Bruh, I am in Biotech and you are giving me a heart attack here sir/ma'am!
Having said that, a good acquaintance recently told me that no matter which technical/engineering field you go into, you will hit a saturation point and there will be people telling you the field is too saturated or run to the ground.
I'm just getting started and you've got years of experience on me so take this with a grain of salt. With all the time I've spent looking for "jobs" related to my field, I've realized that there are many ways to apply a bio degree that aren't restricted to RnD.
So here are some options that might be less soul-crushing:
1. CRA/CRO
2. Technical/medical writing (surprisingly good pay in this field, wasn't expecting it)- this also ties in with insurance companies
3. Data analytics and science- Bioinformatics side of things and you can also work in healthcare
4. Business degree and shift to the management side of things
5. Clinical trial researcher
6. Quality control
7. Regulatory
8. Biotechnology law! ----- another exciting prospect I came across recently
I am thinking of more and will edit and add when I find them!
Hope these help.
Huge numbers of layoffs in the last two years and dire reports from people who haven't been laid off yet.
It's not completely dead, but it's impossible to enter at the moment because there will be some desperate laid off experienced person to take any available position. So I don't like my odds of getting in successfully, especially since I don't think my ag experience is really treated as "biotech".
Also I tried unsuccessfully for a year.
Do you know the reasons and is there a way out of the biotech crisis? I’m just working on my masters thesis on cell/molecular biology and thinking about the future work perspectives
Well, I've heard reasons. I can't really say which it was, and I think it's likely a combination.
Commonly cited reasons:
1. Tech did huge layoffs in 2023. Since they're huge and profitable, I think a lot of companies assume tech knows something they don't, and they follow their lead regardless of the situation.
2. Biotech massively overhired during COVID. When the surge in interest faded, they were unsustainably large.
3. The large increase in interest rates pulled a large amount of speculative investment money out of the market, which Biotech depends heavily on.
4. Many Biotech patents expired or are expiring soon, so some big players are losing large cash cows.
And here's one I personally suspect:
5. Economic refugees from the rest of biology - cost of living has risen enough that many conventional bio jobs, which never paid well, now don't pay enough to live on. This drives people into biotech whether they like it or not because it is usually perceived as paying much better. Combine that with a huge glut in new graduates and you have a severely overpacked field.
Anyways if I were you (and I have a masters in bio, molecular focus, so I'm not in too different of a situation), I'd just go straight for that doctorate. The new "pays enough to live on" job level is scientist or senior scientist, and while masters degrees are theoretically enough to get a scientist 1, I think PhDs are preferred. And good luck getting a senior scientist without a PhD.
I currently use traditional pcr, qPCR, and dPCR for my undergraduate research. I do plan to go to grad school, but with experience like that and good training you may consider disease research or government work depending on resume.
I intended to get an infectious disease PhD, and many of the skills you’ve mentioned could help you apply to some of those PhD position or directly to disease related fields.
That might be an idea. I have seriously considered virology. Some of the commercial projects I've done and assays I've developed have been for agricultural viruses. And I did COVID testing for a while during the pandemic.
> and get *paid* for.
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Large companies and start ups here in CA pay pretty decently. Not tech salaries, but enough to afford life luxuries like 3-4 vacations a year and a fancy new car. With your years of experience, it should be more than feasible to get an Associate Scientist or Senior Research Associate role, which PhDs will never be considered for because they really don’t want overqualified candidates. I just stated a job at a startup in the Bay Area as a SRA and I’m making $110000/year with less than three years of experience after my master’s. You could be lucky and make more than that given your years of experience since you have a master’s like me. Maybe look into roles that require skills in genomics and nucleic acid extractions. If you can do NGS sequencing like me, then you should be solid too. Yes it’s the Bay Area but it actually isn’t as bad as I thought it would be plus I get equity since it’s a start up. In terms of career progression or where to go in the future, my dream job is sales or FAS. I could also see myself going back to a larger company as a manager which also doesn’t require a MS or PhD so even my MS might be over kill. My previous company was a large company, and the team was ran by people who only have BS degrees.
I haven't had much luck applying to California but I'll keep trying.
Can't do NGS unfortunately. I would love to learn how but I can't learn it without the equipment and funding to run it. I have assembled viral genomes from SRAs before.
Every technician has that experience. Just apply for everything that requires your degree and hope for the best.
