Please advise and share your own personal experience.

** Aside from ThatMoslemGuy, everyone else with parody answers must have reading comprehension deficiency. It is crazy to consider a question about YOUR particular use case and YOUR personal experience to be “broad” in any shape or form. This place is beginning to look like a subReddit that isn’t serious. **

Recently finished my Ph.D. in chemistry from a top program and am trying to break into biotech equity research. I’m genuinely passionate about investing (I spend a lot of my free time building financial models, writing stock pitches, and learning valuation), but I can’t seem to get a single interview.

One concern I have is that my scientific background may not be as directly applicable as other candidates. My Ph.D. was in synthetic organic chemistry (total synthesis) rather than a disease-focused field like oncology, neuroscience, or immunology, so I sometimes wonder if I’m at a disadvantage compared with people who specialized in those areas.
I’m taking the SIE next week and plan to start networking more aggressively, which I know is something I’ve been lacking. But I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who successfully made the transition from academia into biotech equity research (sell or buy side).

How did you get your first interview or offer?
What do hiring managers value most in Ph.D. candidates?
Is networking the biggest differentiator, or should I be publishing stock pitches?
Is there anything you wish you had known when trying to make the transition?

Thanks in advance! I’d really appreciate any advice!!

I'm currently searching for opportunities in biotechnology, life sciences, developmental biology, embryology, and reproductive biotechnology, and I'm trying to find recruiters or recruitment agencies that specialize in these fields.

I've already been actively using LinkedIn, but I'd love to know what other platforms or recruiters you've had success with.

If you know of any:

Recruitment agencies specializing in biotech/life sciences

Job boards for research and biotech roles

Companies that recruit internationally

Recruiters who are active in this industry

I'd really appreciate your recommendations. Thank you in advance for any advice or connections!

Context:
- 18 yrs old
- offer holder to study biochemistry at imperial college London
- lives in UK, British nationality

I’m very much open to the idea that I may not even have a science related job in the future, but biotech has interested me for years.
The concept of genetic modification is so exciting to me and other biotech topics, and I get there may not be much I can do with that, and I also understand that I need to get into my degree first to see if lab stuff is really for me, but I don’t want to go into biotech to find out that it was the worst decision of my life.

- How hard is it to get employed actually? Will my Imperial degree help a lot more?
- Would I be able to make a good income over time?
- Are the jobs enjoyable? What qualities would you find in someone that actually enjoys working in the field?

My dad is also very interested in me doing an MBA when I’m older, he did one himself and did very well right after getting the qualification. Would that be something beneficial if I wanted to have a higher role in a company or even have my own startup in the field? Is it even worth having a startup in this field or should I look elsewhere?

I’m very much aware that some of my ideas may come across as overly ambitious or dumb. I lack a lot of knowledge about the field, I appreciate everyone’s understanding :)

This is a fairly under reported story and INAL so I will try to give the brief version.

Moderna stole some technology as part of their COVID-19 vaccine. Whether or not they stole it is really not up for debate; they already lost in court, and their appeals (e.g. obviousness claim) were largely denied.

However they are trying a different approach, which is kinda bonkers.

They are claiming they have government-contractor immunity.

They are referencing a statue which states something along the line, if a manufacturer makes something specifically for the government and steals a patent while doing it, you need to take it up with the government. The manufacturer isn't liable.

From what I can tell the common understand of this is that it's for military tech -- the US military stealing some patented technology for warfare. Trying to say it applies to drugs that are sold and administered to US citizens is a little absurd -- it implies any pharma company with a government contract to supply XYZ can steal whatever patents they want, and then pass the legal liability onto the government.

Just sharing cause I thought it was interesting.

Do companies actually create roles for their industry postdocs and retain them? Or are most postdocs left fending for themselves?

My brother has a Bachelor's in Molecular Bioscience with only a little bit of work experience- specifically: a year as a Stem Banc lab manager and 3 years as a processing technician there too. He's been applying for jobs for the last year and a half and hasn't gotten past interviewing. Can anyone give any advice on where or how to look for jobs? He's located in the Cleveland, Ohio area if its helpful.

Thank you

Had a final Executive Director interview late last week. They are expected to make a decision internally early this week. For those of you who are familiar with hiring at Merck, how long does it typically take after that for a final offer communication? Also how many candidates typically go into ED interview step?

We are a startup biotech and we are MDs by background and spent time in a biotech in clinical development but we identified a few interesting assets that we think could get approval in the US.

