software engineer

consultant

system engineer

technical analyst

senior software engineer

Cerner Corporation

Cerner Corporation, Kansas City Jan’11 to Current
Informatica Lead
Cerner is a global supplier of healthcare solution with more than 8,000 clients worldwide. The job required to develop Lighthouse product and the Enterprise Data Warehouse at Cerner. Lighthouse empowers organizations to identify high value improvement opportunities by employing a data-driven, an evidence-based and a technology-leveraged approach. It uses data from the current Data Warehouse system to compare known optimal processes and identify opportunities for improvements.

Responsibilities:
• Developed mappings/Reusable Objects/Transformation/mapplets by using mapping designer, transformation developer and mapplet designer in Informatica Power Center 9.1.
• Designed and developed mappings using Source Qualifier, Expression, connected-Lookup and unconnected-Lookup, Router, Aggregator, Filter, Sequence Generator, Stored Procedure, Update Strategy, joiner & Rank transformations.
• Experience working on KPIs (key Performance Indicators) in software development projects on CPP platform.
• Reportable information generated by Healthcare providers are delivered to end users in HL7 file or web based reports
• Extensively used Informatica Client Tools – Source Analyzer, Warehouse Designer, Mapping Designer, Mapplet Designer, Informatica Repository Manager and Workflow Manager
• Created complex mappings using several transformations like Source Qualifier, Expression, Dynamic lookup, Aggregator, Joiner, Sequence generator, Router, Filter, Stored procedure, Sorter and update strategy transformations
• Develop stored procedures and functions in PL/SQL using SQL Developer as part of transformations during ETL process
• Excellent technical and analytical skills with clear understanding of design goals of ER modeling for OLTP and dimension modeling for OLAP
• Worked with Informatica Power Exchange 8.6.1 which works in conjunction with PowerCenter9.1 to capture changes to data in source tables and replicate those changes to target tables and files
• Create work tables and indexes for intermediate processing as part of ETL process
• Create/Modify CCL scripts to extract data from Cerner Millennium systems
• Created and scheduled Sessions, Jobs based on demand, run on time and run only once using Workflow manager
• Create and update the Informatica parameter files which are using during workflow processing
• Developed and deployed UNIX shell scripts to work with flat files, to define parameter files and to create pre and post session commands
• Maintain Development, Test the Production mapping migration Using Repository Manager
• Use Debugger to troubleshoot existing mappings as for better performance using different techniques to provide maximum efficiency
• Used pmcmd, pmrep commands in various UNIX shell scripts to automate the sessions running processes
• Create test data and performed White box, Black box, Integration and Regression testing of informatica mappings
• Precise documentation was done for all mappings and stored procedures.
• Created several custom laboratory, Syndromic, Susceptibility and Cancer reports for clients in SAP Business Objects
• Generated the Business Objects reports using the universe as main Data provider and writing complex queries using sub queries, derived tables, unions and intersects
• Reports were formatted to the users according to the requirements using Business objects features like Slice and Dice, Drill down and formulae
• Import and Export Business Objects (BO) code between various environments using wizards
• Schedule and review code using Crucible
• Create and install packages as part of moving code across different environments
• Involved in creation of various Unix Scripts and Perl Scripts which help the ETL scheduling jobs and help in initial validations of various tasks.
• Wrote UNIX Shell Scripts for Informatica Pre-Session, Post-Session
• Involved in Converting and gathering necessary calculation of PL SQL complex calculations into Informatica mappings.
• Classify functional and non-functional requirements for the Lighthouse applications to be developed.
• Troubleshoot technical issues/Service requests on the production platform.
• Perform well under pressure in a fast-pace production environment.

Environment: Informatica PowerCenter 9.1/9.x/8.x (Designer, Workflow Manager and Monitor), Oracle 11i, SAP Business Objects, MS Excel, UNIX shell.

