A quick talk on "Working with Bioinformatics"

Folks, a quick talk about working with bioinformatics.

Bioinformatics job profiles is a gradient. In one extreme, there's the developers of bioinformatics tools. In the other extreme, there are the users of bioinformatics tools. In both cases you need to have a good knowledge of biology, specially of genetics and biochemistry.

It's important to note that the "users" profile is mainly related to the use of webservers and desktop software. But keep in mind, it's a gradient, so there are multiple and varied mixes of these two extremes.

Despite all the profiles are devoted to answer a biological question at some extent, "user" profiles will be directly involved at it, while "developer" profiles will be aimed at proposing solutions that help to solve many instances of a same problem class.

Because of that, the best way (in my opinion) to start on bioinformatics and find your way is at the middle of the gradient, the so called "bioinformatics scientist". People at this spot do a lot of code, but it is devoted to analyze data and to solve a biological question in a way more direct way than "developers". Besides, people at this region of the gradient make a lot of use of CLI software are able to automate the sequential execution of various CLI tools. 

Starting at this region of the gradient (for me) is the best choice because from this point you can have a better feel wether you are more happy writing software, thinking directly on the biological nature of the problem, or simply doing a mix of both at the proportions of your preference.

Another recommendation I give is (if possible) start in bioinformatics at the academic side of the force (for example, joining a research group at a university or research institute). Much of what is done (including what has started to be done) is done in the academic realm. Besides that, you'll learn not only the necessary foundations but also develop skills such as scientific method and critical thinking, very important to be a bioinformatician.

Another advantage to start at the academic setting is possibility of being in a better place to make future decisions (like in the middle of the gradient) as well as the fact that (correct me if I'm wrong) "the pressure is lower" in the academic setting.

For further reading, I strongly recommend this seminal paper, from which I've learned the ideas for this post:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3945096/