Greetings world!
I stumbled upon this website by luck in my persistent journey to breaking into the field of bioinformatics and more thrilled to know there is such a community of you all among the billions of people that exist in this world. I would like to commence my question with a little background about my current situation to help clarify a better understanding of why I am here:
I, like most people, underwent sort of a life-crisis when I turned 30 where I started to reflect on what I have accomplished, am I happy with what I am doing/going to do, have I gained any real value from all the experiences I have done, etc. So, I have always struggled with finding my place in Biology because I , as I personally think about it, have, unfortunately, endured every biologist's worst fear in their career: not being hired for not having any experience. I have earned a BS in Biology back in 2014 and went to a school that didn't have much opportunities for gaining lab experience, so I graduated with no experience and, thus......couldn't find a job after graduating. Then I went to a technical school to gain some biotechnology lab experience and came out of it with 2 post-Bacc certs in stem cells and general biotechnology. Again, I couldn't find a job because...this time....I couldn't get any letters of recommendations, so I ended up working as a lab tech at a CRO. Fast forward a little .... I was able to land another job as a lab technician at a medical research center but it was a HORRIBLE experience where I spent 2 years doing absolutely nothing but mouse-line housekeeping, lab maintenance and running PCRs....which....is where I "rage quit" for not being able to learn anything meaningful and was about to turn 30. Shortly after, I decided to NEVER AGAIN work for a wet lab or academia and started a programming associate's degree, which I am about to complete in the fall of 2024 at the age of 32.
WHEW! If you have managed to graciously make it this far in my BLAH-BLAH-BLAH spiel....I applaud you for it!
So....I can comfortably say that I would love to break into bioinformatics, after I finish my associates degree, but the thing is that I am now feeling hopeless because I don't have any letters of recommendation, no experience....NOTHING! I believe I am in the WORST situation anyone could ever think about for anyone trying to change careers into bioinformatics. The PI and post-doc at the medical center don't want to give me letters of recommendation because they were very upset I left (they had to shut down the lab shortly after I left because they couldn't find anyone to replace me to help them with the brain-less tasks I was doing).
I am feeling hopeless and don't know what to do about my situation. I really enjoy bioinformatics and would love to transition into this, but I am not sure how feasible it would be for someone like me.
Thus, my question is.....:
what can I do to gain the confidence of potential employers/researchers and land me a job in bioinformatics?
here is what I thought of:
- get really good at analytics with python/R, get familiar with data visualization skills, get good at using the command line and LINUX
- try to make a personal project
- try to publish some work
- contact some researchers that are doing similar work and get some opinions from them
- try to form a group with others online to work on a project using github
- offer a lab to perform some analytics for free to gain some experience
- apply for jobs
feeling nothing, but pessimism about my situation and would love to hear how I can change my life around
Thanks a million and looking forward to hearing from you all!
I would suggest freelancing as a way to gain experience.
Freelancing is arguably even more challenging than a "standard" bioinformatics position. And without a portfolio/past experience to point to, you will likely struggle to find decent clients.