3 ms·

I stopped working in the tech industry and moved to Sydney to work on a phage therapy clinical trial as a research software engineer. We're doing really cool, i

I stopped working in the tech industry and moved to Sydney to work on a phage therapy clinical trial as a research software engineer. We're doing really cool, impactful work, and we're actually treating real-life patients! Pay is not nearly as good as tech (I make less than at my first job), but it's rewarding and not nearly as high stress either, and we're doing something really unique in the world. Not sure if this is something I want in the really long term, but loving it for now.

redanddead 4y ago
research software engineer?
- badpun 4y ago
  It’s typically a role where you code internal software supporting a research group you’re a part of. Usually pays a small fraction of what commercial devs make, unfortunately.
- yawnxyz 4y ago
  Yep! It's way more than just "software engineering" though: I design + build the infrastructure around collecting samples, patient data, clinical trial data, etc. I do stuff like: figure out how to collect data and generate reports for regulatory approval; figure out how to collect / clean data in a way that supports ML in the future; set up the entire data capturing system, e.g. choose databases, build interfaces, set up automation/ETL/choose tech (e.g. R2 vs. S3?); help other team members publish papers (too lazy to publish my own, and as a software engineer that doesn't really help me); etc. It's a lot of stuff going on, and in some sense it's like a "CTO" role of both steering, designing, and implementing tech to help steer a clinical trial in the right direction. But we're not a pharma clinical trial — we're a research lab, so our group is tiny (<10 full-time), so we're constantly doing everything and under-resourced. So it kind of feels like a startup in a lot of ways, but with very different KPIs and measurements of success, since we're grant-driven. Professionally, it's me and another bioinformatician doing all the tech decisions, so it's giving a lot of experience that are transferrable out into the tech world if I ever wanted to come back (I used to be a UX designer). And yes, the pay is terrible (I make less than my first jr. UX designer role), but it's also much less stress than a tech job. And it's rewarding because I can say that our team helps treat people like a 7yo girl who almost got her leg amputated from an infection, and she's absolutely fine now! (But yes, I wish it paid more, and it might, if we score this massive pending grant.)

redanddead 4y ago

research software engineer?

badpun 4y ago
It’s typically a role where you code internal software supporting a research group you’re a part of. Usually pays a small fraction of what commercial devs make, unfortunately.
yawnxyz 4y ago
Yep! It's way more than just "software engineering" though: I design + build the infrastructure around collecting samples, patient data, clinical trial data, etc. I do stuff like: figure out how to collect data and generate reports for regulatory approval; figure out how to collect / clean data in a way that supports ML in the future; set up the entire data capturing system, e.g. choose databases, build interfaces, set up automation/ETL/choose tech (e.g. R2 vs. S3?); help other team members publish papers (too lazy to publish my own, and as a software engineer that doesn't really help me); etc. It's a lot of stuff going on, and in some sense it's like a "CTO" role of both steering, designing, and implementing tech to help steer a clinical trial in the right direction. But we're not a pharma clinical trial — we're a research lab, so our group is tiny (<10 full-time), so we're constantly doing everything and under-resourced. So it kind of feels like a startup in a lot of ways, but with very different KPIs and measurements of success, since we're grant-driven. Professionally, it's me and another bioinformatician doing all the tech decisions, so it's giving a lot of experience that are transferrable out into the tech world if I ever wanted to come back (I used to be a UX designer). And yes, the pay is terrible (I make less than my first jr. UX designer role), but it's also much less stress than a tech job. And it's rewarding because I can say that our team helps treat people like a 7yo girl who almost got her leg amputated from an infection, and she's absolutely fine now! (But yes, I wish it paid more, and it might, if we score this massive pending grant.)