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I live in Ontario, Canada. I am going to apply for an Advanced Diploma in Biotechnology in an Ontario College (public college). I don't know if there is an equivalent in the US, but you graduate after three years of study.
My question is that I read somewhere that Biotech is a dead end job!
They said:
Quote:
"You can only advance if you have your PhD. The work only requires or needs a college diploma, however these companies want Master grads, waist of time."
Is this true or does it apply only to the US?
Should I choose another major? (I really like Biology and I'm good at it, but I'm not smart enough to get into medical school.)
What about the average pay for Biotech entry-level jobs?
Anything that involves working a lab is dead end and low paying like $15-20 per hour no benefits temp and that is if you are lucky. If you are smart enough for such a degree go to healthcare professional school or go elsewhere or you are setting yourself up for some serious employment pain and suffering.
I've been in Seattle biotech since the early 90s, until I got laid off with a sizeable portion of my department in 2011. It has its peaks and troughs, but has really been in a trough for the past several years. Then again, biotech has always had cycles of hiring/layoff.
The major hiring centers for biotech right are in the Boston/New England area, and the bay area around San Francisco. There are a few positions in the Seattle area and probably scattered positions in places like the research triangle in N.C. Both come with high cost-of-living. If you really want to try the biotech scene for a while, you can probably find a position, and if you aren't married/don't have family, you have the flexibility to bounce around to a few places or different parts of the country. You can almost always get sustainable work through scientific temp companies, which isn't a good long-term solution, but will help to get you some experience and some income.
I would seriously consider marrying up your education with something like project management certification or something along the business lines, like finance. If you decide to pursue a masters, then look at a program that has a business blend option. This way if something purely on the science side of things doesn't pan out, then you could potentially look to take another career path. The gist is, being single-tracked in your education/training is very limiting anymore.
I'm in Boston. Analog kid is right, biotech is big here.
More importantly however, MSchemist is right, the biotech people here who make a nice living are of high level. Higher than a Masters. And of those who are of a high level, it took them a while and hard work to get there. Many lower level jobs to work their way in, and they are all pretty brilliant.
However, if you enjoy the field I would not say it is out of the question to pursue it. Of those that are successful, they like what they do. Biotech would have to be your start, you would need to I've on to other positions than a technologist to have a decent income.
OP - Basically what MSchemist has said is correct. There was money to be had in the 80's and 90's in this industry as its potential was first being realized, but follow up successes have proved challenging. Many of the younger people that have been hired in the labs appear to be foreign. Many of the more prestigious companies will require a PhD for even the lowest level of management on the R&D side. Management in Quality will have various levels of education. Lower levels in Clinical will be BS/MS while study managers will almost invariably be MD's. many of these have lately trended to be foreign MD's too.
The irony of it all is that the more lucrative business side is populated by mostly MBA's, many of whom have no technical foundation in science or medicine!
The outlook of the industry is in question too - in the US, most of the costly drugs were covered by government subsidies and third party payers. The mark up was huge and had to be in order to cover all the product testing and development. There has been drastic changes to gov't reimbursements which means the only way forward is to.. cut costs..
I will tell you straight-away that you should not pursue a PhD. If you decide to, you need to plan ahead from the moment you enter grad school. Big Pharma is still contracting and academia is contracting. To get any job in industry with a PhD, you will need to be very successful (very well known boss + papers) and then do a very successful post-doc (with industry ties), which may take up to 7 years. There are too many graduates and not enough jobs.
I would get your diploma and work for a few years and get a feel for things. See what you like. If you can get into a company, try to find out about what scientists do in each area. Take them to lunch and hear about their career path. There are many opportunities outside of R&D, and you can figure out if you need more certificates or more degrees. Perhaps then, (hopefully) your company may reimburse you for continuing your education.
There are people that do very well in biotech with BS/MS but they are more on the Production or Quality side.
I was pretty biotech focused in grad school but ended up going into flavors after I graduated and I am darn glad I did/ Biotech/Pharma seems to be where good science careers go to die nowadays.
If you really want to do biotech I'd do one of the engineering disciplines rather than science but overall I strongly discourage science degrees for any reason other than healthcare professional school and science grad programs I wouldn't want to send my most hated enemy to. Itis 5-7 years as a serf working on a poverty stipend for a PI that may not have your best interests at heart only to end up less employable and in post-doc limbo to boot. That is a sad way for a very smart individual to underachieve in life.
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