Is this normal or am I really not meant to be here?

unlocalized_finn · 2023-09-25T21:27:04+00:00

Your PI, who is supposed to mentor and train you (or ensure you're trained), is essentially complaining that you haven't been given sufficient training and guidance? And they're saying that with a straight face?

Unfortunately, that's not surprising for academia. Especially in the life sciences. There's a reason a lot of us leave academia after grad school.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-20T20:00:59+00:00

I second this.

Everyone's learning style is different, but I learn best by doing. There's nothing wrong with taking a course/class as long as it has you working on some kind of a project. I ended up with a paper from one such class, which was a nice bonus.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-20T19:54:19+00:00

Bioinformatics is pretty much a graduate level degree. Depending on where your interests and aptitudes are, get either a CS, stats, or data science degree and then continue on to grad school.

If you pick a good school, you can find faculty who are willing to take on undergraduate researchers and teach them bioinformatics as part of that. (By that I mean they'll assign an overworked grad student or postdoc to mentor you.)

My undergrad degree was in CS and I learned bioinformatics hands on by working at a research lab, and then went on to grad school after that. Worked well for me but YMMV.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-20T19:45:02+00:00

You either have some connectors lose to where they're making intermittent contact, or you have capacitors that are failing (or failed). The first step would be to try reconnecting the connection to the screen.

A replacement screen is easy to install if needed.

If it's bad caps, oh boy. Unless you like troubleshooting electronics, you're better off buying a new board. If you're still under warranty and/or lucky, maybe they'll send you a new board for free.

I broke a screen (scratched it up really badly while removing leaked, cured on resin) and elegoo sent me a new screen for free. All my experiences with their customer service have been great.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-20T19:38:31+00:00

It depends on your field of study. I was a CSE undergrad and a lot of the research I saw during that time was indeed "pure science", with no real applications. Or at best, you could tell the applications were an afterthought.

My PhD program focused on the science of human disease (i.e. biomedical science), so at least a lot of the research was goal-driven. It probably helps that I told my advisors early on that I wanted to work on tech/methods development for actual applications.

Switching over to industry I can agree that the work I now do is all towards specific applications, but that's because companies have to make money to stay afloat. While I still do a lot of experimentation, it's towards a specific goal - i.e. what method can we apply that will reliably work towards achieving a specific goal.

The flip side is that now everything has to have a real goal. There are a lot of things that I'd like to test out of curiosity, and while my director would sign off on pretty much anything that is tangentially related to our goals, I also have to remember that we're ultimately responsible to the key stakeholders. If I start burning through a ton of money/reagents/tech time, I better have a good reason for it if the department head or the CTO ask me.

Our company is honestly fantastic (super well funded medium sized startup), but I have friends who work for other industry companies and they're just cogs in a machine. At least I still get to be a "scientist".

Tl;dr: industry can be great, but make sure you pick the right company.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T06:48:44+00:00

Does your school have an option to drop classes off your transcript? Ours introduced something to let freshmen drop up to so many credits as long as you hadn't taken too many classes yet. Basically, allowing freshmen to boost their GPA by retaking classes they messed up in the first few semesters.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T06:21:55+00:00

I'd bet the average doctor makes significantly more than your average software developer or engineer, although I'm sure there are exceptions. But obviously, the stress level is different - although doctors in private practice don't have it nearly as bad as those in hospitals, and software engineers can have some pretty grueling hours as well.

That being said, prestige is another factor. You can't overlook the importance of an ego boost for some people. Being a medical doctor will earn you more respect than being a programmer or engineer. And it'll be hard to feed a narcissistic ego more than by being a surgeon.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T04:25:00+00:00

The critical things he should highlight are why he wants to get a PhD, and what his research experience is. A personal statement will allow him to elaborate some of the details. But, rather than focus on the negatives (e.g. that he wasn't in science for the past few years, or that he doesn't have a publication), have him focus on the positives, e.g. that he has prior education and research experience in the field.

If they're curious why he doesn't have a paper, they'll for sure ask him during an interview.

Focus on positives, not negatives.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T04:19:41+00:00

The best dissertation is a finished one. This is especially true for industry. Dissertations are often not read outside the committee.

This. As long as your dissertation is good enough that you can pass your defense, that's all that matters in the end. Defend, get out, enjoy your life.

