b*******0
发帖数: 125 | 1 http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6346/102
Reprogramming my career
As I stood at the whiteboard with a marker in my hand and a five-person
interview panel of industry experts watching me, I realized I had no idea
how to perform the “simple” coding required to solve the question that was
asked. I was about to be exposed as a fraud. What had ever made me think
that I would be able to transition from medical research to data science?
That was 6 months ago. Even though that initial interview was a disaster, I
have since made the leap, and I now spend my days coding and performing data
analysis to generate insights from millions of electronic medical records.
Although I still have a lot to learn, it has been an exciting and liberating
transition.
Throughout my early training, I tried to make all the right career choices
to become an independent medical researcher and run my own lab. But it all
came crumbling down during a frustrating postdoc. The situation came to a
head when I ran into my Ph.D. supervisor at a cafe one morning. When she
asked how I was, my eyes filled with tears and I could barely answer. I
realized that I had been feeling unhappy and trapped for a year, and I had
become a shell of the optimistic and enthusiastic person I once was.
Something had to change.
So, I started exploring alternative career possibilities, looking for
opportunities in areas with good employment prospects that would also be
intellectually challenging. I hadn't heard of data science until a friend—a
data scientist himself—suggested that it might be a good fit given my
scientific background. When he asked me what programming languages I knew, I
had no idea what he was talking about. But I was intrigued. Here was a
rapidly growing field where I could apply the critical thinking and problem-
solving skills that I had mastered as a medical researcher.
My friend introduced me to “meetups” with programmers and data scientists,
and I quickly felt the same excitement that I did when attending scientific
conferences. I was attracted to the openness with which people shared ideas
, the lack of hierarchy, and how fast the field was moving.
But I wasn't totally ready to leave academia. So, over the next 2 years, I
split my time between my postdoc position and developing the coding skills I
would need in my potential new career. I took online programming courses,
and my data scientist friend helped me get over the initial hurdles. I also
incorporated programming into my medical research by doing data analysis
utilizing my coding skills, rather than the statistical software that I was
accustomed to using. It was hugely time-consuming, but I knew that it would
pay off in the long run.
Finally, I felt that I was ready to let go of my original career plans. I
revamped my lengthy CV into a one-page data science resume, compiled my
publications' abstracts into a word cloud to showcase my newly developed
programming skills, and got that initial interview. I didn't land the job,
but one of the academics on the interview panel put me in touch with the
director of health data science at my institution. After a few conversations
, he and I worked out a role for me where I could further develop my data
science skills while also leveraging my existing expertise. Now, 3 months
into my new position, I've found an inspiring supervisor and a supportive
work environment, and I have rediscovered why I fell in love with science in
the first place.
I'm still supported by my postdoctoral fellowship, with a year and a half of
funding left. That will give me the time to figure out whether my passion
for data science will continue to grow, and whether to stay in academia or
move to industry. But I have already realized that the biggest challenge was
letting go of my original dream of being a medical researcher leading my
own research group. That gave me the courage to build new skills and follow
a more fulfilling scientific direction. | C*********n
发帖数: 1032 | 2 SICENCE终于做了点有良心的事。Nature继续在无耻的忽悠劳苦大众。 | g********0
发帖数: 6201 | 3 虽然NIH funding不但没少还略有增加，但感觉申请人的盘子增加的更快，加上可以无
限重投，拿funding的形势在进一步恶化。 | h**c
发帖数: 1979 | | T****i
发帖数: 15191 | 5 本来我和老教授合写的R01拿到了好分数之后曾经心动是不是要回去接着做，想想做科
研的辛苦和几年后又一轮艰辛，对比下现在轻松多了的工作和更高的收入，想想还是算
了。
【在 g********0 的大作中提到】
: 虽然NIH funding不但没少还略有增加，但感觉申请人的盘子增加的更快，加上可以无
: 限重投，拿funding的形势在进一步恶化。
| h**c
发帖数: 1979 | 6 Science发这种文章很不负责，会误导很多千老。 | h******g
发帖数: 27 | 7 Science 应该学MMM 金融平台，来个“重启‘ ， 游戏才能玩下去。 | e****t
发帖数: 17914 | 8 Wow this is liberating
was
I
data
.
【在 b*******0 的大作中提到】
: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/357/6346/102
: Reprogramming my career
: As I stood at the whiteboard with a marker in my hand and a five-person
: interview panel of industry experts watching me, I realized I had no idea
: how to perform the “simple” coding required to solve the question that was
: asked. I was about to be exposed as a fraud. What had ever made me think
: that I would be able to transition from medical research to data science?
: That was 6 months ago. Even though that initial interview was a disaster, I
: have since made the leap, and I now spend my days coding and performing data
: analysis to generate insights from millions of electronic medical records.
| l**********8
发帖数: 337 | | d******s
发帖数: 66 | 10 Nature 平均每年一天劝退吧，比如这篇
https://www.nature.com/news/life-outside-the-lab-the-ones-who-got-away-1.
15802
只不过广大博士后们只看到了research paper 看不到这种文章
【在 C*********n 的大作中提到】
: SICENCE终于做了点有良心的事。Nature继续在无耻的忽悠劳苦大众。
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