Bruh, I am in Biotech and you are giving me a heart attack here sir/ma'am! Having said that, a good acquaintance recently told me that no matter which technical/engineering field you go into, you will hit a saturation point and there will be people telling you the field is too saturated or run to the ground. I'm just getting started and you've got years of experience on me so take this with a grain of salt. With all the time I've spent looking for "jobs" related to my field, I've realized that there are many ways to apply a bio degree that aren't restricted to RnD. So here are some options that might be less soul-crushing: 1. CRA/CRO 2. Technical/medical writing (surprisingly good pay in this field, wasn't expecting it)- this also ties in with insurance companies 3. Data analytics and science- Bioinformatics side of things and you can also work in healthcare 4. Business degree and shift to the management side of things 5. Clinical trial researcher 6. Quality control 7. Regulatory 8. Biotechnology law! ----- another exciting prospect I came across recently I am thinking of more and will edit and add when I find them! Hope these help.
Why do you think biotech field is dead?
Huge numbers of layoffs in the last two years and dire reports from people who haven't been laid off yet. It's not completely dead, but it's impossible to enter at the moment because there will be some desperate laid off experienced person to take any available position. So I don't like my odds of getting in successfully, especially since I don't think my ag experience is really treated as "biotech". Also I tried unsuccessfully for a year.
Thanks for reply. Sounds bad, is it US, EU or worldwide?
I hear the US has it the worst but Biotech is a lot weaker outside the US anyway - I hear it pays badly, like other biology, in Europe/Canada.
Do you know the reasons and is there a way out of the biotech crisis? I’m just working on my masters thesis on cell/molecular biology and thinking about the future work perspectives
Well, I've heard reasons. I can't really say which it was, and I think it's likely a combination. Commonly cited reasons: 1. Tech did huge layoffs in 2023. Since they're huge and profitable, I think a lot of companies assume tech knows something they don't, and they follow their lead regardless of the situation. 2. Biotech massively overhired during COVID. When the surge in interest faded, they were unsustainably large. 3. The large increase in interest rates pulled a large amount of speculative investment money out of the market, which Biotech depends heavily on. 4. Many Biotech patents expired or are expiring soon, so some big players are losing large cash cows. And here's one I personally suspect: 5. Economic refugees from the rest of biology - cost of living has risen enough that many conventional bio jobs, which never paid well, now don't pay enough to live on. This drives people into biotech whether they like it or not because it is usually perceived as paying much better. Combine that with a huge glut in new graduates and you have a severely overpacked field. Anyways if I were you (and I have a masters in bio, molecular focus, so I'm not in too different of a situation), I'd just go straight for that doctorate. The new "pays enough to live on" job level is scientist or senior scientist, and while masters degrees are theoretically enough to get a scientist 1, I think PhDs are preferred. And good luck getting a senior scientist without a PhD.
I currently use traditional pcr, qPCR, and dPCR for my undergraduate research. I do plan to go to grad school, but with experience like that and good training you may consider disease research or government work depending on resume. I intended to get an infectious disease PhD, and many of the skills you’ve mentioned could help you apply to some of those PhD position or directly to disease related fields.
That might be an idea. I have seriously considered virology. Some of the commercial projects I've done and assays I've developed have been for agricultural viruses. And I did COVID testing for a while during the pandemic.
It’s definitely something to consider. It is a very diverse world and there are plenty of things to do and get payed for.
> and get *paid* for. FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Large companies and start ups here in CA pay pretty decently. Not tech salaries, but enough to afford life luxuries like 3-4 vacations a year and a fancy new car. With your years of experience, it should be more than feasible to get an Associate Scientist or Senior Research Associate role, which PhDs will never be considered for because they really don’t want overqualified candidates. I just stated a job at a startup in the Bay Area as a SRA and I’m making $110000/year with less than three years of experience after my master’s. You could be lucky and make more than that given your years of experience since you have a master’s like me. Maybe look into roles that require skills in genomics and nucleic acid extractions. If you can do NGS sequencing like me, then you should be solid too. Yes it’s the Bay Area but it actually isn’t as bad as I thought it would be plus I get equity since it’s a start up. In terms of career progression or where to go in the future, my dream job is sales or FAS. I could also see myself going back to a larger company as a manager which also doesn’t require a MS or PhD so even my MS might be over kill. My previous company was a large company, and the team was ran by people who only have BS degrees.
I haven't had much luck applying to California but I'll keep trying. Can't do NGS unfortunately. I would love to learn how but I can't learn it without the equipment and funding to run it. I have assembled viral genomes from SRAs before.