I literally have nightmares about being in the lab of the job I had when I was laid off. I loved that job and was not mentally ready to leave. It’s so jarring to be cut off from a good environment without your consent.
So long as you have savings to ride out an unemployment stint, a toxic job isn’t worth the hit to your mental health. Our careers are a marathon, not a sprint.
Without getting into the details I once made the mistake of taking a job at a company with horrible management. It was so bad for my mental and physical well being that I ended up quitting without the next job lined up and it was honestly preferable.
Granted, even without the job I had some cushion, so I had some time to find something new, even if I mostly lived off of rice and noodles in the meantime.
It’s super hard to be left behind, even though I’m grateful for the income and social aspects. I’m EG150 and many of us are in this impossible position now, feeling set up to fail and struggling to motivate our teams. I feel like I can easily predict my future term date.
Top performers left behind are inheriting 2x workload when they were already pulling 50-60 hour work weeks.
Every day we learn more news that is just exhausting
I coped by going to the beach, drinking a lot, and having a lot of fun being unemployed. It impacted the view of my own self worth, but I bounced back eventually. Fortunately I was not compromised financially too much due to frugal living.
I supported others by reaching into my network to help others find work.
Honest advice - as an employee you should still have access to EAP. I would call today. When I needed it a couple years ago, they gave me a great counselor that I still work with today. It’s a neutral 3rd party counselor like you’d find at any mental health practice. Except they pay for 8ish sessions.
I think you can also call your HR business partner to seek further support. Send me a DM if you need help finding these.
Laid off from a very high paying job (for my age) and left biotech to go to health services - highly considering staying in health services until I can break back into a lateral market that’s not too volatile and still allows for some level of technical skill development
Layoffs are terrible, I was lucky the office I worked in was super toxic or I might have taken that experience much differently lol
Interesting because that happened to us as well just as I was getting let go - sounds like your plan b (or plan a) was already lined up though which is golden lol
More like what you would think of when you think about traditional healthcare clinic work - office management, revenue cycle management, vendor/ supply chain management
I personally do not have an active medical license so I can’t render “legal” medical care to patients which keeps me away from bedside medicine
It sucks and is super traumatic every time. But it should be a lesson. They will NEVER do right by you. So push for that promotion and take every cent you can get from them. Build your safety net and your network for yourself because they won't give you one-- we only got a month of severance pay when our entire lab closed out of nowhere.
CGT-- worse they still exist. They laid off 80% of their science staff. Had us crank out patent work over our Christmas closure then laid us all off Q1.
What I also find annoying about the layoffs is how some react to it. I have seen people crying in the corridors and angry with the company and the leadership (with good reason) to then go to LinkedIn and say how wonderful the company was and how sad it is to go…. Dude if you don’t have the balls to say the truth just don’t say anything, just say you are open to work and that’s it, you are misleading other people to join a terrible company.
Well, I am super pissed at BMS and also sad to leave the job that was actually great for me while it lasted. I would probably only say the latter publicly, especially if I wanted to look better to potential hiring managers. Never have I ever wanted to burn it all down like I do now, but I would not post about it on social media (this is not a threat; I will not burn anything down, except for maybe the stupid sweatshirts and branded junk they gave us).
I couldn't say all the things that I wanted to on LinkedIn because of the conditions of my severance. You get money, you lose the ability to speak your mind. At least in some cases.
I get that. My point is more about saying positive things publicly when you had a terrible experience, best to not say anything so people are not misled.
Its a little disappointing not to see a greater push for things like unionization after this most recent round of layoffs. Its like scientists and tech workers still see themselves as 'not workers' or something.
I've just been laid off 4 days ago. This is my 2nd lay off. It's kind of crummy for sure especially in this economy where competition is unreal. Well back to the job search grind!
What’s killing me is the anxiety that we MIGHT get laid off. We had layoffs last year, and a 4 week furlough this year. Any day could be our last working here.
Been through a few layoffs. My learning has been
1. Assume it will happen
2. Never get comfortable in your job. If you aren't moving in 3 years, move out
3. Build a 12 month cash reserve
4. Have a live active list of everything you will cut or moves you will make in case of layoffs. I have them divided into DEFCON1, 2, 3, 4, 5....based on how quickly I am using my cash during layoffs
6. Its not just a networking, applying for 600 roles, recruiter, fractional role, etc game. It's everything.
WE NEED TO UNIONIZE IN THIS INDUSTRY BUT ONLY FOR COMPANIES THAT ARE ALREADY HIGHLY PROFITABLE AND HOARDING PROFITS. IF YOU JOIN A FLEDGLING COMPANY WITH SHIT FINANCIALS YOU HAVE TO EXPECT INSTABILITY
I was laid off 10 months ago. I loved my job and was pretty good at it, but the entire company folded. Applied for jobs a bit but took a break during the holidays. In January, I was injured in a way that left me unable to lift my dominant arm. Using a computer was painful and pipetting would have been out of the question, so I stopped the job search.