Key Responsibilities:
	Developed SDMF (SQL Server Database Maintenance Facility) software that automates many of the routine DBA functions related to DB maintenance, monitoring and alerting.
	Created automation of day-to-day operations, critical SQL alerts and repetitive tasks.
	Creating, Validating and Reviewing solutions and effort estimate for data center migration to Azure cloud environment 
	Conducted Proof of Concept for migrating On Premises SQL Servers to Azure SQL DB.
	Transitioning new technical projects and ensuring smooth go-live for Azure operations. Executing technical feasibility assessments, solution estimations for data center migration with public and hybrid cloud migration and deployment.
	Involved in the migration of SQL Servers from SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2014 and 2016. 
	Involved in the migration of On-premises SQL Servers to Azure VMs and Azure SQL for multiple global business units.
	Develop PowerShell scripts and ARM templates to automate the provisioning and deployment process in Azure
	Wrote PowerShell for all Database events and windows events, automated them using the EPM tool which can be re-used for all server migrations
	Coded PowerShell Scripts for DB restore routines along with enabling and setting up Mirroring on SQL 2008 and AlwaysOn on SQL 2014/2016 servers.
	Created automation for SQL Server installs using CHEF & EPM (Enterprise Package Manager).
	Installing and maintaining SQL Server database systems. Maintaining the database systems includes but is not limited to ensuring successful backups, resolving system issues, opening cases with technical support to resolve issues, monitoring success and failure of automated jobs, monitor system availability, updating system documentation, system and database recovery, etc. 
	Develop Test plans and test automation for SQL Server installs and Migrations.
	Design, document, and promote security "best practices", policies, standards and protocols. 
	Working with development and systems teams to perform application and database tuning.
	In conjunction with development teams, define and maintain database and code standards and naming conventions for the organization to ensure consistency in database and code development. 
	Review and Analysis of current Monitoring tools, charm and DB availability issues and make recommendations.
	Involved in migration of physical-to-virtual machine (PV2) and virtual-to-virtual (V2V) conversions, virtual machine migrations, and cloning
	Implementing and managing SQL Server Virtualization using Hyper-V.
	Providing highly available database and application infrastructure according to Business Continuity requirements using SQL clustering, load-balancing, Mirroring etc. 
	Evaluating data modeling, database administration, and database backup and recovery tools and make recommendations. 
	Setting up and Monitored transactional replication, Database mirroring on Production and QA servers. 
	Review of physical and logical database design; Promote the reliability of database design by ensuring appropriate referential data integrity is implemented and appropriate data types are used. 
	Create processes and procedures for application code and database object migrations to support an efficient and reliable system development lifecycle. 
	Responsible for the implementation and setup of AlwaysOn Availability Groups as a HADR measure.
	Analyzing heavy hitter report (Prod Issues) and responsible for optimizing the database and tune queries for best performance.
	Analyze current monitoring tools and suggest recommendations for improvements.
	Implementation of SQL Logins, Roles and Authentication Modes as a part of Security Policies for various categories of User Support. 
	Involved developing and implementing jobs for SQL server, and involved in various production releases for all the groups 
	Monitored and modified Performance using execution plans and Index tuning. 
	Prepared Documentation for the Disaster Recovery and High Availability solutions.
	Handled monthly Database Refresh in QA-Test environment for testing of new Deployments and Build.

Cerner is... An interesting place.

I signed on to be a consulting analyst/associate consultant and ended up doing that for a year after doing training and go-live support for 6 months, which all new consultants are required to do. 

My time in training/learning services actually tuned out to be a great experience, but being a consultant turned into something awful and I eventually quit once I acknowledged how depressed I had become and realized that it was never going to get any better.

In the 6 weeks of training I was given (which was not pertinent to my job as a consultant in the slightest), the phrase I heard over and over again from my instructor when we asked her a question was, "it depends".  Basically, how pleasant or unpleasant your experience at Cerner will be is luck of the draw. You might get placed on a great team, or you might join a terrible one. You might get a great manager, or you might get a corporate drone. Your project manager might know what they're doing, or they might have less experience than you do. I think you see where I'm going here. 

As I said earlier, I enjoyed my time as an end-user trainer and I had a great manager at the time who I was comfortable communicating with and bringing up issues I was facing. I also got to meet some great people who were able to mentor me and I felt empowered to be successful at my job. Then they transferred me into actual consulting...

