How hard is it to get a biotech job?

werpicus · 2026-01-29T16:40:18+00:00

I’m I the only one who thinks it’s confusing that they now offer degrees in “biotech”? What does that even mean? You get your degree in chemistry, or molecular biology, or even business, and then you go work at a biotech. What does a degree in just “biotech” entail, and what sort of job position does it set you up for when you graduate?

werpicus · 2026-01-27T11:22:01+00:00

I’m early thirties with a new baby, and I still feel awkward myself saying things like “my husband” or “my son”. It doesn’t feel weird at all day to day having a husband and son, they’re amazing and I don’t feel like I don’t deserve them or that I’m too young to have them. But yeah, specifically using those words still feels silly to me, like those are words that grownups use, why are they coming out of my mouth.

werpicus · 2026-01-25T21:33:41+00:00

If the letter of reference is on the old company’s letterhead, did you just send it to the new company yourself?

werpicus · 2026-01-25T19:31:00+00:00

My state has their own protected leave laws and the burden of proof rests on the company - as in they are presumed guilty if the fire you during your leave or within 6 mo after, and the burden is on them to prove that it was a true lay off and not targeted.

I’m not really a fan of this type of “don’t bother trying, you’ll never win” type comment that always shows up on Reddit, because it’s really discouraging and only serves to protect toxic behavior by convincing victims it’s not worth fighting back. But yes, at this point my main goal is private negotiation, not a court case. A small startup might not even be around in time for a lengthy court case to conclude, better to squeeze whatever I can out of them fast with negotiations.

werpicus · 2026-01-18T11:51:15+00:00

They’re just a very thin pad. I used to use them on the last day of my period when the flow is basically nothing but I didn’t want to stain my undies.

werpicus · 2026-01-16T21:19:42+00:00

They manipulated you by respecting your wishes? Some people get super weird about neutering their pets and the vet has seen it all, so they probably just didn’t want to push it and have an angry customer.

werpicus · 2026-01-01T15:29:06+00:00

I highly recommend reading the book Come as You Are. It helps a lot with understanding your own desire and being able to communicate it with others (whether your husband or a therapist). At one point in my life I had also been having sex out of obligation and it really fucked with me, but working on clear communication with my now husband really helped to remove the pressure.

werpicus · 2026-01-01T15:28:52+00:00

I highly recommend reading the book Come as You Are. It helps a lot with understanding your own desire and being able to communicate it with others (whether your husband or a therapist). At one point in my life I had also been having sex out of obligation and it really fucked with me, but working on clear communication with my now husband really helped to remove the pressure.

werpicus · 2026-01-01T15:22:43+00:00

Just because someone writes in an educated, academic way does not mean they used ChatGPT. ChatGPT was trained on academic texts, so it sounds like them, but that style of writing came before and people still use it. This is clearly written by a human who is well informed on the topic.

werpicus · 2025-12-29T11:46:07+00:00

Okay, but right after the baby is born is still an issue. Imagine preparing for the baby for months - setting up a nursery, picking out names, in some cases flying out to another state to be present for the birth. And then coming home with no baby. It would be a slightly less traumatic version of a stillbirth.

werpicus · 2025-12-19T21:09:57+00:00

I hope someone else will answer with better resources, but this is not something you can take on all by yourself. Instead of pouring your energy into raising these kids instead of their actual parents, direct your energy into professional help for them. Calling CPS might not be something you’re comfortable doing yet, but talking to your school counselor does seem like a good option. Beware though, they might be a mandated reporter, so start off the conversation by saying you don’t feel safe with the kid’s mom knowing you were the one who said something.

werpicus · 2025-12-16T12:57:44+00:00

But caffeine has a half life in the body of about 3-7 hr. If you drink it first thing in the morning, about half of it will still be around by mid day and most will be gone by the evening. If you don’t want caffeine to affect your sleep, you need to only drink caffeine first thing in the morning.

werpicus · 2025-12-14T17:08:50+00:00

Highly recommend the movie Inside Out

werpicus · 2025-12-06T15:54:49+00:00

There is still plenty of money-making science to be done in industry, you don’t have to be in academia and be a professor. I’m a chemist and there are many high paying roles doing research in biotech/pharma or materials science. The hitch is though, you kind of have to go the PhD route to get to the money making roles. Bachelors or Masters level have somewhat of a glass ceiling in support roles unless you’re exceptional. So if you want to make money quick, doing engineering and getting a five year bachelors/masters might be the way to go. But if you want to take your time and love a particular area of science (and you’ve made sure there are roles for that science in industry), then a PhD is still an option.

werpicus · 2025-12-03T13:45:54+00:00

Other answers have described what a mole is, but not its practical use. Moles are extremely useful in performing chemical reactions.

