Photo: Ishtiaquebioinfo (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Job description
Day to day, a bioinformatics technician might write a script to pull records from a genomic or protein sequence database, then hand off a cleaned dataset to a researcher for further analysis. The role sits at the intersection of biology and computing: technicians confer with scientists and IT staff to figure out exactly what data is needed and how it should be organized, and often contribute to reports or publications built on that work. Because the tools and databases in this field keep evolving, staying current with new software and computational methods is an ongoing part of the job. Most technicians enter the field with a bachelor's degree in a life science or computational field.
Pros
- High pay ceiling near $155k, blending biology knowledge with computational skills
- Work spans cutting-edge fields like genomics, proteomics, and computational biology
- Faster than average projected job growth (4%) in a scientifically expanding field
Cons
- Very small number of positions nationwide (about 300 jobs), so opportunities may be limited
- Above-average hours, often more than a standard 40-hour week
- Requires continuously learning new computational methods and tools to stay current
A typical day
The queue this morning is samples-to-answers plumbing: three sequencing runs to demultiplex, quality metrics compiled into the report the lab director reads before breakfast, and one flagged run — adapters overrepresented — that needs a rerun decision fast because a customer is waiting. Midday work is the pipeline itself: updating a reference genome version, rerunning validation samples to confirm nothing shifted, and documenting the change in the lab's tracked system, because clinical-adjacent labs live by reproducibility. There's database maintenance — sample metadata cleaned so future queries don't lie — and a script written to automate the weekly report that eats an hour every Friday. The technician keeps the data machinery honest so the scientists can trust what comes out of it.
Tasks at the job
- Analyze or manipulate bioinformatics data using software packages, statistical applications, or data mining techniques.
- Maintain awareness of new and emerging computational methods and technologies.
- Enter or retrieve information from structural databases, protein sequence motif databases, mutation databases, genomic databases or gene expression databases.
- Confer with researchers, clinicians, or information technology staff to determine data needs and programming requirements and to provide assistance with database-related research activities.
- Participate in the preparation of reports or scientific publications.
- Write computer programs or scripts to be used in querying databases.
Workplace & working conditions
Work happens indoors in a climate-controlled setting, and most of the day is spent sitting at a desk.
There's a regular, moderate amount of time pressure, and you're expected to exercise significant independent judgment day to day.
Education necessary or common
Bachelor's degree
Common college majors
Career path
Related fields
Courses to take
- AP Computer Science A or Principles — scripting is the job
- AP Biology
- AP Statistics
- Algebra II / Precalculus
- Chemistry
Clubs, activities & competitions
- Coding club
- Science Olympiad
- Robotics team programming roles
- Science fair with any data-analysis project
First steps you can take now
- Learn Python basics and automate one repetitive task in your own life this month
- Work through the first ten Rosalind.info bioinformatics problems
- Learn the command line — real bioinformatics runs in a terminal, and free tutorials abound
- Explore a public genome browser (UCSC) and find a gene you've heard of
