[anderspitman]

One thing you might look into is bioinformatics, which is essentially CS + Genetics + Stats, and would let you leverage your bio background. There are basically two halves to bioinformatics: data science and tools development. The developers primarily write the tools, and the data scientists use them for their research and publications. One huge advantage is that pretty much all the major software used is publicly funded and open source. You can contribute without even having a job. That's actually how I got my first job in bioinformatics, by contributing to scikit-bio. This gives you a portfolio and mentoring in exchange for labor. Also, since academia can't afford competitive software engineer salaries, they're always hurting for good developers which can make it a great way to get started. Just be sure to get involved with a lab that has good engineering practices. That might be difficult to gauge, so ask someone to help you audit the lab's work if you're not sure.

[abcd0990]

Hi! I am trying to transition my career from the lab - I have about 10 years of experience in a gene sequencing company and currently considering software. I'd like to learn more about what you did and see if I can replicate your success, would you mind answering some questions?