I don't need to go into many specifics, but the consulting "segment" I joined never set me up for success. Despite my inexperience, they put me on the most difficult clients where the domains required multiple years of experience to work with successfully and I worked exclusively with remote, 3rd-party consultants who were great, but never in the office so getting immediate help with issues always took a while. Spoiler alert: Cerner uses a lot of 3rd party consultants because the attrition rate in consulting is through the roof. 

I had consistently asked for a KC-based advising consultant, but was always informed by my manger that "resourcing is tight" and I never received one. I quit shortly after that and don't regret it for a second.

Despite all of the bad aspects of the job, I did gain a lot of valuable skills that will serve me very well for the rest of my life. You can also make a lot of money by going 3rd party after your time at Cerner where you'll generally make 1.5-2x the pay.

Speaking of which, the pay is well under the industry average and raises are completely worthless. I was at $47,500 and at the end of 2017 was given a 2% increase which may or may not even cover inflation. Cerner is much more interesting in paying you with Cerner clout and prestige, which is probably why everyone with drive and ambition end up leaving the company in 18-24 months.

All in all, Cerner can be a good spot if you get a good team and manager and enjoy what you're doing but if you don't have any of those things, it can be miserable. Like most other people say, it's a good place to get a jump on your career and see if you like consulting, but there's no point in sticking around for more than 2.5 years at the most. 

Also, despite what everyone at the company thinks, you'll get what is probably one of the best health insurance plans in the country. It cost me $80 a month and my max out of pocket was $3k. To the best of my knowledge, it covers practically every single doctor in the nation. I've received a lot of medical work and I didn't have any issues with it whatsoever.

I am writing this review to try to keep others from making the same mistake of working here. Cerner’s Montgomery Alabama location is not a good place to work. Especially not as a technician of any sort. The way that management treats the On-site Support Team at this location is borderline horrendous. Management has no qualms whatsoever about openly lying to you. You’ll be surprised at what they’re willing to lie to you about. Policies that don’t exist for any other team at any other location, promotions and raises that will never actually emerge, the opportunity to earn overtime being treated as a luxury good, and so much more awaits you here. 

To describe the job itself, you’ll likely be assigned a queue to manage tickets for. You’ll arrive around 8 AM and leave around 5 PM. But a hospital environment never stops, so someone is always on-call for a week at a time. You’ll spend your days exhausted, but proud of yourself and the work that you’ve accomplished to keep the hospital going. Now, this changes when there’s a project. Because management has no trouble coming up with large-scale projects CONSTANTLY, but always attaches a borderline ridiculous time-frame that it must be completed in. For you, this means a near-certainty of constant conflict of wanting to actually do your job, fit these projects in, and not being allowed any overtime. The way they get around this is they’ll tell you to “get creative” with your hours. So maybe one day you come in at 12, leave at 3, come back in at 7, and do whatever you can then. If this sounds stupid to you, you are correct. Management will never be happy with this team, because encouragement is frowned upon here. You’ll enjoy your coworkers; they’re typically great. If I am complimentary of anything the management does, they tend to figure out how to lie to people that will fit in well and work well together. 

Maybe you think I’m exaggerating. That’s okay; you don’t have to take my word for it. They’re always hiring. Ask them why I worked there for two years, and watched nine people from that team leave. Not fired- left. Many of them hired after I was. Virtually none of them moved up, no matter how good they were. They essentially all move to other organizations. Their latest thing seems to be hiring people where this will be their first IT job. They’re squeezing out anyone with the ability to go elsewhere so they can pay the rookies pretty decently for a first IT position, but they’re going to work you to death. You won’t see that money raise, either. It doesn’t matter how well you do. I’ve seen it a ton of times. 

If you’re using their health insurance, be forewarned that it is horrendously bad. This isn’t management at this location’s fault, but it’s a fact. Management being awful is by design at Cerner. They actively seek out people like this. HR won’t do anything to rectify it. Remember, it’s a feature, not a bug. If you elect to try to talk with them directly about these issues, they’ll pretend they care what you think. But it doesn’t matter what the request is - they don’t actually care at all. If you still elect to work here, you’ll come out stronger than before, but you’re going to leave within two years, probably. You should avoid working there at all until Cerner starts treating their employees better.

