Is bioinformatics a lucrative career option for biologists? 

Do you think informatics people can get educated in biology to get into bioinformatics? From a computer science background.

@@zeynand4039 Did you get an answer? we are both in the same boat lol

Aditya well.. yes? it’s much easier to approach bioinformatics from a computer science approach and many masters programs prefer it

@@babygirl-nl4im And you are?

Aditya someone who takes the time to read bioinformatics graduate degree program pages? hahahaha. pretending like what i said isnt literally what she has said before. she has said that bioinformaticians who are able to create software that help biologists are extremely valued in the field. you’re probably not fit for it if you havent taken the time to learn that but i digress

That's awesome to hear! It's an exciting field to be in right now, so I'm glad you are joining us :)

Hello there. Did you manage to find a good place where we can develop these skills? I'm looking for a place to do my Masters but don't know where to start looking. Greetings from Rio :)

How do you like it so far? How hard did you find the transsision?

@@madsdamm2307 Hi, I was a bio major and currently involved in bioinformatics research- the learning curve is there. My background was NOT in programming or anything related to computer science, but I've been very lucky to have a great mentor and look to online resources anytime I need help. I program in R, and it's (kinda) straightforward after you spend enough hours with it. My advice is to not become too overwhelmed, and ask a lot of questions. I enjoy it a lot. Good luck

@@tallon3925 is it boring?

Where do you study?

@@mariawtr Brazil, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro

great idea -- For now, check out this related video I made on planning the scope of your software: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NRbhGhCUppU.html.

stackered how much is salary after masters in bio informatics

Hello Antoinette, how're you doing now? And how's your career field. I like to connect with you

@@AJ-qt9hx I'm just 4 days from leaving for Rochester Institute of Technology. I'd love to network with other people in and interested in this field. What socials are you on?

@@antoinettecmarshall2270 u r leaving for rochestor institute for a MSc in Bioinformatics??? If yes, wat was the eligibility requirements??

Hi

Haha you almost make it sound as if we sit there and just read ATCGACGATCGATCGAT... all day. It's not like that at all. I won't get into too much detail here, but my other videos go into more depth on what it means to do bioinformatics. I like software, so I make bioinformatics software. Many people do in-depth analyses to discover new biology, going deep in one area. Some develop methods that are more heavily math and statistics. But nobody sits there and reads DNA sequences manually :)

Have you thought about pursuing an MD-PhD program? I don’t know much about medicine, but I do know these programs exist, so I can at least suggest you look into them :). Good luck!

yea I'm just taking some time to think about what topics I'm interested in covering in more detail :)

With a PhD in bioinformatics, everyone I have heard from in industry in the US make at least $100k+, and I don’t see any cap, although most of those I know are young. If you’re worried about hitting a ceiling in your career, consider a PhD instead of a masters. I have a video on whether you should do a PhD, which goes into much more detail. Importantly you’ll get paid while doing a PhD. If you want the ultimate payday though, you can always just become a regular software engineer. But bioinformatics is a great field, and it can pay as much as software engineering if you build the right expertise.

What about outside US, like in the EU?

I was in the same situation and tried to fit in tons of CS and math classes. The ones I would recommend are: as much computer science as possible plus linear algebra and statistics (if you haven't already done those). If you can't take them at your school (and maybe even if you can), try out online courses in python like at Codecademy where you can quickly learn in interactive ways. You might also like Rosalind, which has python challenges that also relate to topics in biology. Good luck!

Yes its definitely possible to get jobs in Bioinformatics with a masters degree in biotechnology!

In general, going into bioinformatics from computer science is easier than the other way around because you don't need to know everything about biology to be effective. You need to know very in depth the field that you are studying. You will need all your coding and statistics abilities, but only a tiny sliver of the contents of a biology major, so I wouldn't recommend getting a full BS in biology on top of your CS degree. Instead, you can read textbooks and scientific papers, and talk to lots and lots of biologists and bioinformaticians about their research until you find a specific field, then dig super deep into that field. Since you truly want to be effective as a bioinformatician -- to the point where you would even consider doing a BS in biology :) -- then a PhD in bioinformatics sounds right for you. It does mean getting paid much less than you would as a software developer in the tech industry, so be aware of that. I will probably end up doing an episode on this one someday. In fact I added it as an option for our Facebook group to vote on: facebook.com/groups/396810934054265/

We definitely need an episode on that. Thanks!

