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You are going to have real problems breaking through without at least an undergraduate degree. Or artificially limited even if you land something. I'm old eno

You are going to have real problems breaking through without at least an undergraduate degree. Or artificially limited even if you land something. I'm old enough to know that nothing is impossible, but how hard do you want the road to be? I went back for an undergrad in CS in my mid-20's, pulled my MS in CS in my early 30's, and even after a decade of dev work, it took a lucky break in my personal network to get me into the academic research world in the medical space. Just eat the time and knock out some type of undergrad - when asked, I usually tell folks to major in X with a minor in CS. The minor in CS is enough signalling for most programming jobs and the major in X with that minor gives you a head start on the competition in X. I think this is generally true for X=math, biology, chemistry, business, etc.

archibaldJ 6y ago
I see! Thanks! Interesting to know that! Yup, feels like medicines & bio-engineering have such a high barriers to entry (which well makes sense too). I have been thinking a lot about going back to school for an undergrad. Hope schools in Germany still take none-EU students like myself who are “past their prime” as undergrads. Or maybe I will look around in other places.
- loriettanmuse 6y ago
  Yeah I agree with clusterhacks! I have a background in medicine and it will definitely be more difficult to get anything decent without a formal background in the field. Only because the risks associated are typically higher, so this is almost always a requirement for every decent job/career in that space. I saw that you mentioned you were in a bit of a situation, but I'd say try to do everything you can before eventually deciding whether or not to give up. It'll be difficult, but definitely not impossible. Your previous experiences might help you go through the courses a bit easier
  - archibaldJ 6y ago
    Thanks for the encouraging words! I'm a bit lost at the moment in this regard. And there are still lots of work and life to deal with in the present. The career transition is certainly not going to be smooth and it will involve a lot of work. As much as I'm somewhat looking forwards to it (if it can be realistically executed) I should start sorting things out and optimise my work/life before taking in this challenge.

archibaldJ 6y ago

I see! Thanks! Interesting to know that! Yup, feels like medicines & bio-engineering have such a high barriers to entry (which well makes sense too). I have been thinking a lot about going back to school for an undergrad. Hope schools in Germany still take none-EU students like myself who are “past their prime” as undergrads. Or maybe I will look around in other places.

loriettanmuse 6y ago
Yeah I agree with clusterhacks! I have a background in medicine and it will definitely be more difficult to get anything decent without a formal background in the field. Only because the risks associated are typically higher, so this is almost always a requirement for every decent job/career in that space. I saw that you mentioned you were in a bit of a situation, but I'd say try to do everything you can before eventually deciding whether or not to give up. It'll be difficult, but definitely not impossible. Your previous experiences might help you go through the courses a bit easier
- archibaldJ 6y ago
  Thanks for the encouraging words! I'm a bit lost at the moment in this regard. And there are still lots of work and life to deal with in the present. The career transition is certainly not going to be smooth and it will involve a lot of work. As much as I'm somewhat looking forwards to it (if it can be realistically executed) I should start sorting things out and optimise my work/life before taking in this challenge.