Working for Cerner started off on a bad note because the job described to me was not the job I was given.  I was given a System Engineer title with expectations of both support work and project work.  The position was 100% help desk with not a single project in the year I worked there.  I was unfortunately put under the supervision of an inexperienced, lazy, and disrespectful "Team Lead".  On multiple occasions he put down his team members and/or quickly became agitated with their questions.  He would also get very angry whenever you didn't do what he said.  Which resulted in him yelling at his team like they were children stating that "you need to do what I say because I am in charge".  This happened to me at least once while on the phone with a client.  He slept on the job which was widely known but nothing was done about it.  I worked with one of the many teams on Cerner's helpdesk.  I witnessed several team members who were denied advancement or transfer to another team they were qualified for based on political reasons.   A typical day consisted of answering phone calls and responding to issues ranging from power/connectivity issues to complex outages or system configuration errors.  Other teams and co-workers frequently had a "who can I dump this work on attitude" although there were some great people I worked with.  Hardest part of the job was trying to deal with inconsistent expectations. I described the 3 team leads on my team by saying "you will get 5 answers to the same question".  Frustration came quickly when direct team members would send work to other teams without proper investigation only to have it come back and become someone else's issue.  It was a way for team members to avoid work but was not addressed by leadership.  All suggestions through my team lead were not taken seriously.  Any action items my leadership took after meetings were never brought up again.  This was extremely frustrating as it made me feel like a slave and that my input was taken as a formality and not taken seriously.  The most enjoyable part of the work was the appreciation from the clients we helped on daily basis.  We resolved several issues on a daily basis that directly impacted patient safety and the clients were always very thankful when resolution was obtained and understanding when we were busy.  My career with Cerner ended when several of our team members had quit which left more work for those remaining.  It snow balled a bit to the point where our metrics were thrown out the window because we were all given way more work then we could possibly handle in a reasonable time frame.  After months of this type of overload and leadership not actively stepping in to help with the team's work I decided it was time to get out.  From my experience with Cerner, promotions and advancement are based on politics and not work ethic and results.

I started out as a consulting analyst and after 18 months you can decide if you want to stay in consulting, or go to the IA or EO program (would need to apply as an internal applicant). I stayed in consulting and enjoyed the work. 

It does get stressful with the travel and multiple clients (some clients are very demanding and PMs don’t always help out and promise unrealistic timelines). There was a shortage of consultants in the solution I was in so we were all overworked. It really depends on which solution you’re on and the number of resources they have at that time. You do go through spurts of overwhelming amounts of work to 40 hour work weeks. It depends on your projects and timelines. Expect to work 45-50 hours a week, and during go live or client event weeks it will be more like 50-60 not including travel time. The amount you travel is also dependent on your client and how many projects you’re assigned. At one point I did 25%, and others 75%. 

There’s a lot of resources and folks that are always willing to help if you have an issue or problem that you’re trying to solve for a client. There’s also a lot of education materials (wiki, KTs, recordings). As a new consultant (consulting analyst) you shouldn’t be thrown onto a project by yourself. There will be an advising consultant on the project with you. Your advising consultant is a luck of the draw - there’s some good some bad - but no matter what it’s a learning experience. You will learn A LOT on a first project and use that time to ask the advising lots of questions, and always prepare yourself before presenting to clients (talk to your manager/preceptor/advising/teammates if you have questions). 

There’s also a preceptor/preceptee program where there’s a checklist of items to go through as a new consultant. As the preceptee you learn about the topic and then “teach back” to the preceptor. The preceptor then fills  in the gaps that the preceptee missed or misunderstood. Also the preceptor can use the meeting time to help the preceptee with questions on the checklist or client work. When you finish the checklist and become a little more seasoned you can become a preceptor. I thought the program was really helpful in learning since it provides another person you can ask questions! 

