Is the Biotech Revolution a Bust?

College Search & Selection
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<p>Maybe it's the fact that I was raised in an era where they told us we'd have our personal genomes mapped out and retrievable with the swipe of a card at the doctor's office, but it seems to me like the "revolution" that was supposed to change the world through a new understanding of biology was all talk. </p>

<p>Critics pound at the HGP (Human Genome Project) for costing much and doing little. Big Biotech firms like Amgen and Genentech draw big investment but they don't get the best return. You could do research, but the job market is oversaturated with failed premeds. </p>

<p>It seems to me like the majority of biotech advancement is done by (and for) Big Pharma. Under this paradigm, only the very best researchers make big salaries to hand off whatever they produce to their corporate overlords, who patent the product and argue away any chance for a young and coming upstart to break into the field. </p>

<p>As a doc's son who came to love genetics, I'm left a little disillusioned. I feel like the job outlook for even bio and chemical engineers in the field of biology is a pretty much nonexistent. You can't go the entrepreneurial route because there are HUGE barriers to entry that only Big Pharma can overcome. Any other career would require another degree.</p>

<p>I wondering if a bioengineering major could get a grunt-level job as a research lab in some big food production company or something. Otherwise, I'd say the whole "Biotech" revolution is a bust, what say you?</p>

<p>(Probably in the wrong forum but I couldn't figure out where to discuss this)</p>

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<p>Isn’t that really the short summary of the biology job market, regardless of what the “biotech revolution” does? I.e. even if biotech creates a lot more jobs than there are now, the large supply of biology graduates can still leave many or most of them on the outside looking in.</p>

<p>In any case, there are posters in the science majors forum who gripe a lot about the poor job and career prospects for biology and chemistry majors.</p>

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<p>Huh? Last year Amgen had revenues over $15 billion and profits of over $5 billion. I wouldn’t exactly call that a bust. </p>

<p>I’ve been working in biotech for 30 years now and have had a good career as have hundreds of other scientists I know. You can’t be a success in biotech living in small rural towns, but if you are willing to live in one of the big biotech cities sooner or later you can break into the business. So if biotech appeals to you, go for it. Get a PhD in a biomedical field from a good research university and then do a post doc in a biotech center such as San Diego, Boston, the Bay Area, etc. </p>

<p>It’s a competitive world out there, but so what else is new? If you are half-way sharp and not afraid of hard work, you can make it.</p>