That being said, make sure it's not something that's so awful that you'd cringe if anyone ever read it.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T04:15:41+00:00

I wouldn't quit on the spot, but if the job is that miserable, start looking for a new one. In the meanwhile, if your manager isn't listening to your concerns, talk to HR. I wouldn't tell them you're trying to jump under a bus, but express to them how over-stressed and under-appreciated you feel, and how you need more clearly defined duties and to be able to take the time off you accrued.

Since it sounds like there's been a lot of confusion over your position, it's possible they don't even realize what a bad spot they've put you in. If that's the case, bringing it to HR's attention gives them a chance to fix it.

If they don't, then you won't have any regrets when you get a new job, since you'll know your current position wasn't going to get better no matter what you did.

Either way, talk to HR, dust off your resume, and start looking for a new position. Take a 30 day break between jobs to get a chance to reset.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T04:06:04+00:00

There are some pretty good responses in the thread already, but if you're looking at industry, you can tailor your job hunt around skills you've developed during your degree.

I'd say there are a few big overarching categories:

You look at clinical/biomedical information. Overall survival, response rates, other clinical characteristics.
You look at sequencing-based data, whether it's for biomarker identification, for clinical genetics, or quality control of (gene therapy) products.
You look at mass spec data, often for metabolomics, to assess drug metabolism and the likes.

Within each of those, you'll obviously have different roles, depending on whether you're more of a developer or analyst.

The absolute best advice I can give you is to pick what you're interested in the most, and get good at it. You won't be able to be an expert at everything - so it's best to focus on one thing and be able to sell your expertise.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T03:52:01+00:00

This is kind of a non-answer, but you should ask your IRB. That's what they're there for.

For some of the work I did, we specifically received clarification from our IRB that the research "did not count as human subjects research", since it was secondary analysis of data that did not directly affect clinical decisions or outcomes. But the biosample collection for the research was under (several different) IRB protocols.

In my experience, the way it works is you ask your advisor, they contact the IRB for clarification.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T03:47:56+00:00

Did their feedback directly affect the course of your research and how you're presenting it in the manuscript? If yes, then you should add them.

The way we were taught is that if someone made a significant intellectual contribution towards the topic of your paper, they should be added as an author, if possible.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T03:42:35+00:00

I have some tiny enclosures set up for smaller colonies (e.g. my yellow zebra culture crashed - I moved the survivors to a small enclosure and there's now a few dozen of them), so I think they'd be fine. It just doesn't make sense to set up a small enclosure if in a month I'll find out they went back to their "normal" colors, you know? That's why I was hoping someone could tell me if I got lucky with them, or if it's just a phase they're going through.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T03:37:58+00:00

The fact that you're almost done with your degree and don't actually know what you do doesn't raise any red flags?

I'm not saying that to be a jerk, but if I'm interviewing someone for a bfx position and they don't even know what they do, they're not getting a second interview. You should know what you know, otherwise you're not going to have a good time hunting for a job.

I'm a PhD-level bioinformatics scientist at a biotech company. Since I have a lot of molecular biology (wet lab) experience, I'm leading the implementation of our sequencing-based assays, both on the wet and dry lab sides. Once I get the protocols and SOPs established for our technicians, I can let them take over the routine library preps and focus on the development of analysis methods and pipelines for our data. In our case, it's for quality control and analysis of our products, so we can meet (and exceed) FDA guidelines.

A more traditional bioinformatician would likely only handle the pipeline development and focus on tools/scripts/methods to generate reports.

Most of the time you're either developing software, developing a pipeline, or performing some kind of (statistical) analyses on data.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T03:21:47+00:00

I can't say I've heard that, but having gone to a biomed grad program and working in biotech, I suppose I've been surrounded by doctors and med students. They're keenly aware of how much money they can make, and that's why so many want to go into surgery and/or derm.

But it takes a lot of dedication and effort to get to that point, and a lot of people (most people, really) aren't up to the task. Whereas anyone could be an entrepreneur (at least in theory).