On my opinion its easier to go from CS intn Bioinf The main areas of biology you need to know are Cell and Molecular Biology, Genetics, Evolution and Biochemistry A Master degree in Bioinformatics would be more then enough for you to know all you need to get started

Great question. Thx

It would probably take less than a few weeks for a competent computer scientist with zero biology knowledge to begin tackling meaningful challenges in bioinformatics. On the other hand, it would take a biologist with zero computational background years to learn the skills required to make meaningful contributions to bioinformatics.

@anglekan well said hahaha

I think the most important thing is getting experience and learning very deeply. A great portfolio is the best way to land a great job, and sometimes school projects will help you get there, sometimes you have to do it in your own time. Check out job postings and read to see what the requirements are for your dream job, and go from there :)

You can definitely do both, and increasingly even doing the traditional lab work, you will need to analyze data and do bioinformatics for your research. The skills are important for everyone in biology to start learning.

Thanks a lot for answer!

I was just wondering the same thing. Guesse i ll grasp the basics and see where to go from there.

Yes absolutely. Experiments can also be purely dry, things like training a model on different kids of data and seeing which performs the best. If you mean wet-lab experiments, often people specialize but work with wet-lab experimentalists as needed. If a company or lab is building a new experimental technique, the wet-lab and dry-lab people will ideally sit together and work very closely to ensure that they're getting quick iteration and feedback from the analysis back to the wet lab.

In my opinion it's better to start learning programming, Python or R. There are many tutorials in RU-vid, you can also learn at Edx platform (From Harvard).

I started in biology in undergrad, did bioinformatics during my PhD but with mostly software engineering there, not just analysis. Now I have the official role of software engineer, but all my software is very bioinformatics-focused and requires genomics domain expertise. It's clearly possible but not exactly the easiest way to become a software engineer ;) So it depends on what you are most interested in. Getting some CS and statistics skills will probably make you a better candidate for future jobs even in pure biology, but you can also do more of that if you really like it. You can do a double major, or major in CS and minor in Biology. A major in bioinformatics would also be great if that is available to you. I would say to try some of both while you can and adjust from there once you know what is interesting to you. Best of luck!

@@OMGenomics I'm also in the same ship as OP. I have long contemplated on what would be the better option, CS or Bio? I'm currently working as a software engineer however, I like CS but I like biology more. Oh wait, I also like math as much as biology? So, what then? Maths, Biology or CS? I think the obvious choice should be Biology. Why? Because, it's domain knowledge and with that you will stand out. But that's just my POV.

You can build software out of any of your favorite languages. If you like R, start building an R package out of some analysis you do often. If you work in Python, check out this video for turning those scripts into command-line programs: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zi-FIG3efag.html If you want a really big challenge, then turn those scripts into web applications. For some advice on how to build your first major piece of software, check out this video I made going through how to plan that: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-NRbhGhCUppU.html

@@OMGenomics This is really encouraging. I'm new in Bioinformatics and R. Hopefully, in 6 months' time, I should be great in it. I'm in the 4th year of my PhD in Environmental Biochemistry and Molecular Toxicology here in Nigeria.

For getting into PhD programs, one resource I used a lot back then was GradCafe, which I can see is still very active. People go there to discuss grad school admissions, international student issues, and everything else having to do with graduate schools, including specifics by field. That is a great place to start. I also recommend you join our mailing list at omgenomics.com/subscribe and the OMGenomics Facebook group where others may be able to point you in the right direction too.

Thank you very much I am looking into it, i saw the resources in omgenetics and I think very useful also the rosalind webpage. I only mention it because I think it could be attractive for some ppl: rosalind.info/problems/tree-view/

Hi, Maria I completed ms in bioinformatics you have any job vacancy for me get one

Assuming you really like bioinformatics, then making that your bachelors degree sounds great. This is a newer option still not available in many schools, including the one I graduated from with my biology bachelors degree. The PhD is definitely needed to become a professor in bioinformatics, and it may be a big help if you want roles where you do original scientific research. At least a masters is usually required to do most bioinformatics roles, but without a PhD some organizations will have a ceiling on the kind of work you can do. As with everything else, it depends on what your goals are and how much the field may be changing in the next decade. Since you are still at the beginning of your career, there is plenty of room to steer one way or the other as you go, so I recommend doing some undergraduate research projects to test out the PhD route and as preparation for it.