We hired some very senior executives from big pharma who worked on quite similar projects before. So from our side, we think our team is pretty good positioned to execute. They are due to start next month.

These are ex-China drugs, and the manufacturers of it are based in China.

Naturally, we want to in license these drugs and have reached out to the BD team emails and also some of their C-suite members emails, and got no response. I don’t know if WeChat is a better way to speak to people.

What are some reasons in-licensing requests or emails are ignored? How to increase your chance of getting a in-licensing deal done?

I’m a senior research engineer and have been looking for a higher up role for about 3 months. I haven’t received a single call yet. I’ve tried program manager, senior program manager, lead engineer, lead scientist, principal engineer, principal scientist, but just no luck... What am I doing wrong? Is the job market that bad?

Im a recent graduate with a dual degree in Bioengineering and Microbiology. I haven’t had any job experience in science, as shown in my employment history. I haven’t been applying to QC Associate, Lab Technician, and other entry-positions as various employers in the broad Bay Area.

I am concerned about about my format and it potentially being flagged by AI-screening. Any recommendations in terms of information? What can I elaborate more on? General format suggestions?

Thank you for your time :)!

5 years of postdoc. 63k. a decade of training if you count the phd, and i budget for groceries.

a guy from my cohort left academia 2 years ago. scientist II at a pharma. he makes 138. he told me this at a conference like it was nothing, like he wasnt detonating my entire worldview between poster sessions.

my PI keeps saying i need a few more papers to be competitive. competitive for jobs that pay half of what my friend makes right now. i pulled up the levels.fyi pages for two IO companies at 1am last night like some kind of salary goblin and scientist I roles, the JUNIOR title, are sitting at 125-135.

i updated my resume this morning. thats the post

Hii

I am NRI studying in 11th and my school offers biotech as a stream and I chose it. I'm really interested in the field of BT and want to continue pursuing it in the future. But i have scoured the internet and I don't trust my judgement. So that's why i came here to get y'alls opinion. So please help me!!!!

Post:
Hi everyone,
I’m a 5th-year medical student, turning 28 soon. Over the past few years I’ve realized that my real passion is computational biology, bioinformatics, and developing algorithms for biomedical research. My long-term goal is to work in academia or industry doing computational research rather than practicing clinical medicine.
I’m currently trying to decide between three possible paths:
MSc in Bioinformatics (under a Computer Science faculty). The downside is that I’d first need to complete about a year of complementary undergraduate CS coursework before officially starting the master’s.

MSc in Mathematical Biology (under a Life Sciences faculty). This wouldn’t require the extra year of coursework, so it’s a faster route. However, I’m wondering whether the degree title and training would carry the same weight for future PhD opportunities and industry positions compared to an MSc in Bioinformatics.

Finish my MD first, continue building my computational background independently (math, computer science, programming, machine learning, etc.), get involved in computational research along the way, and then apply directly to a PhD.

My end goal is to become an independent computational researcher working on biologically and medically relevant problems, ideally at the intersection of AI, algorithms, and biology.
I’d love to hear your thoughts:

Which path would you choose, and why?
Does the title of the MSc (“Bioinformatics” vs. “Mathematical Biology”) actually matter in the long run?

Would finishing the MD first and starting a PhD around age 31 put me at a disadvantage, or is that fairly common?

I’d especially appreciate hearing from people working in computational biology, bioinformatics, AI for biology, academia, or biotech.

I’m sharing a full-time opportunity to join us at Rayni to change how scientists and field techs own, service, and operate incredibly expensive but complicated instruments (think lasers, mass spectrometers, quantum computers etc.)

To be completely transparent, someone who has worked in software sales at early stage startups, or sold software to biotechs/labs would thrive in this role. Folks who have worked exclusively at large organizations (where there are mature playbooks, layers between them, the customer, and the product) will struggle in this role.

LinkedIn Job: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/
4442967719/

Culture and Benefits: https://rayni.notion.site/rayni-
careers

Mods: let me know if you don’t want me sharing jobs for the biotechs professionals here. I would assume it’s fine given the layoffs and economic environment, but I’m open to your recommendations.

Does anyone here have thoughts to share about culture of med affairs at Genmab?

