sujay: > There are a lot of opening that are needed to be filled in > the Biomedical and the Biotechnology field, so we require > people with PhD in Life Sciences or Statistics That brings up a recurring question I've been pondering more and more in recent times - As an experienced Computer Scientist with a broad knowledge of and interest in all the Sciences, including a very strong "laymen's" knowledge of Genetics, Biotech and the burgeoning field of Bioinformatics (I try to read as much as I can), and as someone who is as anxious as can be to get involved in the field, I am just wondering when this much lauded "marriage of biology and computer science" is going to open the doors for those of us coming to it more from the computer science side of things? I scour Monster.com, HireHealth.com, et al, and currently all (or nearly all) of the openings in Bioinformatics want a PhD in a Life Science (some want a PhD in Statistics, but that still doesn't help me). So do I just wait? Will more positions be opening up as the economy picks up? And if so, will there be any opportunities for us computer scientists? I'll continue reading my O'Reilly Bioinformatics books and teaching myself Python, but I'm very interested to hear what those more in the know than myself have to say about it. Thank you very much for your time and your feedback. Sincerely, Ron Cecchini Boston RonCecchini@ATTBI.com 617.325.2667

Ron, This is something I've been hearing a lot of lately. Bioinformatics has traditionally had a high demand for, and low supply of, knowledgeable participants, simply because there are very few people who know both biology and computing. However, being the field began as a science (by biologists who also knew how to program, not the other way around), it has long been the case that scientists have looked for people with similar qualifications (perhaps a Ph.D.). Scientists usually don't consider people without a higher degree to be colleagues. I'm not saying that it is how all scientists think or that it is how it should be, but certainly many do think that way. And it has probably lead to what you and many others are experiencing. There's also the fact bioinformatics is a small field, compared to IT in general. And now that there are so many people in IT who are without an advanced degree and who are looking for work, the bioinformatic scientists can have their pick. Cheers. Jeff

DrLove, aka Jeff - > Bioinformatics has traditionally had a high > demand for, and low supply of, knowledgeable > participants, simply because there are very few > people who know both biology and computing. ... > There's also the fact bioinformatics is a small > field, compared to IT in general. And now that > there are so many people in IT who are without an > advanced degree and who are looking for work, the > bioinformatic scientists can have their pick. Thanks for your response, Jeff. Well, 3 months later (& seemingly countless more attempts to land a Bioinformatics-related inter- view, including trying to get myself into one of several Biotech job fairs held in Cambridge), I'm still unemployed ... and while I'm barely keeping my head above water, I've been keeping the faith. (but I wasn't stupid, and didn't close myself to the idea of accepting any other suitable software job -- but it's been tough all around...) With that in mind, I was more than a bit pleased (a major, major understatement) to have been noti- fied that I made it past a prescreening for an upcoming (Friday 7/26) Biotech/Healthcare job fair in Cambridge. (sometimes it pays to ignore the instructions that basically say don't bother unless you have a Bio degree & relevant commercial experience...) The info is at: http://www.hirehealth.com/ci/servlet/com.ci.service.CareerFairs?RECEPTION_ID=7 And what I wanted to know from you guys is what should I expect at such a shindig, and what kind of strategies would work to my advantage? I realize this might be a question better suited for, say, a Monster.com board, but I'm assuming I have a better shot here at talking to people who have gone to Biotech-related interviews/job fairs. My current strategy is to focus on 2 or 3 companies that I really like; look up what are their current job openings; and just study, study, study (esp. my O'Reilly bioinformatics books). I'm not worried at all about my "people skills", or being able to schmooze, talk to people, etc. But obviously I need to make sure I can bust out all the appropriate buzzwords and so forth to be able to demonstrate what I know. Again, any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you very much. Ron

Hi. Well... I have been checking a number of (more than ten) bioinformatics-related job posting sites for more than a year, and what I'm seeing is the opposite. More than half of them are looking for experienced software engineers but not for Ph.D. in Life Sciences. A significant number of job postings also explicitly states that "Knowledge of biology is a plus, but not required" You will do fine in getting a bioinformatics job (software engineer, or bioinformatics programmer in your case) as long as you have an excellent previous industrial job experience in software development.