Don't do your batchelor's degree in bioniformatics. Do it in computer science. If you really want a bioinformatics job after that, you can pick up the relevant biology is a matter of days. Even if you want to do a Ph.D in bioinformatics, a background in computer science would probably be more helpful since the hard parts of bioinformatics come from the CS challenges, not the biology challenges. In a CS degree you will learn more generalized and rigorous ways of thinking about computational problems, after which applying them to biology problems is trivial. In bioinformatics, you only learn about these computational problems in the context of biology, which not only limits your ability to apply these solutions elsewhere but also limits your thinking on the problems themselves. I worked in a high-profile biology/informatics lab for several years: nobody in the lab done their undergraduate degree in biology or bioinfromatics. Everyone had backgrounds in computer science, physics, electrical engineering, or mathematics. It was clear that having a solid and rigorous foundation in the hard sciences makes it easy to apply your knowledge to bioinformatics.

@@jony7779 I got a bachelor degree in bioinformatics and then left school for work 3 three years ago. Do you think whether it's necessary to obtain a master's degree(or higher degree)or not for a more promising job(I'm data analysts in a biotech company)?

​@@OMGenomicsHi there I have just completed my International Advanced levels and I want to pursue a bachelor's degree in Bioinformatics. Now my question is , is bioinformatics really available as a bachelors degree or do I just have to study other biological sciences along with programming in order for me to get into bioinformatics.Can you please help regarding this matter?

​@@OMGenomicsI am really passionate about bioinformatics.

not java. In computational biology/ bioinformatics, R, Python and Mathlab are the most popular. If you will go heavy into algorithm development and very large datasets, C++ will usually be better.

That's a great question, but I honestly can't really tell. You shouldn't just take my advice blindly anyway though -- I recommend you do some investigation for yourself, like looking up job listings and talking to folks in your own country to get more perspectives!

Probably. If you are primarily interested in doing research as a major part of your career, then a PhD makes sense. As far as getting into a PhD program, it depends on degree requirements in your country, but I don't see any particular issue with going from an MS in Biomedical Engineering to a PhD in bioinformatics.

Please reply beautiful

Helen Ding computer scinece would be most beneficial but it's up to you to choose what you want

it has a looooot of programming languages skills. Im a biophysics undergrad and the course itself is basically math, computer science, physics and molecular biology. that's great anyways

You can definitely start your career after a Masters degree, especially in industry. If you want to become a professor someday then you will need the PhD, and there are certainly jobs that require it, but you can do a lot of the similar work in industry with the masters alone. I suggest you check out job descriptions for your country and specific jobs you are thinking about, just to make sure :)

Thanks Maria, I'm going to study Master Bioinformatics in France next year. Hope that it will be easy for me to start my career there.

I like using python better myself, but there are many good reasons why people use R. I think it's best to pick whatever works best for what you're trying to do, and stay flexible to learning multiple languages.

@@OMGenomics Thanks alot mrs Doctor

Artifical Intelligence is incredibly important in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Possibly, better check with the masters programs!

Sorry to hear that experience. But Bioinformatics is actually a field with much more sharing than most others - the human genome was sequenced and data made available within 24 hours, all exome sequences are in dbGAP, tons of expression data in GEO... you can work a lifetime as a bioinformatician just with publicly available data

I'm in the same position how was it?

Can you program? how much do you enjoy computers? If yes and much, then go for it. But you need to do this - if the answer is no, then down load R for free and start playing with data. If you haven't tried it, it will be hard to learn it in the short 1-2 years an MS takes. Go far it with your energy

Thanks a ton!

Hi Louis. I appreciate hearing from you :) I haven't disappeared, I'm just having a lot of fun in my job at DNAnexus where I'm leading the visualization team. Most of my focus is there at the moment rather than on making videos, but feel free to leave your questions and topic ideas here, so I have a pile of videos to make when I get back to it. Best of luck with your bioinformatics journey!

No worries, I love that fromage! :) I personally like programming more than math too, and I think that's fine. It depends on the specific field which types of informatics you do, so that might be something to keep in mind. Generally if you work with a professor who has a math/physics background, you will have to do a lot more math because their research will take that direction. My PhD advisor has a computer science background, which I think made it easier for me to focus on software development-related projects. Plus, I believe you can always choose projects that play to your own strengths, and if that steers you away from math, that's okay. Good luck!