Bioinformatics Job With A Bsc

Question

[lwaheed11]

Hi everyone,

I am currently a 4the year student finishing off my undergraduate degree with a specialist in Bioinformatics in Canada. My grades aren't good enough to allow me to pursue my Master's degree.

Are there any prospects of entry-level positions in Bioinformatics for someone with my background? Should I maybe consider pursuing a post-graduate diploma in Bioinformatics at a college?

I am unsure of what my next step should be or where go look for a job when I graduate. Any advice would be helpful.

I really appreciate it and apologize if this is the wrong thread for this.

Thanks

[Josh Herr]

The real question is: Do you have any research experience?

[Ben]

Maybe you should speak with your institution's careers advisory service, they're probably better placed to give an impartial explanation of your options.

[KCC]

@Ben: I don't think I've ever got useful advice from any of those career services except stuff that I already knew. I guess it's worth a shot though.

[Ben]

Ha yeah mine were fairly useless too, but my thinking was that almost everyone here is in some stage of academia so aren't best placed to advise on alternatives.

Answer 1

[Malachi Griffith]

If you are just looking for employment in the field of bioinformatics to obtain more work experience (perhaps while you consider additional education), most of the larger genome centers periodically hire some staff with a BSc only to perform analysis tasks that are routine or for some reason are not suitable for PhD students, Postdocs, or more senior staff scientists. Before the days of next-gen sequencing it was common for these centers to hire 'sequence finishers' for example that may have only had a BSc. Finishing is no longer needed for the most part but 'junior' analysts that monitor pipelines, write simple scripts, etc. can still make themselves useful.

In Canada you might consider places like:

BC Genome Sciences Centre (BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver), Vancouver Prostate Center, OGI, OCI, OICR

Bioinformatics.ca has a nice Job Postings section that might be helpful.

Of course for any job your grades will be a consideration and more training probably wouldn't hurt. On the other hand if you can get an entry level position and demonstrate that you are motivated and willing to learn you may get some good on the job training and experience. If you are willing to leave Canada the number of possible locations that might hire someone with basic bioinformatics training obviously increases...

You might also consider a second BSc in a related field as a way of strengthening your employment opportunities (e.g. computer science).