[sjg007]

The best way is to apply for a job in a computational biology lab or research center. Maybe read a few papers too. Most of them need software developers. If you do good work you'll be a co-author.

Another path is to join one of the many many NGS startups where you too can analyze Nextseq data.

That will give you sufficient credentials to get into a PhD program if you want to do that.

Also there's an ex-hedge fund guy D.E. Shaw who runs a comp bio group, also Wolfram and all the big tech companies have comp bio groups.

Work there, see if you like it, that may give you an opportunity to enroll in a PhD if you want.

It will probably pay less than you'd make in a regular software job but its enough to live on and likely interesting work.

No matter where you go find a lab that is generating data. Data is the key.

[emrah]

Great advice! I did exactly this and realized a PhD is not for me, yet enjoyed being part of the scene as a developer very much!