The Ph in a Bioinformatics PhD
August 28th, 2007
In a month, I start the third and final year of my PhD. Usually it’s around this time that students begin thinking about what’s gone before and contemplate the future, and I’m never one to buck a trend.
I did a master’s degree in bioinformatics, where before I had never used a computer for anything other than email and browsing. On completion, I was proficient in Java, R, MySQL, and Linux, all the hard skills I need as a bioinformatician. The informatics in bioinformatics, if you like. I look back on my masters in a positive light, hard work, but I made some good friends, learnt a great deal, and left with high expectations, certain of the career I’ve chosen.
I started my PhD, straight after my masters. My hard skills may have improved slightly, I’ve become more proficient in R, but what I have learnt more, are the soft skills that a bioinformatician needs. Less tangible than command line piping, but equally as important, these include: dealing with failure, being an independent researcher, dealing with failure, self-discipline, dealing with failure, what qualifies as publishable data, and dealing with failure.
So as I plan whether to stay in science, or look outside the field (Anyone at Google reading this?), here are the three main thoughts, inspired by indexed, that are occupying my mind, for your consideration.
The meaning of my hard work
Two things that are important
I’ve been two of these
Creative Commons
The photo used in this post is taken from kazze on flickr and used under a creative commons licence.
August 28th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
So why did you decide to stop being a surgeon
?. The graphs look about right, except maybe the second one. To get published in high impact factor journals is not so predictable I think. There are too many factors contributing like, the subject area and current hype, supervisor reputation, dumb luck with getting the right experiments done correctly, etc.
For the toughest part is what you show in the first graph. There is not a linear correlation between amount of work and results. This can be really frustrating sometimes.
August 28th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
I love this post.
August 29th, 2007 at 5:09 am
Nice post. If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s that self-discipline is as much as about knowing when not to work. Self-motivated people who enjoy research are usually quite obsessive about trying to crack a problem. For those of us who work at a computer, it’s not as though we can escape by walking out of the lab - the machine is always there, humming away in the next room. But you could spend every waking hour at the keyboard and still never have enough hours in the day to achieve all of your goals. And if you did you’d soon become tired, grumpy, emaciated and no fun to be around.
“Go when you’re hot”, but know when to switch off too.
August 29th, 2007 at 11:03 am
I think all of us should be interested in determining what the far point in the top-right corner in Fig. 3 corresponds to!
btw, nice post!
August 29th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Its probably premier league footballer…..a passionate one (i.e NOT English). Your post is perfectly timed as I am about to start a Bioinformatics PhD in October. Looking forward to a string of failures.
Its disheartening to see call centre workers earn a similar amount.
Some sound advice which I’m will certainly take on board through my studies.
Cheers Mike
August 29th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
The P and h stand for ‘Pain’ and ‘hardship’ I’m sure
August 29th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
So I got it all wrong again, I thought PHD was course of Picture in High Demand… last one was Departed.
August 29th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Great post! Being a graduate student in bioinfo (or any other field for that matter) myself I couldn’t agree more on the dealing with failure part.
August 30th, 2007 at 8:37 am
Hi! I’m about to start bioinfo in september and you’re on the other end
By the way, is it still recommended to study bioinfo? since the human genome project’s behind us…
August 30th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Given the dire forecast of frozen meals for one, I don’t understand why most Bioinformaticians are not willing to thaw said meal-for-one out here in Scottsdale, AZ. I have been posting for a bioinformatics PhD, or Master’s….or just someone who can appreciate both bio and informatics for the past 6 months without a response from qualified folks…..it’s amazing how one can twist the meaning of “accredited university”. I need to repost for the positions but given the low success rate…….I was wondering if bioinformaticians were afraid of the bio…..real bio……projects that can make a difference in patient care and quality of life. Maybe it’s because we are not physically in trendy spots like Silicon Valley or Boston or New York……even though we do have affiliations and collaborations with various commercial enterprises located there.
In response to milo’s comment on the completion of the human genome project….it’s the beginning, not the end. Bioinformatics is needed now more than ever…..but with more emphasis on the bio.
August 31st, 2007 at 3:11 am
Don’t worry milo, the genome projects provide bioinformaticians with some of the greatest data to analysis. It is the end of genome projects that marks the real need for bioinformaticians.
That said, graduate study in bioinfo or any other field can be a really tough experience. You have to make sure that you love what you are doing to get through the bad times.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:57 pm
I think it’s nice that dellusion has a nice pink, rosey glow about it. I think that comes from Tequila.
September 5th, 2007 at 6:38 pm
[...] Zen The Ph in a Bioinformatics PhD [...]
September 6th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Thanks for all your comments guys, I never had so many for one post.
All these graphs came to me one Saturday afternoon when I was feeling particularly annoyed with everything. I jotted them down on a bit of paper then forgot about them, until a housemate and I were having a joint moaning session. He recommended that I put them on my blog, and it turns out my most popular post is not about statistics, programming or databases, but about how rubbish doing a PhD is. It was even picked up on Genome Technology and ScienceMag Careers.
In response to the questions about bioinformatics, I think there’ll always be a need for them. More and more data is being produced from high through put techniques, that requires people to analyse this full time.
As for Gonzo’s point, I don’t know. I starting to think about what I’ll do after a PhD. Location is sort of important, more the country than specific city. I think I’d go anywhere if I thought the work was interesting.
I definitely agree with chkuo’s last point that you have to love what you’re doing to get through a PhD.
September 6th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
Haha, how am I not surprised. Joint moaning session always inspires more responses from graduate students than anything else, particularly with the senior ones.
Someone asked me about choosing a program and what I meant in my previous comment, and here is my answer to that:
No one can tell you what degree would be “better” even if you have a clear definition of “value”. The job market is constantly changing anyway so you might as well choose what you like.
With the regard to my comment on graduate study, I’m referring to the process of getting an advance degree in general. Graduate school is something that’s very different from college. Often you’ll have to develop your own research project, and “research” means that you are going into something unknown so no one can really tell you want to do and you pretty much have to figure out things by yourself. Good advisers can help a lot, but still only to a certain extend. Basically, you are on your own. Everyone I know (including myself) have some dark periods though out the graduate program and those can be very depressing times. Another thing is that while you are in grad school, you’ll see all your friends from college getting real jobs and making real money. After a couple years of that you may wonder if you made the right choice or not (particularly true in the US because it takes longer on average to get a PhD here).
September 14th, 2007 at 4:19 am
[...] The Ph in a Bioinformatics PhD - academia, industry or merchant banking? [...]
September 14th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Um, what’s that unlabeled datapoint in the top righthand corner — the one with extreme values of passion and financial award? Can I be that?
September 14th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Ah, the question had already been asked…
September 24th, 2007 at 5:40 am
[...] The Ph in a Bioinformatics PhD, from Bioinformatics Zen. Look at the graphs at the end. Quite wonderful! [...]
January 18th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I am in the last three terms of M.S. Artificial Life Programming degree. Yet been looking around for a Bioinformatics PHD program either in the U.S. or abroad. Doesnt matter! If you know of any good to excellent programs let me know through derekelj@cooltoad.com
March 27th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
iam doin pg diploma in bioinformatics.iam i eligible for phd in bioinformatics plz let me know .my id is sappu_sappu@rediffmail.com
July 17th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
plz send me the names of universities where phd is held in bioinfo.my id is
aaz_sid19@yahoo.com