Navigating Job Opportunities in Bioinformatics: A Graduate's Journey
Hello, I am hoping this is the best thread for this question. I graduated with a MSc in Bioinformatics in 2013. One of my courses was in Ontologies for the Biosciences and I did my research project in ontologies but it didn't give me anything beyond average familiarity with ontological reasoning and building. I used OWL and I am familiar with w3c and rdf but I never touched SPARQL. Additionally, since then, I have no working experience in the field as no opportunities existed in my home country. Now that I am in the U.S. and I have been for about one and a half years I am struggling to get a job. I am not enrolled as a student so I am not eligible for internships. I am also much older than the average new graduate out there 馃檭. I am open to suggestions from the more experienced people on getting opportunities for work given my background. I am also open to suggestions for training or working with a stipend to get more experience so that I become more marketable. I spend time reading and trying to improve my skills and knowledge using online education sites and recently started teaching myself R and I was planning to move on to Python next. Any other advice on upgrading my skills aside from the evident great stuff I'll be getting at this KGC 2021 is welcome. I would also like to hear on my marketability and suitability for the job market now from potential employers given that I am very much in the middle-aged demographic group with no working experience in the field. All other comments are appreciated.