Career Advice Inquiry — Semicripple trying to transition from lab work to remote big bucks! What’s Next ?
Company type: Midsize biotech startup (post IPO) Position: R&D Research Associate II Total Comp: ~ 60 - 70K + random bonuses, stock options etc Experience: 3 years Age: Late 20’s Gender: Female Education: Bachelors in Cellular & Molecular Biology Location: California (I know… yikes) As you can tell from the stats above, I am in dire need of career help but hold on, the story does get worse — I have been on medical leave for months due to a congenital immune condition flare up. To give you some context, it took me 6 years to complete college due to recurring surgeries rendering me bedbound for months of recovery. This situation was unfortunately incompatible with my major which required lab work that couldn’t be completed remotely in order to fulfill the degree requirements. Instead of switching majors like any rational person would have done, I blindly persevered eventually finding lab work in biotech and somehow thought my medical condition would subside— spoiler alert: that didn’t happen. 3 years in and about 9 months total spent on medical leave. I suspect that my company will soon terminate me which is understandable and regardless, I think that it is time for a change — time to finally come to terms with the fact that my condition isn’t going anywhere and pivot to a career path that will be more suitable. A job that can be done remotely and whisk me away from poverty line. In case it is of any relevance, I did take introductory CSS and R programming back in college as upper division electives (biometry) as I could see all my tech buddies making bank while I was scraping by. Same friends who use to help me do my biometry assignments from a hospital bed now all make at least 3X my salary without having to step a foot in the office — that’s being kind… Most of them are currently digital nomads renting out their million dollar homes to cover their mortgages while they globetrot. So my question here is, what would you do if you were me ? Is there any chance of me making a comfortable living like my friends remotely ? As it is obvious that I do a terrible job at making realistic career decisions for myself (fun fact, I turned down a job offer from Amgen fresh out of college due to imposter syndrome — madness lol!) I am thinking that the most logical step to continue building upon my current background/skill set would be breaking into the world of biometry, anything that has to do with statistical analysis of biological data or simply DataAnalysis? Wouldn’t that be the link between lab sciences, tech world and remote work right ? How would you suggest that I go about executing this ? What should be the game plan if this is the best option if not what other options do you suggest ? Are there any options that do not involve heavy coding knowledge ? Note: Please don’t be afraid to be brutally honest. I need as much detailed guidance as I can get. I am infinitely grateful to anyone willing to help. Thank you for reading and God or whatever put us down here on earth bless you ! Applied skills: anything that has to do with laboratory biological analytics from developing to executing and optimizing assays related to toxin detection, protein & DNA purification, genetic modifications, cell culturing etc… I am particularly good at breaking down department goals into specific tasks and timelines for different employees to meet deadlines as well as maintaining impeccable records for FDA and writing IND paperwork (Yuck so tedious lol). Even my department head admitted that I was basically doing the job of associate scientist if not a senior associate scientist… - I also have some background in sales, modeling and customer service from my college days if that is of any relevance… but I don’t think that I could handle heavy commission based jobs such as tech sales. I am generally pretty good with people and being persuasive. #biotech #careertransition #dataanalytics #careerhelp #bigtech #remotework #datascience #biometry
How is the medical condition limiting you? That’s important for deciding next steps. Based on the information already provided I recommend you continue working and on the side enroll for bachelors in computer science, finish it in two years (can you transfer some credits) and apply to SWE roles.
Limiting me mostly physically but not year round. I could be fully functional for 6-12 months then down for 2-5 months. Thank you for very valid suggestion however I was wondering whether there was a way to do that mostly remotely, faster and for minimal cost ? I can’t drop full college tuition for 2 more years. Maybe even skip the degree and go through a specific track ? (Certificates, boot camps etc.) Could I achieve the same result ?
Why do you think a career in tech would be less limiting? Any business or career will end up being limited if you have to take off several contiguous months every 6 to 12 months. Not trying to discourage you from changing, but make sure you are being realistic about how a different career would accept these limitations differently.
You aren't "at the poverty line." You are doing just fine. Based on your description, sounds like you pursued your current career out of passion. Try to translate that to a job or career that aligns with your passion. Be careful of pivoting careers for money...that can be a recipe for unhappiness. The only type of role you would likely qualify for in "tech" would be an analyst role, and it likely wouldn't pay that much different from what you make now.
I sure did.. I guess I thought that I could help immunocompromised people like myself and I kind of do. But I can’t seem to translate that into a more comfortable easy living without at-least getting a PhD. That just isn’t an option. I don’t like my medical induced career interruptions. It makes it hard to progress. So what if I could have a job where I can progress, apply my prior experience and not have to stop every-time that I am bed bound. It is infuriating! My brain still mostly works year round. Also it would be nice to contribute at-least 1/3 of my household’s income. That is a low bar but still seems pretty inaccessible to me. It is a recurring issue in my personal life and I know I shouldn’t consider money in my personal life but I don’t want to feel like I am mooching off or like being “kept”.
Data Analytics could be a good space for you. I would advice you to look for some online boot camps/courses at universities and pursue them and then join tech… P.S. - you need to compete with tons of fake profiles from wanna be data scientists straight outta college
Fake profiles and wanna be data scientists ? Could you please elaborate ? Are there any boot camps that have high success rates ? There are SO MANY online it is hard to sort out the legit ones. There are even people who claim to be self-taught… it is a mess
These days almost all universities have a MS Data Science and any Tom, Dick Harry who has not done anything remotely close to Data Science just walk in do these MS or get to know the Consultancy companies who are ready to market people as Data Scientists/Engineers and apply all possible fake schemes to get the job… For e.g. using proxy for interviews and getting Job support from abroad… it’s a big racket that’s been run by many staffing firms who use new MS Grads and also housewives of H1 employees and market them as Data Scientists… have personally seen so many do this and make couple of hundred grand during the pandemic…