3 ms·

I don't have a degree in medical sciences so I have no idea where I would start.

by jiggy2011 14y ago

Posibyte 14y ago
And I think this is the biggest issue. Where do I find the information? Who's going to pay me for it? What incentive do I have to toil over something that might be needed and useful on one level, but stark in contrast to other opportunities that derive much greater incentive. To become competent, I might be wasting my time in the end. If I have a marketable skill now with no additional work, then I don't have much a reason to invest into something else.
oh_sigh 14y ago
Because it's easier to be negative than positive. Complaining about something is a heck of a lot easier than doing anything about it. Reg should use crowdfunding to develop this device, or something along those lines, if he really cares about this problem.
ihnorton 14y ago
Some suggestions: Help build better tools for researchers. * Julia (julialang.org) is very promising and could use talented developers to help build the ecosystem. * Numba (http://numba.pydata.org/ http://numba.pydata.org/) looks amazing and should build on the existing strength of SciPy. Contribute to open-source projects related to medical research; a few favorites in the imaging space: * PLUS (https://www.assembla.com/spaces/plus/wiki https://www.assembla.com/spaces/plus/wiki) * OpenIGTLink (http://openigtlink.org http://openigtlink.org) * XTK (http://goxtk.org http://goxtk.org) * NiPy (http://nipy.sourceforge.net/nipy/ http://nipy.sourceforge.net/nipy/) Contributing to an open-source project would give exposure to the problem space while leveraging existing skills and not taking a huge initial risk (school or paycut). If you wanted to make this a full-time pursuit, such contribution could be leveraged: many labs would love to hire a talented programmer. However, expect a ~30-50% haircut (in hospital or university labs you will have a hard time cracking $50k to start and $70k on the high end). I am familiar with open-source projects in a number of other medically-relevant research areas. If you are interested in some specific area, shoot me an email and I'll see what I can think of.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  Those do indeed look like some incredible projects. If I had more time (and judging by the docs better linear algebra skills) I might certainly be interested in these. I hope that some smart hackers do take you up on this.
- vobios 14y ago
  Nice roundup of some bio-medical open-source projects. As someone who works at an academic lab, though, I think you are being a bit pessimistic regarding the pay scale.

I don't have a degree in medical sciences so I have no idea where I would start.

And I think this is the biggest issue. Where do I find the information? Who's going to pay me for it? What incentive do I have to toil over something that might be needed and useful on one level, but stark in contrast to other opportunities that derive much greater incentive. To become competent, I might be wasting my time in the end. If I have a marketable skill now with no additional work, then I don't have much a reason to invest into something else.

oh_sigh 14y ago

Because it's easier to be negative than positive. Complaining about something is a heck of a lot easier than doing anything about it. Reg should use crowdfunding to develop this device, or something along those lines, if he really cares about this problem.

ihnorton 14y ago

Some suggestions: Help build better tools for researchers. * Julia (julialang.org) is very promising and could use talented developers to help build the ecosystem. * Numba (http://numba.pydata.org/ http://numba.pydata.org/) looks amazing and should build on the existing strength of SciPy. Contribute to open-source projects related to medical research; a few favorites in the imaging space: * PLUS (https://www.assembla.com/spaces/plus/wiki https://www.assembla.com/spaces/plus/wiki) * OpenIGTLink (http://openigtlink.org http://openigtlink.org) * XTK (http://goxtk.org http://goxtk.org) * NiPy (http://nipy.sourceforge.net/nipy/ http://nipy.sourceforge.net/nipy/) Contributing to an open-source project would give exposure to the problem space while leveraging existing skills and not taking a huge initial risk (school or paycut). If you wanted to make this a full-time pursuit, such contribution could be leveraged: many labs would love to hire a talented programmer. However, expect a ~30-50% haircut (in hospital or university labs you will have a hard time cracking $50k to start and $70k on the high end). I am familiar with open-source projects in a number of other medically-relevant research areas. If you are interested in some specific area, shoot me an email and I'll see what I can think of.

jiggy2011 14y ago
Those do indeed look like some incredible projects. If I had more time (and judging by the docs better linear algebra skills) I might certainly be interested in these. I hope that some smart hackers do take you up on this.
vobios 14y ago
Nice roundup of some bio-medical open-source projects. As someone who works at an academic lab, though, I think you are being a bit pessimistic regarding the pay scale.