Monday, April 23, 2001

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MSNBC Wanted: Hot Industry Seeks Supergeeks
"Craig Benham has a problem. As a professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, he trains students in the exploding new field of bioinformatics—the fusion of high-powered computing and biology that is aimed at revolutionizing the health-care industry. But Benham can’t keep a postdoctorate researcher for more than a year. They keep leaving for jobs that pay up to $100,000 at bioinformatics start-ups, giant pharmaceutical companies or technology giants like Motorola and IBM that are targeting the rapidly growing life-sciences field. “These companies need a whole new class of biologists who have training in the computational and mathematical methods,” Benham says."

GenomeWeb Despite Cool Economy, Genomics Companies Still Struggling to Fill Positions
"It can take up to six months to fill a business development position in a genomics or similar company, and a director of marketing and sales realistically takes 60 to 90 days, Takahashi said.

University bioinformatics programs have just begun to address the other key need in this personnel-strapped sector: people with both computer and biology experience. Until these graduates start flooding the market, companies may have to resort to finding qualified computer people, as Perlegen did.

"There's been an explosion of biotech companies that's created the demand, but the supply isn't there, so companies have to find computer scientists who are willing to understand the biology," said Herbert Hess, a Toronto-based recruiter of IT and bioinformatics professionals."

redux [09.01.00]
Science : NextWave Bioinformatics Feature
[requires paid registration]
"Since Next Wave last covered bioinformatics, in our July 1996 Profiles of Bioinformaticians and February 1997 Bioinformatics Skills features, the prominence of the bioinformatician's role in modern biology has only increased. This month, Next Wave provides a comprehensive picture of the current state of bioinformatics, from the funding situation in Europe and the U.S. to the new bioinformatics degree programs and the immediate hiring needs of industrial and academic labs around the world.”

redux [07.25.00]
Advogato Hacking your genome
"Are you a hacker? Do you yearn for something more important to work on than yet-another-gnome-applet? Are you annoyed that you can't find a problem that is fun to code and stretches your brain in new ways... bioinformatics might be the answer."

"The amount of data is growing faster than anyone expected and only a handful of people can both remain with academic ideals and coding potential. We need hackers to join any number of projects out there. And there are a host to join. If you just liking hacking perl or you prefer compiler technology, there is something to suit you. "

redux [06.27.00]
The Boston Globe Bioinformatics : In the spotlight
"A fast-growing field known as bioinformatics uses computing to analyze the vast amount of biological, genomic, and related research to make sense of things too complex for the human brain to fathom.

But bioinformatics is also a bottleneck for many drug and biotech companies that can't find enough talented software engineers who combine sophisticated analysis tools with an understanding of genomics.

''We resolve the bioinformatics issue [by hiring] two people: one who understands computer science and the biologist or researcher,'' said Kenneth Fasman, vice president and global head of informatics of AstraZeneca LLC in Waltham."

"...according to Dr. Donald Johnson, a pathologist at the Nebraska University Medical Center. He estimated there are about 60,000 jobs available to scientists and managers versed in bioinformatics."

redux [05.10.00]
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Hiring Patterns Experienced by Students Enrolled in Bioinformatics/Computational Biology Programs
"As expected, salaries for the most part climb as the level of training rises, starting in the $40,000-$50,000 range for BAs and reaching over $100,000 for one post doc. But there are exceptions. For example, two of the three undergraduates who were placed received salaries between $50,0000 to $60,000. This is higher than that earned by seven of the masters students, although ten of the nineteen masters students for whom we have salary information earn more than $60,000. One masters student received a starting salary of over $100,000. Reported salaries for five hires at the doctorate level are over $70,000. One is between $80,000 to $90,000; another is over $100,000; yet another is between $60,000 to $70,000. Three post docs received placements with a salary between $80,000 to $90,000. One post doc was placed at a salary of over $100,000. One institution reported that one or more masters student(s) received a signing bonus."

"The results of our current survey make it clear that the majority of these jobs are not being filled by graduates of formal programs—who by our count represent about 15 percent of the positions advertised in 1997. And, we believe the 15 percent figure to be an overestimate given that ads have been growing over time and our most recent ad count is for 1997, a year earlier than our hiring data. This leads us to infer that most of the advertised positions are being filled by individuals trained in informal programs and by individuals who change jobs. The distinct possibility exists that a number of these jobs remain vacant for a period of time, an issue not studied here. Furthermore, our pipeline estimates (see Table 2) lead us to conclude that the number of individuals currently enrolled in formal programs falls far short of the number of positions that have recently been advertised."