Trying to learn from people who work in pharma compliance, market access, or business development (not selling anything). A few areas I'm curious about:

• Patient support program legal review: These programs (copay assistance, foundation donations, diagnostic sponsorships) have to be carefully structured to avoid violating the federal law against inducing doctors or patients to prescribe a drug. Clearing a new program design today usually means heavy manual legal review. How much of that is still manual or requires outside counsel? Do you think it could be automated? If you've tried, what didn't work?
• China biotech licensing diligence: Anyone doing BD/licensing deals involving Chinese biotech products — where does diligence take the longest or feel riskiest?

Would love real, recent examples if anyone's willing to share (happy to take it to DMs if easier).

How many days/weeks after Vertex final panel interview did you receive an offer, or any update (… rejection)?

My panel was on last Friday. I was told that they will make a decision and HR will let me know this week. Wednesday today, but the wait is killing me slowly….

Thanks all.

Soy de México egresado en biotecnología genomica por la UANL y quiero trabajar y vivir en Europa, tengo familiares en suecia, (primo) y otra en Dinamarca , ingles B2 por Cambridge y actualmente trabajo pero me da la sensación qué este pais no me llena.

Por donde puedo empezar? Me seria de mucha ayuda saber como ir por ese camino

I am about to graduate with a biomechanical engineering degree and am considering getting a masters. I have done a lot of research in bioinformatics and would do that but am not deeply passionate about it. My dream job would be to develop a biotech product at a startup. To achieve this goal would a masters in bioengineering, bioinformatics, or another adjacent field be of use or should I try and network and break into the startup scene right out of school?

hi, i'm honestly kinda stuck and looking for advice.

i recently graduated this may with a bachelors in biotech w/ a minor in computer science. i'm trying to look for entry-level positions to get my foot into biotech.

the thing is, a lot of these positions need 1 year of lab experience which i don't have outside of courses.

i struggled a lot with mental health so it was difficult to get myself into the headspace of prioritizing lab experience during undergrad through REUs, internships, etc. i also was told that i wasn't able to get an internship by multiple mentors because i would need 2 years min. of classes (i switched my major the summer before my junior year).

i really wanted to get an internship but i was told not to and i was constantly urged to graduate on time and now that i did, i'm feeling a bit regretful because of the lack of lab experience i have.

i plan on going to grad school in the future but i'd love to get lab experience before applying to a good research heavy grad school. currently, my plans are to move to north jersey and try to apply to some entry-level jobs.

i'm willing to take up any job as long as i can get the experience that i need. does anyone have any advice? what positions/roles should i be looking for? for reference, in the future, i hope to do something immunology related. for now, i don't really mind what my first job is as long as i can get transferable experience out of it.

thank you!

I checked them out, it's a reference lab/diagnostic company with no experience in cooling technologies. But I double checked, it's the same company from the TV ad.

#CI #competitiveintelligence

Hi everyone,

I have a bit of a story and I want to get everyone’s input on it.

I’m job searching and I’ve been interviewing with a company for a long time now. I had an initial interview and then a panel interview (both online). Then, I was invited on-site for a full day of interviews as well as a presentation about my research in college. All the feedback I got at the on-site was super positive and I really like the company.

They asked for “professional or academic references” when I was leaving. I gave them 2 of my lab mates, but not my PI since they were out of the country and I wasn’t sure if they were reachable (I told the company this as well). Both my lab mates said they were contacted the following, but the company came back and asked for my PIs info (which I do understand). I gave it and waited until the next week.

The company scheduled a meeting for Friday of that week, however, someone else then came back and asked for 2-3 additional references. Specifically, people that oversaw me and could speak on my development. I reached out to some old managers from internships and a professor I had previously done research for. They then delayed the meeting we had scheduled “to allow the additional references to be contacted”.

After that, I reached out to my PI to see if they were back from traveling. They said they were and that the company had in fact contacted them. Which I thought was weird, especially the tone (my PI has been weird in the past, which my lab mates can attest to), but I don’t think they’d try to sabotage me.

The 2 additional references I gave told me they were contacted (to make 5 references at this point). Finally, the company contacted me to set another meeting up at the end of this week. But then, lo and behold, the person I was supposed to meet said they had an emergency and they had to postpone the meeting again to travel.

So like a month on from the on-site interview, I still haven’t gotten anything conclusive. I get that stuff comes up, but it’s just felt really intensive for an entry level job. I don’t think they are like interviewing other people and stalling because why schedule the meetings at all. I just want some closure and if they are going to reject me, why not just do it and be done with it. We are all adults here.

I am just tired and burnt out from the process and wanted to hear what anyone else thought.