Forum:Would solving many Rosalind problems show your ability for this field in job-wise?

Question

[K]

Hi, I have CS background and am thinking about pursuing a job in this field.

I think getting a degree is the most efficient way to achieve my goal, but I just finished my degree and don't want to do it again for a while.

I'm doing UCSD coursera bioinformatics courses and reading the biostar books to get some basic knowledge about the field. but I think that's not enough to get ready to the field even if I have some AI knowledge. that is why I decided to solve more than 200 problems on Rosalind besides my personal AI projects hoping it can be a way to show my capability on the field, but not sure it would be.

Is solving Rosalind helpful as much as solving leetcode for getting a job in common tech firm is?

Thanks

Answer 1

[GenoMax]

Assuming that the stars align right your chances of landing a programming job (where you may need to write code as requested) would be better then finding a proper bioinformatics job, where you would be expected to have some background knowledge (not just rosalind problems).

Dive in to the jobs pool and see what you find. The first job is likely not going to be all you expected but it may crucially allow you to gain biology experience "on job", getting you ready for that second step down the road in a year or two. You just need to be in the right place (or apply to the right job) at the right time.

[K]

Thanks for you advice. that makes sense. "right place at the right time". that's something I should keep in my mind.

Answer 2

[Istvan Albert]

What would help a lot more in contrast if you could easily redo analyses in various Bioconductor vignettes.

Work through the edger or deseq2 manuals, these have huge variety of examples - learn the lingo, terms, datatypes and I think you'd make a very strong impression.

[K]

Thanks for your advice. it helped me a lot to have some specific idea about what to do to get ready.

Answer 3

[i.sudbery]

If I were interviewing someone who had a bio degree, then someone doing the Rosalind problems would be evidence to me of some commitment to learning bioonformatics. But in a CS person what I need is a commitment to learning bio. The Rosalind problem do that to some extent, but not particularly strongly. Instead I would think about what you can do to demonstrate a willingness and commitment to bio.

[K]

Thanks for your advice. That's a good point I haven't thought of. Could you recommend anything? It would be very helpful. I think redoing analyses in various Bioconductor vignettes as Istvan suggested might be one of them.

Answer 4

[4galaxy77]

I'm not an employer, but I wouldnt take Rosalind seriously at all. Doing puzzles doesn't really display your real aptitutde for a bioinformatics job, as doing a bioinformatics jobs doesn't involve solving puzzles.

You would be much better off to perhaps make a github repo and write some code to replicate, or perhaps even extend, an analysis from a paper. Maybe try with RNAseq as those datasets tend to be smaller than genetic data.

[K]

Thank you for your advice. yeah I need to enrich my github repo. Starting with RNAseq sounds reasonable.