and technologies shaping the industry
How to Use LinkedIn to Break Into Medical Device
LinkedIn is the most important tool for breaking into the medical device industry from outside the industry. Not because it is the best place to apply for jobs, but because it is the best place to build the relationships that actually lead to interviews. Most people use it incorrectly. Here is how to use it right.
Your profile is your first impression. Before you reach out to anyone, your profile needs to do its job. That means a professional photo. A headline that says something more specific than “Looking for new opportunities.” A summary that explains who you are, what you bring, and why you are interested in medical device specifically. If you have clinical experience, lead with it. If you have sales experience, lead with that. If you have both, even better. Your LinkedIn profile is what a hiring manager or rep will look at before deciding whether to respond to your message. Make it easy for them to say yes.
Connect before you ask. The most common LinkedIn mistake is sending a connection request with an immediate ask attached. “Hi, I’d love to learn about opportunities at your company” as a first message to a stranger is the equivalent of walking up to someone at a party and asking them to hire you before you’ve said hello. Connect first, with a short and genuine note. Something like: “I’ve been following the work your team is doing in EP ablation and would love to connect.” Wait a few days. Then, once connected, start a real conversation.
Reach out with something specific. The messages that get responses are specific. They reference something real: a post the person wrote, a company announcement, a product launch, a segment they work in. “I saw that your team recently launched a new PFA platform and I have been diving deep into that technology. I’d love to hear your perspective on how it’s being received in the field” will get a response far more often than “I’m interested in breaking into device and would love to pick your brain.” Pick your brain is the phrase that ends conversations before they start. Show that you have already done your homework.
Ask for a conversation, not a job. When you reach out to someone in the industry, you are not asking them to hire you. You are asking them to spend fifteen minutes talking about their work with someone who is genuinely curious about it. Most people in this industry will do that. Almost nobody will respond to a cold message asking them to recommend you for a role or pass your resume to their hiring manager. The job comes later, after the relationship is established. Focus on the conversation first.
Post consistently and intelligently. If you want to be noticed in the medical device space on LinkedIn, create content. Not every day. Two or three times a week is enough. Share what you are learning about the industry. Summarize a trend you read about. Comment thoughtfully on posts from people you want to connect with. This positions you as someone serious about this industry and gives hiring managers and reps a reason to notice you before you ever reach out directly.
The goal of your LinkedIn strategy:
Build ten genuine conversations per month with people inside the industry. Not connection requests. Not messages. Conversations. A conversation is an exchange of at least two messages in which both people are actively engaged. Ten of those per month, consistently, for ninety days, will produce more interviews than any number of online applications. The math is not complicated. The consistency is.
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Where the jobs are, what’s paying, and how to position yourself to get there
Your 90-Day Networking Plan Before You Have the Job
Industry Foundation:
Understanding the difference between a recruiter and a hiring manager will help you use both effectively in your job search.
A recruiter, whether internal or at a staffing agency, is the person whose job is to fill open roles efficiently. They screen for fit against a defined profile and manage a pipeline of candidates. A hiring manager is the person you would actually work for: the district manager, the regional sales director, the clinical education lead. They make the final call. Most job seekers spend too much time trying to impress recruiters and not enough time building relationships with hiring managers. Both matter, but they are used differently. Recruiters get you into the process. Hiring managers get you the offer.
The Med Device Career Decoder covers how to navigate both relationships and what to say to each one at each stage of the process. Available at themodernmedrep.com.
A 90-day networking plan is not complicated. It is consistent. Here is what it looks like in three phases.
Days 1 to 30: Build the foundation. Identify 20 target companies in the segments you are most interested in. Research each one: what they sell, who their customers are, who their competitors are, and what roles they typically hire for. Build a list of 30 people to connect with on LinkedIn: a mix of current reps, clinical specialists, district managers, and recruiters at your target companies. Send connection requests with short, specific notes. Start following these companies and commenting on posts from people already in the industry. The goal of month one is to have 15 of those 30 connections accepted and to have your first 5 real conversations.
