| DXCAREER RESOURCES |
| The Good and Bad about Biotech and Pharmaceuticals The Good Stuff Changing lives. Most people in this industry believe deeply in what their companies do. As one MBA puts it, “When you’re in the pharmaceutical industry, yeah, you’re there to make money, but there’s also the underlying fact that you’re doing something that is going to make a huge difference in thousands of people’s lives.” The good life. Although there’s some debate as to whether industry scientists work fewer hours than their academic counterparts, they most certainly earn more. And they don’t have to hustle for money. “It’s nice not always having to worry about funding,” says one insider. MBAs, for their part, can hit six figures not long after coming out of school without having to endure the travel and long hours imposed on classmates who opt for consulting or banking. Hey, that guy’s pretty sharp. “A lot of brilliant people are attracted to this industry,” says one recruiter. And while many of these industrial-strength geniuses are attracted by the research opportunities, it’s often the presence of fellow thinkers that they find most enjoyable. “It is definitely a more intellectual industry than most, which is great,” says one insider. Choose your own adventure. If you like having the rules spelled out and an obvious career ladder, sign on with a pharmaceutical company. If, on the other hand, you don’t think you can take the hierarchy but don’t want to give up the perks of a large company, try a large biotech company. If you want to be on a first-name basis with the CEO, a startup is the place for you. It’s all here. You decide. What to Watch out for Business first. In the final analysis, the companies that compose this industry are just that—companies. Their chief aim is to maximize profits, not save lives, and this goal is reflected in the decisions they make. If you end up working on the world’s 13th drug for high blood pressure instead of the world’s first drug to treat some incurable disease, don’t say we didn’t warn you. Consolidation blues. “There’s always the risk of layoff,” says an insider. “I don’t care who you are [Big Pharma or startup biotech].” Widespread mergers and acquisitions mean that Big Pharma simply doesn’t offer the job security of yesteryear, particularly if you’re in administration or manufacturing. While your experiences will likely serve you well in finding a new job in the industry, no one enjoys being laid off. And a merger can be an adjustment even if you keep your job. “Every time you turn around it seems you have a new title and you’re still sitting at the same desk,” says a veteran of three consolidations. The living dead. The vast majority of promising compounds (5,999 of every 6,000) fail to develop into marketable drugs. So if you’re working for a small biotech company, there’s a serious possibility that your company’s efforts will never produce a marketable product. This could transform the small, vibrant company you joined into a stagnant mire. If you’re considering a stint with a biotech shop, evaluate its prospects as thoroughly as possible, and heed an insider’s warning: “You don’t want to end up among the living dead.” The MS shuffle. A few people without PhDs make it to scientist, but the vast majority [with a BS or MS degree] hit a ceiling at the research specialist level, between five and ten years into their career,” says one veteran of industry labs. For many people this is fine—it is a comfortable, reasonably well-paid job that allows for a healthy work/life balance. But if you have grand career ambitions and want to stay in science—and don’t have a PhD—you may find more frustration than fulfillment here. Keep me in the loop. Because work is done in teams, meetings rule. One recruiter’s advice to scientists, “You won’t just be working at the bench,” might be considered an understatement for the kind of interaction required. And one result of the attempt to keep team members informed is a tendency to err on the generous side when copying people on memos. “I get 200 e-mails a day,” reports one insider. “And the majority I don’t need to see.” While the same could be said in many other industries, the situation is aggravated by the tremendous volume of documentation required in the highly regulated sector of biotech and pharma. |
