Anyone a Data Scientist or Bioinformatician?

MinnieCooper

Hello,

I am contemplating doing a MSc in either Bioinformatics or Data Science as I desperately want to leave the NHS for another career. I want to keep within an area related to science and I am quite interested in data/epidemiology. I have a BSc and PGDip in the Biomed field.

Would a MSc in either subject allow me to work as either a Data Scientist or a Bioinformatician? Also, how many jobs are advertised a working from home? I would LOVE to work from home! I am a little worried about my age (I am 45 this year) but I can't sustain working many weekends (literally, every weekend) and nights as a mum of 2. My husband also works weekends and we have little family time/quality of life.I want to progress and feel frustrated in my current profession.
Any words of wisdom?

directdebiter

Cant help too much but I know that Data Scientist is a job title that over the last few years has grown massively in demand. Big Data/Analytics is really in demand so is definitely a skill set worth pursuing. Maybe useful career info for you on Data Scientists

Work @ Home maybe hard to find having a quick look until you have proved yourself in a company & have a experience to be honest. If you are set to want to work at home then you need to think carefully about the career you take. HTH.

dlmcr

Without wanting to put you off, doing a data science MSc is not going to make you an attractive proposition as a data scientist to employers and you are going to spend a lot of money in the process.

Which of these are you reasonably knowledgeable in already:
- data analysis methodologies, clean / dirty data, data issues
- database structure and methodology
- statistics / maths
- how to explain complex data problems and solutions in plain english
- how to program in SAS / R / Python or at the very least SQL / VBA for Excel or similar

You are not going to learn enough of the above from a course, you would be expected to have a significant knowledge of these already when you go for a job interview. Most real life data scientists do not have this or any similar degree because what you learn at university or educational setting is theoretical and has little relevance to what you will be doing in a real life workplace setting. Being "quite interested" in something is different to having a marketable set of skills within an area that is attractive to an employer.

If you want to work from home build trust with an employer, start of 1 day a week, then move it up to 2 days etc. I would go as far as to say it is virtually inpossible to get a work from home "job" for an employer but you could try sites like Peopleperhour for "jobs" or try setting up as a limited company contractor.

The previous poster is right in saying big data is the big thing but the problem is because it is a new thing most employers have no real idea what a data scientist is or is supposed to do, so the job title "data scientist" can apply to many jobs that actually do somewhat different things from glorified data analyst to working at google on abstract concepts.

zoe321

i would say in the meantime go for a job in nhs that offers mon-fri work.....

or have you considered civil service?

may I ask what is your BSc in?

w06

I'm a data scientist. Started slightly, but only a few years, younger than you, also from a medical background.

It's definitely doable and definitely a growing field. I'd have to disagree slightly with dlmcr, those skills can be learned and developed, although I agree an Msc is only one step to becoming a bioinformatician, already having genuine health care understanding is a huge asset (you don't say what your BSc is in) . Increasingly data science is being undertaken, and indeed led, by 'domain experts' who have subsequently acquired the data processing and interogation skills.

With regards working from home, that depends on both your relationship with your team and also the data that you're working on. For some of us, with stringent measures regarding data security, that is possible but in other teams data can only be accessed when physically within the office, which limits home working.

Look up the Farr Institute and HeRC that might help point you towards useful courses and links