[riprock]

I think a big reason why most people go with a career and degree in software engineering as opposed to bioinformatics is because of a bigger job market, a higher salary potential, and a lower commitment to achieve the goal (computer science degree as a 4 or 6 year degree, vs a mandatory 8+ year degree in bioinformatics.) Unless these things change, bioinformatics will remain unappealing to top google engineers who are paid to scale cat pictures at salaries like 250k+.

To add one more thing, perl is huge in the bioinformatics community, which would never win a popularity contest among software developers.

[sciurus]

I expect that most universities have a core curriculum that requires CS majors to take other science courses. Make those courses genetics and biochemistry and a CS undergraduate can probably get into a 2-year masters program for bioinformatics.

[riprock]

I might get some backlash for this, but while you can apply for some bioinformatics jobs with a MS, PhD is the norm not the exception for biology-related fields. Without a PhD, you won't get very far career-wise.