How I got from biology to computer science (And how I learned to get over it!)
Hi Steemit,
From a young age, I have always been interested in biology, medicine, and science. I did science fair every year I could, looking at mold, brine shrimp, and environmental contamination. My mom was always optimistic that I would go into medical school and be a rich fancy doctor! Sorry, mom.
In school, my favorite classes were always my science classes. I took as many biology and chemistry classes as my graduation requirements would allow. Physics intimidated me, however. I scored well on all of my tests, even scoring a perfect on the state biology test (which was a source of pride for a very long time).
When it came time for university, there was no doubt in my mind that I was going to major in something biology! I intended to be a famous researcher. I wanted my very own constant! My first major was simply biological sciences. However, I changed my major before I ever started classes. I thought to myself, ‘Everyone is going to be studying biology. I need to be able to stand out if I’m going to be a world famous researcher. I need to specialize!’
I read the major list under biology, and landed on biological engineering. Perfect! Engineers make tons of money and I’ll still get to do vague…biology….things.
So began my descent into computer science hell.
What I didn’t realize going in was that biological engineering was absolutely nothing like biology. To give you an example, the only biology credit I needed to graduate was cell biology…a class in which I received my first and only D. I count biochemistry as more chemistry due to my teacher’s focus.
I started to think that I made a huge mistake! This seemed really math and physics heavy…especially all the engineering core classes. But since I am stubborn, I decided to wait it out.
This ended up being a great idea.
Soon, I began to learn about a new world of opportunity. A huge part of my major courses was computer programming. In high school, I had taken a semester of Visual Basic and thought myself very fancy for it. In university, I got to take C++ (1 semester), Matlab (5 semesters), and Labview (3 semesters). Turns out, I really like logic and computers. I was able to make them do things. I was far from the top of my class, but I really started changing my perspective here. It was at this same time I started working as an undergraduate research assistant.
Engineering research ended up being my forte. I loved solving problems. I loved getting my hands dirty using the machinery: mechanical testing, sample prep, and even machining some of my own parts. I enjoyed learning the software and data analysis protocols even more.
By the time I graduated, I had developed a good biomedical engineering skill set. I was still adamant that I was going to do wet science, however. My specialization was in tissue engineering. So even though my best grades were in my programming and finite element analysis classes, I attempted to apply to grad school in microbiology.
To the surprise of no one except myself, I was rejected. Wallowing in despair, I applied to jobs all over the country since I had put all my eggs in the grad school basket. One thing led to another, and I now work in an immunology lab. I learned how to do all of the essential wet lab techniques: PCR, ELISA, Western blots, and lab animal work.
My lab is amazing. I have the best boss, and great coworkers. But I realized after working here for a short time that as much as I love science, wet lab work is not for me. My brain’s functionality is not conducive to working in a wet lab, and working with lab animals is very difficult for me (though I still firmly believe they are essential from a researcher’s perspective).
My boss didn’t hire me for a wet lab technician, however. The part of my resume that stood out to her was my Matlab experience! My lab duties have been skewing more and more towards bioinformatics. Right now I am working with exome sequences from patient data, and I’ve never been happier.
I am hoping to be able to transition to an entirely bioinformatics career path. Maybe if I’m lucky, I will be able to get into a PhD program, so I can continue doing the research that I love.
For a long time after realizing how much I don’t like wet lab science, I doubted myself. I fretted about choosing the wrong major, about wasting my life and my time. I still have many doubts about my coding abilities (don’t we all) and about whether this is truly where my skills are best applied. A person wiser than me told me that interdisciplinary collaboration is the future of biomedical research, and I firmly believe that bioinformatics plays an essential part in that.
Now, I can say that I have a little bit of every aspect of STEM in me. That’s not a weakness; this is my greatest strength.
Love always,
T
Here's a kitty for reading all the way down to the bottom <3