Overall I thought it was a great place to work. Everyone is really nice and willing to help out. The only con is it can get really stressful and PM doesn’t always look out for you since they’re there to make the client happy. 

From a salary perspective it is on the low end, but you get a merit raise every year (as long as you don’t fall under needs improvement). If there’s a shortage in your solution you get a bonus. Depending on position you can get 10-15% extra which was put in place to decrease turnover. The longer you stay the better your salary will be. Promotion raises are about 2-5% which is separate from merit raises. For example if you get a promotion raise of 4%, and merit 3%. Your raise will be 7% total. There’s also some math for market value that is used to determine raises. 

Experiences vary across team. My ratings are based entirely on my experiences with the team I was with. 

We were constantly required to pump out more and more without so much as a thought to quality. Our deadlines were so ambitious that 80-90 hour weeks were not uncommon. Of course, we were discouraged from working that long, but with chain-meetings all day, all the deadlines and how behind schedule we were being hammered home at every available opportunity, there was no denying that that was the expectation. What’s interesting is that making the deadline seemed only to spur the management on to take up more ambitious targets, without so much as a thank you note to the people making it possible. Then one hears the CEO’s quarterly pep-talk urging the associates to be more aggressively client-oriented, and one wonders if one has been anything but. 

While the pay may be attractive at first, years of inflation-adjusted raises later, one realizes that they haven’t really got a real raise all the while taking on more and more responsibility over the years. 

The management was composed primarily of some truly petty, mediocre and cynical people who had deluded themselves into thinking that they were promoted because they deserved it, when in fact they were the only ones left to choose from while the truly talented pursued rewarding careers elsewhere.

This brings me to my next point - turnover. Looking back, I am amazed at how much talent my team had hemorrhaged over the years owing to poor management and growth prospects. Anyone with half-a-brain, it seemed, was allowed to let go by the management,  which was more concerned with preserving its position and power than anything else. And who exactly did the management choose to fill the vacancies left behind? An entire army of complaisant yes-men that knew nothing, did nothing, and who hadn’t the spine or the fight to take on the prevailing power structures. And where did they find such people? At college-campuses across the nation, where people, preferably of foreign origin, are desparate for a job. So with a toxic mix of below-par personnel being led by incompetent management, it doesn’t come as a surprise that nepotism, mediocrity, and politics were the order of the day.

On the bright side, though, it is a great place to retire, seeing as how the software is built on technologies so outdated that no one in the industry would waste their precious time mastering them. This means that few people actually know how things work, and such people, of course, can make retirement plans because they’re guaranteed a job at Cerner. See what I mean, when I say cynical?

Pros:
- Beautiful Campuses
- Amazing benefits
- Good starting pay out of college
- Clinics and Gyms onsite
- Training prepares you for the mere basics and eases you into the consulting portion of your job ( Leading calls, presentations, navigating the basics of the systems.. etc...)

Cons: 
- Mentorship is awful from management. It seems like managers only care about what seems like a tenure at Cerner and where they're going in their own career beyond management. Managers don't want to train eager associates or allow them to grow because they're too "smart" for you. You learn from what little you have on wiki pages and other resources from other teams who have their own workload to deal with. You get a luck of the draw with your manager. My manager literally told me that he should be the last line of defense when asking questions or seeking help. That sentence tells you everything. 

- Solution build should be taught more extensively in training since this is the most vital component of your job onsite. 

- Team camaraderie and low morale are common. 

- Long working hours 

- Asking questions are looked down upon. 

- Cut throat sink or swim environment where if project deadlines are pushed back due to a lack of direction or not having the tools to deliver, you immediately get written up for not performing and it hurts your career. Manager always washes his hands clean because of self interest and steers clear of being held accountable for a pushback due to lack of communication. There is no sense of a cohesiveness within teams. Every man for himself. It's no question why turnover is so high. 

- Lack of emotional intelligence from management runs rampant at Cerner. 

- Workplace culture is great if you get placed in the right team with the right people. Some teams and managers play favorites, hindering growth of other associates who are putting in a lot of work but are constantly overlooked. A lot of associates love their managers so it's just a matter of luck getting placed in a great team from the get-go. 