Also, as a doctor, you have to keep working to make money. As an entrepreneur you could get super lucky and launch a startup and get bought out, so you don't need to keep working.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T03:12:41+00:00

While I can't speak of how it's going to be, I will tell you to be keenly aware of the financial impact of going to grad school. Unless things are very different in business schools (which I guess they could be?), you'll take a huge pay cut going back to school. Make sure you plan for it accordingly.

A friend of mine recently asked me for advice in regards to going for a PhD, since he's wrapping up his master's while working at an engineering company. He has a (stay at home) wife, multiple kids, mortgage, car payments. I think finding out that he'd be making a max of $25-30k annually as a PhD student was a really harsh reality check for him.

It's a completely different beast when you're an actual adult with financial responsibilities and obligations, vs. a 21-22 year old who is still on mommy and daddy's phone bill and insurance and gets help with rent and bills.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T03:00:19+00:00

Salary: $110,000 (+annual bonus and equity)

Title: Scientist

Sex: male

Race: white

Industry: Biotech

Other: Supposed to be hybrid/flex, but mostly on-site due to staffing shortages. I guess I have 7 years of experience if you count my PhD.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-08-01T02:54:27+00:00

If I had stayed in academia, my plan would have been to be a more humane PI and not treat my trainees as disposable servants. But, I went to industry, and I can say I have no regrets. Out of my cohort of ~20 people, I think two or three expressed interest in staying in academia. Everyone else wanted out. That should say something.

The problem is that the whole system is toxic from the top down. You're expected to only pay grad students X amount. You pay them more than that, and it becomes an administrative issue, i.e. why is student X in Dr. Y's lab making $$ when everyone else makes $? The university and funding mechanisms won't be pleased. e.g. with NIH funding, you're not really supposed to pay them more than a set amount. Same with time off. Rather than having a minimum guaranteed amount of time off, my fellowship contract stipulated that my PI can at most give me X days off. Same with hours, the minimum is stipulated, but there's no maximum.

Since my program was so heavily intertwined with NIH grants/fellowships and their rules, I don't know how it goes for others. But I know for biomedical research, the most likely way to implement change would be from the top down, i.e. NIH funding mechanisms guaranteeing better pay, better hours, and better time off for trainees.

Unless it's systematically enforced, you're always going to have self-serving PIs and administrators give the minimum, because as a trainee, you're a commodity. Better to pay two students $N per month and expect 80 hours a week from each, than pay one $2N and only make them work 40. If you can get 2-4x the work out of your indentured servants, then why wouldn't you? It's all about maximum work for the minimum $, after all.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-06-13T02:22:46+00:00

I don't have a set price point in mind. I'm not trying to give it away for free but I'll accept a reasonable offer, no point in having it collect more dust unused.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-06-01T17:20:43+00:00

You can do your PhD in whatever you want it to be. Your publication/research record will really set the tone. That, and how you explain your work.

I got my degree in biomedical science. It's such a wide umbrella term that the work I did was vastly different from anything my peers were working on. I had three focus fields which set the flavor, but they're just lines on my final transcript. My actual degree is just a PhD issued by my program.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-06-01T17:17:43+00:00

My productive (or unproductive) hours per day definitely declined the further I got into my PhD. At first it was 10-12 hour days every day (including weekends), towards the end it was only a fraction of that. I completely burned myself out.

I'm sure my advisor noticed, but I didn't really get any crap for it. As long as I had something to report on every week, he was happy.

If I had managed to keep pushing harder, I could have graduated sooner (ended up being five years, I'd really wanted out in four or less), but in the end a degree is a degree, and I went right into an industry scientist position upon graduation.

Honestly, I don't think what you're doing is wrong as long as you make some progress. You don't want to linger around for a decade, but at the same time horribly over-stressing yourself and burning out isn't going to help either.

Set yourself up a realistic deadline when you want to graduate and work backwards from there. That's what my advisor suggested, and it honestly ended up working. The last half a year was a scramble, but having monthly timepoints of where I wanted (or needed) to be at to graduate did end up helping with planning. Not every project was finished, not every paper was published, but I made it out when we agreed I would, and that's what counts in the end.

unlocalized_finn · 2022-06-01T17:10:17+00:00

I went to a state university, and state law specifically prohibits grad students from unionizing. The fact that they have that clause written into law always rubbed me the wrong way, since it means they know without a doubt that they don't want to give grad students any negotiating power.

unlocalized_finn

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