Should I continue healthcare AI

Roche
GmpB04

Go to company page Roche

GmpB04
Dec 1, 2021 69 Comments

I recently graduated with a BS in CS at a mid tier school. I have done 4 ML internships, 2 at Big N (think salesforce, nvidia, Cisco), 1 at big pharma.
Been doing a lot of AI + digital pathology/Genomics research work.

I have deferred my Masters offers till next year (UCB, UCSD) bioeng/ML.

I got into healthcare/biotech cause I thought sciences are cool and wanna help patients, and AI seems like a good way. Cutting edge is also cool.

But I feel like the TC is peanuts compared to my SWE peers, and they also productionize way faster while I work on research projects that never make it to production (not gratification there). Getting tired of research, I want to build tangible products.

What should I do? Should I just pivot to SWE at a pure tech. Rn I’m interviewing with biotech startups like Insitro, neuralink as a compromise I’m hoping I work on more product related roles while at a cutting edge fast growth startup.

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TOP 69 Comments
  • You are on the right track. Figure it out yourself if you want to stay the course, or move to tech. But insitro is a great place to be, and can potentially open many doors. You won't know unless you try. Give it a shot. You can always pivot to tech in a couple of years if you feel unsettled. Move fast, just don't lose time.
    Dec 3, 2021 12
    • New
      WFQD47

      New

      WFQD47
      An MD to increase your ability to progress as a non clinical practitioner?!!!! Hell no, an absolutely terrible idea. If anyone tells you otherwise, seriously doubt their intelligence.
      Dec 17, 2021
    • New
      Ianj40

      New

      Ianj40
      thanks for your advice!
      Dec 17, 2021
  • From my own experience: healthcare is highly regulated, risk averse, dominated by entrenched monopolies (in medical records) with decades of legacy systems. These solutions should have been invented years ago -- they haven't been because regulations prevent you from getting data. And even if you had data, the medical records systems won't integrate with you. And the companies pay 🥜
    Dec 6, 2021 5
    • DaVita
      boredyoe

      Go to company page DaVita

      boredyoe
      cVs- when did Walmart throw in the towel? They are doing some primary care work. I think your point of behavioral change is valid however 1/5 capabilities im guessing you’re referring to product to field front line workers- but isn’t that the whole point of tech. Not everyone needs to know how it’s enabled, thats the job to be done by product. The end user is who is impacted, has a easier way to do things etc,
      My worry though is we have a fragmented system we making more fragmented because data regulation hasn’t changed. The flood gates need to open for interoperability
      Dec 8, 2021
    • People always bring up data regulation. There are so many ways around that, and carequality is changing that difficulty. People that bring up interoperability typically don’t work with it on a regular basis. The issue is that healthcare data is inherently more complex AND clients demand silly things. Example: While trying to do a cloud migration, certain downstream customers (representing less than 2% of business but still millions) demand their data not to be on cloud. Now do you create a separate ecosystem for them or say you don’t service their clients anymore?

      Walmart I consider as throwing in the towel because their healthcare plans were supposed to expand a lot faster. If you’re referring to the primary care clinics, Walmart has 20. CVS plans 1500 by end of the year. (https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/disruptors/how-clinics-at-walmart-walgreens-and-cvs-are-expanding-7-things-to-know.html)

      Lastly, “not everyone needs to know how it’s enabled, that’s product”. Agreed, when your product is for the consumer. When your product is then serviced by front line to deliver to customers, you better hope your front line can deliver the service as expected rather than be a rogue element where the experience for the patient/customer fails. The front line need to either understand the system well enough to deal with the unexpected or get out of the way. And it’s easier displacing their responsibilities to code and better customer facing interfaces than to train.
      Dec 9, 2021
  • Amazon
    LEyr75

    Go to company page Amazon

    LEyr75
    I noticed if you go into big tech then come back to biotech, they will pay just as much as big tech. That’s my situation anyways.
    Dec 6, 2021 2
  • Amazon
    Xi Jinping

    Go to company page Amazon

    Xi Jinping
    Doctors will never allow such AI to go out. They have so much power in politics that the medical system will never be fixed.
    Dec 6, 2021 1
    • Encodia
      meghexdump

      Encodia

      meghexdump
      It's already in wide use...
      Dec 6, 2021
  • New
    n206

    New

    n206
    I’m almost 40. My take is… go software for a bit get some stacks. Get your cool “toys” and a house. Grow a bit. Get into medical later. That’s what I did.
    Dec 6, 2021 6
    • Roche
      GmpB04

      Go to company page Roche

      GmpB04
      OP
      Why not scratch the itch first? Tech companies won’t go away
      Dec 7, 2021
    • New
      n206

      New

      n206
      I think because when you’re young you generally want to party and live life. I think it’s easier to step away from tech and then come back than it is to go from health where you won’t get to learn a bunch of bleeding edge stuff. Idk it’s a complicated choice
      Dec 7, 2021