- If you want to advance, drink the kool-aid, don't ask any questions,  make a ton of mistakes, fail hard, fail harder, get an awful review, cry, almost quit, let the depression, anxiety, and stress take over, decide if you want to stay or go, try to move teams if you're able to, hope your boss likes you and is better at leading a team, and from there you'll be able to decide if your experience at Cerner is worth the effort.

Look, if you're reading reviews for this place online, then you've probably already heard the horror stories and you want to know if they are true or not. Don't be fooled by the obvious AstroTurf reviews; this place is an absolute meat grinder, to the point where they don't track/disclose turnover numbers in consulting. 

The sales team sells whatever will get them the largest commission (whether the software is actually functioning or not), and Project Management typically does not have the teeth to say no to the clients on obviously-poor decisions. Your job as a consultant is to absorb the complaints of the clients and attempt to get them resolved, in addition to reviewing workflows and setting up domain functionality. And my god, there will be complaints. Most of the software is straight out of 2003, with occasional updates for the larger teams. And those updates usually have bugs/errors in them for the first year and a half before anyone can get around to fixing them.

Remember that turnover I mentioned? Have fun dealing with anywhere from 4-12 projects at once (and depending on solution team, even the lower end of that range can be overwhelming for a new associate. I have 3 years here and am still consistently overwhelmed with work). Because no one sticks around long, they lump the work onto whoever is still here until they break and find a new job. I think the average lifespan for new hires is 18-20 months, and those that stick around longer just get to absorb the brunt of this. The turnover also leads to a huge brain drain issue, because most people leave with the minimum 2 week notice and don't feel compelled to teach anything back before leaving. You would think Cerner would want to keep people around to combat this, but apparently it is cheaper to bring in a new crop of college grads every month than it is to try and retain any level of talent. Which is surprising when you consider they only provide an annual 3% raise unless you manage to get a promotion or a higher yearly rating, which are both severely limited in quantity due to an archaic HR policy in regards to reviews.

I could write another 5000 words about the ridiculous procedures that go on here, but it's not even worth it. Take it from someone here; unless you are absolutely desperate for a job, keep looking elsewhere. And if you do get hired here, still keep looking for a new job, because you get paid in training at least so you have that to fall back on for about 2 months

Coworkers on my solution team were great to work with.  We would share knowledge and help each other out where possible.  However, there is a limit to how much time can be spent helping others when your own metrics(tickets) are being monitored closely.  
Metrics seemed to be the only thing that is looked at when raises are handed out. If your numbers aren't high, you may not see a good raise, if one at all.  Even if you are doing work outside of your metrics, such as helping out teammates, both on team and across teams, and doing work to prevent tickets, it will not be reviewed as highly as just having good numbers.  This is on top of the less then average pay with on-call rotation and overtime being required.
The work itself was fine enough.  Issues come in and be assigned to each person.  They usually follow the same support pattern of finding out what the issue is, work on recreating it/root cause, then coming out with a solution and passing it on to the change teams or implementing it yourself.  The issues can be varied at first, but there will definitely be repeat issues that never seem to stop.  The work can become very repetitive are some time with the same team.
There is a "pilot" system set up to ask questions to different solution teams.  Results are hit and miss depending on team.  It can be challenging to work on a ticket that falls in-between teams as each team usually likes to only focus on tickets in their own team and not give too much effort on tickets outside of that.  There isn't a formal way to apply pressure when a team is not assisting with a ticket.
Direct managers were good to work with and knew what our day to day was like.  Upper management did not seem to know or care about what daily work was. There were often orders that would come down to focus on a specific metric which would be carried out to the detriment of all the other metrics.  Then next month, its a new focus metric and all others go to the wayside again.
Most facilities in the Kansas City area have workout rooms, cafeterias, pharmacies, and possibly daycare on site which can be really convenient.  The facilities are kept up well and there are good workstations/sitting areas in the common area that can be used.  Cubicles is where most work is done.  There is plenty of free parking for each campus.

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