Hi!
Have you ever made such an embarrassing bioinformatics mistake that you never dared to tell a soul about -- except maybe over drinks or other intoxicating substance?
Here are a few I've noticed over the years!
- You (or your sequencing facility) accidentally switched sample names (yikes - not my fault!)
- You forgot that a data file has a header row (oops, my bad)
- You forgot that R indexes start at 1 but python starts with 0 (oh no! sorry!)
Data analysis and data processing mistakes make you feel sick when they happen...but in the end, you're usually grateful you caught them in time to avoid even more embarrassment. But sometimes you don't!
Either way, after enough time has passed, it's fun to talk about and hear about big mistakes. The more we learn about the ways bioinformatics can go horribly, horribly wrong, the better we get at avoiding and recovering from mistakes.
Is anybody interested in attending (via zoom or in-person at, let's say, ISMB 2024 in Montréal) a f*up nights style event for bioinformatics?
If yes, and if you have some ideas for an event like this, please post in the comments!
Thanks a lot all!
- Ann Loraine
PS I'm a professor and I'm definitely not perfect.
11 years ago:
What Are The Most Common Stupid Mistakes In Bioinformatics?
Some things never change ... the most common mistake is still the one on top there
Pretty sure I have done it, but can't remember the details. You know that thing about blocking out traumatic events ...
That sounds fun, and I've got some of these that I have told many people about (to keep them from making the same mistakes as me). I am planning to go to ISMB and that sounds much better than zoom. : D