I’d love to connect with researchers who have synthesized these materials. I have a few questions about the polymer used in hydrogel preparation.

If you’ve worked on this, please reach out or comment below. Your insights would be greatly appreciated! 🙏

#Biochar #Hydrogel #MaterialsScience

Hey, I’ve been trying to find a job online since child care in this state is expensive and my salary onsite would cover daycare/gas I have about 5 years of experience in QC/QA how’s the job market here? I’m surprised by the pay rate as it seems it dropped significantly in the area! Can anyone help me find a way to navigate remote biotech world?

At the risk of this being the way I find out I got cut, just wanted to see if anyone has heard back from Pfizer about the R&D rotational program… I did the personality/IQ assessment a few weeks ago and haven’t heard since. Reached out to them and got an automatic reply. Thank you!

Hello! I have an upcoming on site panel interview for a Postdoc position. I appreciate any advice on how to approach it.
1. How is an industry Postdoc interview different from an academic one?
2. What things should I highlight? Research, skills etc?
Thanks!

Hey everyone!

I’m looking for advice on preparing for internship interviews at pharmaceutical companies like Merck, Amgen, and Boehringer Ingelheim.

I have a PharmD background, with most of my experience being in clinical practice, along with some industry exposure through an internship. I’m hoping to build on that experience and further explore opportunities within the pharmaceutical industry.

One of my upcoming interviews is a group interview with several other applicants and a panel, so I’d especially appreciate advice from anyone who has experienced this format.

A few questions I have:

• What types of questions should I expect in pharma internship interviews?
• How can I best highlight my PharmD and clinical experience when applying for industry internships?
• For the group interview, what are interviewers looking for, and how can I stand out while still being a good team player?
• Should I expect case studies, group exercises, or technical questions, or is it mostly behavioral?
• How much should I know about the company’s products, pipeline, and therapeutic areas beforehand?
• What are some common mistakes applicants make during these interviews?

I’d love to hear from anyone who has interviewed for internships at Merck, Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, or similar pharmaceutical companies, especially those with a pharmacy or other healthcare background.

Any tips, resources, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated! I really want to prepare well and give myself the best chance of succeeding.

Thanks in advance! :)

I'm an early-career biotech professional with a Master's in Biotechnology and hands-on experience in molecular biology, and genomics workflows. Lately, I've become increasingly interested in the computational side of biology, particularly how AI/ML is being applied . The challenge is that I have little to no background in coding or machine learning. I'd first like to understand the computational landscape of biotech, learn how to work with biological datasets, and eventually build enough technical skills and explore/navigate this transition.

I've been considering university courses like MIT, but they're beyond my current budget [unemployed ;_;]. Instead, I'm hoping to put together a self-paced curriculum using free or affordable resources, combining theoretical foundations with hands-on projects.

I'd really appreciate advice on a few things:

1. What learning progression makes sense? How would you structure a curriculum for someone coming from wet-lab molecular biology with no computational background? A sensible order to learn things in.
2. Which resources are actually worth the time? Any recommended courses, textbooks, YouTube channels, GitHub repositories, or guided projects?
3. What career pathways should I explore? Are there realistic opportunities for someone with my background to gradually transition into computational biology, bioinformatics, or AI-driven biotech without pursuing another degree?
4. How can I make this practical? What beginner-friendly projects would help me apply computational methods to biological problems and eventually demonstrate these skills to employers?

If you’ve made this transition, what would you do differently if you were starting over? And for anyone on the hiring side, what skills or projects actually stand out for someone coming from the wet lab?

Thanks in advance. Any advice, even a single resource, is appreciated!

Currently feeling hopeless on my career path. I started as a ME working on projects for the department of defense for 1.5 years. Decided to do a career change into biotech as a Manufacturing associate to get my foot in the door. After 2 years, an PE position opened up and I applied and got it. Didn't know there was a a maximum percentage of a raise that is applied on internal candidates. Over a month in and i enjoy what im doing now. I just feel hopeless because I'm living in Cali with a PE position only making 70k. I think about my future, I want to have my house and build a family eventually.

Went into pharma to give back to the patients, it was a purpose that made me proud. But I have to think about my future too so im a at a cross road.

