The Road Less Traveled:Alternative Career Paths
After a rousing lecture on Good Laboratory Practices last evening, a bunch of M.S., Ph.D students and postdoctoral fellows in the New York Center for Biotechnology Certificate Program invited me out for a "drink". Not being one to pass up an opportunity for a drink and some intellectual bantering with students, we wound up at a nice bistro down the street. Of course, the drink thing may have had something to do with their case study presentations that will take place in three weeks but as usual the discussion turned to "how do I find a job after I graduate or after I finish my seemingly never-ending postdoctoral sojurn".
I was surprised to learn (or perhaps not as observant as I ought to be) that many of the graduate students in the program do not want to do postdoctoral fellowships after they receive their degrees. Mind you, these are very bright students who are pursuing Ph.D degrees at places like Rockefeller University, Columbia University, NYU and Cornell! That said, these students kind of see the handwriting on the wall and have already determined that they do not want to pursue research careers (some of them physically shuddered at the thought). With this in mind, we began to collectively explore alternative career paths for Ph.D holders.
I am sure that most of you have heard by now that medical school, law school and business school are alternative career options for scientists who have determined that they do not want to pursue careers in research. Although these career options may be appealing to some, they all take substantial amounts of time, money, and, at least, 2-4 more years of school! For many, the prospect of more school and an additional outlay of cash or acquired debt is not palatable. So with that as a backdrop, we embarked on a spirited, hour long discussion about less well known career possibilities.
Here are some of the things that we came up with:
- Technical writing (science or medical)
- Business analysts (for venture capitalists or banking firms)
- Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology Sales
- Medical Communications
- Competitive Industrial Intelligence
- FDA investigator/reviewer opportunities
- Government Laboratory Positions (DOE, DOD and others)
- CIA
- Quallity Control and Assurance (may require more training)
- Regulatory Affairs (may require more training)
- Pharmaceutical/Biotechnology Marketing (may require sales experience)
- Business Development (may require sales or previous business experience)
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Wow that's a nice post ....
Nice post!
I am also looking into alternative careers for biology Ph.Ds and found out that some people are lucky enough to land jobs as scentific advisors at law firms. Some of them might take the patent bar exam and become patent agents. Though these opportunities are rare, this is surely one way to work in patent law without going to law school.
PS: When would the registration for the fall sememster start at your center? Thanks.