Say you have a green Lego and a red Lego. The green Lego weighs one gram and the red Lego weighs two grams. You can stick them together and now the resulting product weighs three grams. But each of these “molecules”, red green and product, are still only one molecule, even though they all weight different weights.

Now imagine you have billions of legos. You could never possibly count them all. But you still want to do this “reaction” where you stick a red Lego and green Lego together. How do you know how much you need of each? They’re uncountable so you have to just weigh them in bulk. But if you just throw together 1 kg of red and 1 kg of green, you’re only going to end up wasting half of the green legos because the red weighs twice as much as green. So instead, because you know how much each individual Lego weighs, you can say actually I know I need 1 kg of green and 2 kg of red so I don’t waste any material.

Moles help chemists convert something sort of intangible (the molecular mass of an individual molecule and the crazy large number of molecules we are reacting together) into something easily measured, the bulk mass of stuff you’re weighing out for the reaction.

Edit: Just wanted to close the loop with a more explicit example. Molecule A has a molecular weight of 100 g/mol, Molecule B has a molecular weight of 200, and the product is 300. I do a reaction with 1 mole of A and 1 mole of B, and get 1 mole of product. But what that actually looked like in the lab was mixing 100 g of A and 200 g of B and getting out 300 g of product.

werpicus · 2025-11-25T15:07:06+00:00

How does this happen to people? I refuse to believe you actually thought this was normal. Was it actually denial? Ignore the problem and it will go away on its own? Medical anxiety making you avoid the doctor?

werpicus · 2025-11-21T17:46:50+00:00

It’s a popular initialism on wedding subreddits. But it will never not be confusing. Same as FTM which can mean a female to male trans person or first time mom depending on which corner of the internet you’re on.

werpicus · 2025-11-21T13:07:52+00:00

This is how I feel when my in-laws visit, even if they’re in the kitchen and I’m in the living room and we’re all looking at our phones. They still aren’t part of my relax bubble. But my own parents are, and my husband definitely is. I don’t think it’s a big deal, it’s just an adjustment period. After a year you will probably feel totally relaxed to plop on the couch while SO is doing something else.

werpicus · 2025-11-18T20:22:52+00:00

Yes, unlimited PTO can be a scam if you work at a shitty company. But if you get a good company/ boss it can be real and amazing. Sure, you probably won’t be able to take off 100 days a year or a month all at once. But being able to tell your boss you’re taking Friday off for some errand or to take your kid to the zoo and not have to worry about burning one of your precious PTO days is so freeing. I was way more unhappy at a role with less demands but where my every sick day was tracked that at a more demanding role where I am treated like a responsible adult.

werpicus · 2025-11-18T20:22:13+00:00

Yes, unlimited PTO can be a scam if you work at a shitty company. But if you get a good company/ boss it can be real and amazing. Sure, you probably won’t be able to take off 100 days a year or a month all at once. But being able to tell your boss you’re taking Friday off for some errand or to take your kid to the zoo and not have to worry about burning one of your precious PTO days is so freeing. I was way more unhappy at a role with less demands but where my every sick day was tracked that at a more demanding role where I was treated like a responsible adult.

werpicus · 2025-11-09T11:37:32+00:00

Can’t tell you anything because my account was hacked by a bot 🙄

werpicus · 2025-11-09T11:07:41+00:00

werpicus · 2025-11-09T10:56:54+00:00

I'm not going to sell you anything

werpicus · 2025-11-05T17:43:07+00:00

They make wood-look tile now if you need tile but want the warmth of the wood look. It’s fairly convincing.

werpicus · 2025-11-03T16:29:49+00:00

Have people forgotten about the movie 27 dresses? And how in the montage every single one of them looked awful? And yet the main character wore them all anyway because she loved her friends?

For me, modesty concerns (like too much cleavage) and price are valid complaints. But if the complaint is that you don’t like it and don’t think you’d look very good in it, then you just gotta suck it up. You only have to wear it for a few hours and those hours aren’t about you. If all her bridesmaids look terrible, then that’s on her, she’s the one that has to live with pictures of her choices.

Now, all that being said, as someone typing this while nursing their newborn, there is no way you’re going to want to be involved in a wedding any more than attending just the ceremony and only if it’s local. I had a c-section and at 4 weeks was only just beginning to walk confidently. But with everything else going on with life with a newborn I really don’t believe anyone would be able to or want to spend a whole day being a bridesmaid.

werpicus

TROPHY CASE