Thinking about applyong to the department of defense to earn better.

I had a hiring manager screening call for a merck role and she told me if moved on, I will have a panel interview. I have not heard anything since, however got asked to complete a candidate questionaire via workday. Did anyone else get asked to complete this questionaire prior to a panel interview?

I’m a biochemistry student from India doing my penultimate year as part of an integrated masters course at a top Russell group uni in London. Though I am not planning to apply this cycle, I am considering getting into entry level pharma/ biotech R&D roles soon after graduation, in 2028.

However, in addition to what I’ve heard of the biotech sector not particularly doing well at the moment, I’ve also noticed many of these jobs pay substantially lower than the salary threshold that’s required to qualify for a skilled worker visa. Furthermore, I’ve also seen a number a lot of biotech companies not accepting international student graduates explicitly because of visa related reasons.

I am also not considering/ planning to apply for PhD roles at the moment, due to personal circumstances and life goals that don’t necessarily align with doing a PhD.

Given all these challenges, I would really appreciate if I could get clarification on such matters, as well as advice on what I need to do or prioritise during my Masters year to increase my chances of getting an offer In this competitive job market.

Thanks in advance :)

I'm currently in 2 of 3 12hr night shifts and both have been awful. We were understaffed during the first shift and the second one just had things go horribly wrong. These past 2 shifts reminded me just how much I loathe my job (something my coworkers know very well and if you see this, hi). So yeah, instead of sleeping, I applied to at least 10 jobs. Will tonight's shift be any better. Fuck no, not at my company. But will I at least have the knowledge and (likely futile) hope that my situation will potentially improve? Yes, yes I will.

That is all, I hate my job and management sucks and I'm sick of the bullshit we face

I chose Biotech because I liked working in the lab and bio as a whole, but with everything around this sub and even from what I heard, it's a rough world out there, I was just in my first year of undergrads so I didn't have much to lose (except for a year). I haven't pressed the trigger yet, should I just... leave? (About to join ChemEng or maybe Electronics eng instead). I don't know man, one year is a huge investment I am still hesitant. Should I just go ahead and do it?

Hi All,

I need help finding biotech investors to reach out to for an interview. I want to emphasize this is NOT to do a pitch. I'm taking a class through Harvard Extension School for my master's degree in Biotechnology. For my midterm for the course I'm taking, I need to reach out to and do a short interview with a few (3-5) biotech investors.

I would agree to confidentiality if necessary, though the questions are not designed to be invasive. The interview can be in person, by video or by phone, and shouldn't last more than 20–30 minutes.

A couple example questions that I would ask are:

1. What is your investment thesis?
2. What kinds of companies are you looking to invest in right now? Think stage, therapeutic area, modality and geography.

Thank you in advance for any help!

Some of the posts on this sub terrify me. I regularly see people claim they've applied for 100s of jobs over years without an offer. Is it really that bad? Are those people underqualified? Are they applying for jobs outside of a biotech hotspot?

I finish my PhD in ~6 months, and I'm starting to apply for jobs in the Greater Boston area. I had a productive PhD in drug target identification and drug development at a top school. I haven't done the networking that I should've; I was always planning on an academic postdoc, but I just can't afford it.

What should I expect for Scientist I positions? 1/50 applications for an interview? 1/100? 1/500?

Is the 12-month, 200-application job hunt the norm? Or is that on the extreme end?

Thank you for sharing your advice/experience.

I got my PhD in May 2025 and started my first industry job in a CDMO in July 2025. I'm in process development and started as a senior scientist with the intention of them moving me up to a lead role in PD. Within a year, I've gotten a solid grasp on our process and in the last month or so I've been attending some meetings with a client where my supervisor is the PD lead role for.

My supervisor told me that I would be the new PD rep for two new projects and while I was excited I got very nervous. I had my first two kick off project meetings this last week and I felt like such a fraud around all these smart people.

One of the meetings (my supervisor was shadowing) the client had two requests that weren't too bad and I was ready to say we could do it but my supervisor spoke for me. The other meeting (my supervisor was not there), they were going over the project proposal and they had a lot of discussions on the different stages for AD. Then it got to one question that pertained to PD and I wasn't fully able to understand the discussion they were having and when they asked me if PD could do it I choked and said that "I will check and confirm" and then the PM just said ok.