Days 31 to 60: Deepen the relationships. Follow up with everyone who connected but hasn’t responded to a message. Schedule informational calls with anyone who expressed interest. Aim for 8 to 10 conversations this month, by phone, video, or in person. In each conversation, ask specific questions about the role, the company, the segment, and the day-to-day reality of the job. Take notes. At the end of each call, ask if there is anyone else they would suggest you speak with. One warm introduction from a current rep is worth more than ten cold outreach messages.
Days 61 to 90: Create the opportunity. By this point you should have a clearer picture of which companies and roles are the best fit, and you should have people inside those companies who know who you are. Start applying for roles you have already discussed with insiders. Ask your strongest connections directly: “Is there anyone at your company I should talk to about the associate rep opening in Phoenix?” Attend at least one industry event, conference, or networking meeting this month. Be present, be genuine, and follow up with everyone you meet within 24 hours.
The one metric that matters:
How many real conversations did you have this week? No messages sent. No applications submitted. Conversations. If the answer is zero, nothing else in your job search matters very much. If the answer is two or three, you are on track. The people who break into this industry are almost always the ones who kept showing up and kept having conversations long after it would have been reasonable to give up.
THE MED INSIDER
One thing every med device professional should know this week
What Product Liability Means in Medical Device and Why It Matters to You
The Dexcom lawsuit story is not just a headline. It is a window into one of the commercial realities of working in the medical device industry that does not get discussed enough in career conversations: product liability.
Medical devices are regulated, tested, and monitored more rigorously than almost any other consumer product. But they are used in high-stakes clinical situations by real patients with real medical needs, and sometimes things go wrong. When a device fails and a patient is harmed, the legal and commercial consequences can be significant for both the company and the people who represent its products in the field.
For device professionals, product liability awareness matters for two reasons. First, understanding that lawsuits and adverse event reports are part of the landscape helps you contextualize stories like the Dexcom litigation without overreacting or underreacting. A lawsuit does not automatically mean a product is dangerous or a company is negligent. It means an allegation has been made and a legal process is underway. Second, knowing how to talk about safety concerns, adverse events, and product complaints with your clinical customers is a real professional skill. The rep who acknowledges a concern honestly, explains the facts calmly, and directs the customer to the appropriate reporting channel builds more trust than the one who deflects or minimizes.
The FDA maintains the MAUDE database (Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience), which is publicly searchable and contains adverse event reports for virtually every device on the market. Getting in the habit of checking it periodically for products in your segment is a small habit that signals a serious professional, and it gives you a factual basis for conversations when safety questions come up in the field.
Worth knowing:
The Dexcom G7 is one of the most widely used CGMs in the world and has strong clinical evidence supporting its accuracy and safety. Eleven lawsuits, while serious and deserving of scrutiny, represent a very small fraction of the device’s user base. Context matters in these conversations. Your job as a device professional is not to dismiss safety concerns. It is to engage with them factually and direct customers to the right resources.
FROM THE FIELD
Your Questions, Answered
This week’s question captures something I hear constantly:
“I have been trying to network my way into the medical device industry for months. I reach out on LinkedIn, I go to events, I send messages. I feel like I am doing everything right but nothing is moving. What am I doing wrong?”
The most common answer is that the activity looks like networking but does not feel like it to the people on the receiving end. Sending connection requests, attending events, and sending messages are the mechanics of networking. The substance of it is something different: genuine curiosity about another person’s work, specific knowledge of the industry you are trying to enter, and patience with a process that does not run on a predictable timeline.
A few things worth checking. Are your messages specific, or do they sound like a template? Do you follow up after a conversation, or do you move on to the next person? Are you asking about the other person’s experience, or are you mostly talking about what you want? Are you building relationships with people who can actually help you get hired, or spending time on connections that feel productive but are not moving you toward an interview?
The other thing worth examining is your timeline expectation. Breaking into device through networking rarely happens in 90 days. It happens when the right person thinks of you at the right moment, which usually means you have been consistently present in their peripheral awareness for six months or more. That is not a reason to slow down. It is a reason to be more strategic about who you are building relationships with and more patient about when those relationships pay off. Keep going. The people who break into this industry are almost always the ones who didn’t stop.
Have a question? Reply to this email. The best ones make it into the next issue.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
- Thomas Edison
