tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30440031.post33717587280114826..comments2023-10-31T15:54:33.859+05:30Comments on Stella Roy: Exams, results and careerStellahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16255526607389447003noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30440031.post-58226888893035101192007-06-26T16:07:00.000+05:302007-06-26T16:07:00.000+05:30Hi Stella,Nice post. You know what would be best i...Hi Stella,<BR/>Nice post. You know what would be best is if you could have your hobby as your career. The reason I say this is because you are most likely to succeed if you are passionate about it, which is the case with hobbies. Nowadays with the plethora of opportunities and avenues available, this is often possible. It may be wise to stay off the beaten track. It is better to be an excellent player in an obscure field than a mediocre player in a popular field. When you are mapping out your career path it is important to do your homework and find out the market for the line. I have often observed that there is a mad rush for the currently fashionable field. Let me take my field of expertise i.e. life sciences as an example. I have noticed there is an urgency to jump onto the Biotechnology bandwagon without realizing the consequences. The result you end up with thousands of engineers and post graduates every year without a suitable job to fill. Let me offer my advise to those who wish to venture into this field. Biotechnology Industry is at a very nascent stage in India and there are only a handful of players. Correspondingly the job opportunities are limited. So let me outline the opportunities available and the best strategy to avail them. The largest demand in the market is in marketing and sales in both Biotech and Pharma. For this the best bet is B.Tech. Biotechnology / B.Sc. Life science along with a marketing degree. Pune university has an MBA Biotechnology course MBA marketing courses are pretty ubiquitous and your employability increases with the reputation of the institute. The second rank in terms of market demand is in Clinical research with CRO’s. For this the best option is B. Pharm or B.Sc. / M.Sc pharmacology. For a senior management position it would be MBBS. Third on the list would be Regulatory affairs in both Biotech and Pharma. For this B.Sc. Life Science / Chemistry with a law degree (Specialisation IPR) or looking at the demand and the cost benefit of the time and money spent on education, it may be better to do a diploma in IPR. For other jobs in Pharma / Biotech a chemistry major is better than in Biological science. In production B.Sc./ M.Sc. is the qualification required, Chemical engineering degree is ideal. Microbiologists have a slight advantage in fermentation and quality control but like I said the number of jobs are very less. For R&D Ph.D. is required but demand for Chemistry is much higher than Biological sciences. The other more common field is in academics where a Ph.D. is desirable, it’s become pretty saturated here too. My advise is do not go in for a Ph.D. especially in Bio unless you are really passionate about the topic and that’s what makes your world go round because that will probably be your only reward. Now a days a number of people are also looking to go abroad to pursue their education with a view towards employment as there are better opportunities there. My advice is to do an applied course like DMPK and join the industry as soon as possible. The entry level for most jobs is at the level of MS if you plan to go there to do your Ph.D. then you would spend 6-7 yrs in PhD followed with 2-3 post docs (10 yrs) before you get a job in the industry or a tenure track in academia. Whereas if you join after MS you would have 16-17 yrs of experience. So far as demand goes highest is for nursing and related jobs, synthetic organic chemistry, pharmacokinetics, forensics, oncology and regulatory affairs. I hope this helps while you make your decision. It might look like I talking too much into the future but you’ve got to plan for tomorrow in order to make your decision today. I am sure others can contribute insight from their respective fields. The main thing is to enjoy what you do. <BR/><BR/>Stella, I noticed you cornered all the artistic fields for girls. We men can be artistic too :-).<BR/><BR/>DevasisDevhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00500309576492945401noreply@blogger.com