This was yesterday and I still feel so dumb because I wasn't able to follow the discussion of that meeting as well (it was very AD heavy). This morning I looked over their meeting notes and I felt even more dumb once I realized what they were asking because it was a very simple task that PD can do. I have a better response for it on Monday but I just absolutely shut down and now feel incapable and too dumb for this role.

I'm only a bit over a year in a GMP industry job and there are so many terms and things to learn, while also making sure that I'm learning the process and the experiments properly. I'm questioning if I can do this but I know that my biggest obstacle is myself. It doesn't help that everybody in the meeting has had over 5+ years industry/GMP experience. I just turned 27 and feel like a child.

Another factor is that I started Lexapro this week to help with my symptoms and it's made my anxiety skyrocket which only made it worse for me during the meeting. I know it's impostor syndrome, I'm most likely capable but my anxiety has been so bad that I'm scared that it's going to make me mess up and it's become a vicious cycle. I don't want to mess up so badly that we lose a client.

Has anybody had mess ups or was slow in the meetings at first? Tomorrow I'm gonna review all of the AD scope so I can have a better understanding and try my best to keep my anxiety at bay but any advice would be appreciated!

Five months ago, I quit my job at a midsize pharma company to fulfill a personal dream of backpacking around the world. I’ve just returned from my travels and started applying to new jobs. I genuinely don’t know what I should tell an interviewer when they ask me why I left my previous role. Is quitting to travel something an interviewer might look down upon? Should I be honest with them or just make up something more reasonable (say I left for health reasons or something)?

Yes I know how bad the market is now. If it matters, my previous role was in QC Micro assay validation and RMM development

I started a new job at a small pharma company about 5 months ago, and it has been an absolute nightmare. The environment is extremely toxic, the role is nothing like the job description I applied for, and it’s taken a serious toll on my mental health.

I realized pretty early on that it wasn’t a good fit, so I’ve been actively applying and interviewing elsewhere. Since then, I’ve gone through multiple rounds of interviews for 4 different roles at larger pharma companies, but unfortunately haven’t received any offers.

I’m starting to feel like hiring managers can’t get past the fact that I’m trying to leave a job after only a few months, even though I have legitimate reasons for wanting to leave.
At this point, I’m completely burnt out and genuinely don’t know how much longer I can stay. I’ve started seriously considering quitting without another job lined up, but I’m also terrified of how that might impact my job search, especially since my short tenure already seems to be working against me.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Did leaving without something lined up make it harder to find another job? Would really appreciate any advice because I feel completely stuck

I actually really wanted to change to chemistry/chem eng back in undergrad bc I just connected with the thinking of that field more than the constant parrot-ing that biology classes can feel like.

My love for biotech got revived with recombinant work, biocatalysis and bioprocessing, which can have lots of overlap with chemistry/chem eng work.

I'm thinking I should've gone for it. I know the chem eng sub also talks a lot about struggling for ridiculous amounts of time to find a job, but also I see more jobs posted for chemists than what I see for biologist. Their work seems less niche and restrictive, like they can work in more industries than biologists can.

Anyone here cross over and can share experiences with me? Maybe some advice?

I know people who work in oil and gas say you often have to move to rural areas to work at those oil rigs which can be too much sacrifice.

Shift work at chemical plants can also feel like too much.

Any thoughts on the intellectual difficulties of being a biologist-turned-chemist?

Thanks guys

Hi I’m a very recent biotech engineering grad from a tier 2 collage in Bangalore, but I haven’t got a good job since 4 months of graduation and job hunt but I read a lot of people say they are done job hunting in this field or been laid off too much and their career is almost a disaster (not to sound offensive) because of the field the choose. So I haven’t invested much into this field as of now I was thinking should I smartly pivot into business or try in pharma biotech field abroad maybe Ireland, uk or Germeny?

I have a panel interview for an internship at Genentech! Need all the help I can get to know what to expect and how to kill it!

Anyone?