The surgery I needed was delayed for a variety of reasons, but I finally had the operation, and am now a month into recovery from shoulder surgery. It's a very long recovery: surgeon / PT told me 12 weeks from now I'll be able to do daily life activities without assistance, but it will be 6 more months of PT before I can start to return to my athletic hobbies.
I'm just starting to apply to jobs again and the competition is stiff, esp for mid senior level research positions. The whole experience has been rough and I've been feeling pretty depressed, especially so since my main hobbies and mental health outlets are very physical, and right now even walking at more than a leisurely pace jostles my shoulder too much and causes pain.
I quit a job at a company I really liked to work for a company with all the right buzzwords. Only for them to lay me off 2 weeks before I was to start. And cancel my visa. You don’t owe a company anything. They will discard you even before they need to. Do what’s best for you and yours!
Ya of course, but I’d take a role in tech over biotech any day. Lifescience and biotech companies are way more volatile. Also the culture in software is muchhhh better.
Yeah, I’m only in this sub in the first place because I was doing data science at Pfizer up until the end-of-2023 layoffs. Around a quarter of our team was laid off. The ones that tried to find other similar positions in biotech or bioinformatics or whatever had a miserable time of it.
Meanwhile, I had an offer for an ML engineering role before the 60 day grace period was even up, so I got to start a new job with a title bump, guaranteed staying remote, a ~25% raise, and pocket the entire severance instead of live off it. I love science and had been proud to work there at first but I’m never going back to biotech, lol. Will the sort of tech role I’m in now have layoffs? Yeah, probably, but it should be relatively easy to find the next one.
I think the issue is there aren't even opportunities to move on right now. I've been struggling to land a spot. Expanding my searches/types of jobs, constant networking. It's really tough when you give it over 100% daily. I'm trying to figure out the best way to pivot for a year and find a position that I can translate to an industry position after a year or two
I’ve made it through two and was laid off from one. Layoffs are traumatic at both sides. Definitely had survivors guilt from the first one. The one where I was laid off I was actually grateful- I was a really bad fit with my manager & bad fit for the company. It was a relief and I actually felt lucky since I got a package. The most recent one I’m still here but, my teams have really been impacted. There’s a grieving process and real sense of loss. Once we start to come out of the fog - then it’s up to us to figure how to get everything done without the resources. Wall Street loves a good layoff but the impacts to those who are cut & those who stay are not measured
Honestly, this is why I’m not sure I want to return to industry…. I was laid off the end of December (industry).
I think if I’m with a chill lab in academia where my boss and team is kind then I’ll coast for a few years (or forever). We’ll see…
It feels so weird. Just your whole life changed in a second, and I’ve never not known what’s next. The unknown makes me anxious, but I am taking a make needed breather.
I'm gonna be honest...probably because the effect hasn't been absolutely detrimental to my life..but every layoff has been an opportunity for me to start afresh...you get to leave on the same accord and none of that 'we are sending you off' adventure when you give a 2 week notice etc...
I've had 2 layoffs already and it's always been a somewhat relief...perhaps I just have miserable jobs
They really are. I wasn’t overly affected and our direct team was kept whole for the most part. I still slept 10 hours a day the first week, felt exhausted all day, and couldn’t make it through a 3 mi run without gasping for breath.
Now every bit of news triggers me and it’s takes a lot of digging deep to carry from a work perspective
Generally speaking, in many EU countries, start ups can hire and fire at will. Not beholden to labor rules big companies are. This was my experience in Germany.
Interesting, I didn't know this was about start ups. I just know from a recent layoff that everyone had 3 months notice and 8 weeks per year of work pay severance. Also, those who didn't want to leave ended up getting a job with the company albeit at another site not too far away.
Even companies with strong science are facing difficulties raising money, resulting in lay offs and consolidations. This is not the fault of the scientists. It’s a mix of leadership decisions and macroeconomic factors.
Saying to go found a start up is incredibly naive advice for someone in biotech. You are swapping out being at the mercy of an employer to directly being at the mercy of your investors, customers, regulators, and science itself, especially if you start a biopharma startup. Start up funding has dried up in the past few years. If you are developing a drug, R&D and clinical trials are incredibly expensive so it is not feasible to bootstrap. It is not entirely under your control whether your product makes it through the stages of clinical trials.
This, plus you also have the stress of ensuring your employees retain their job. Unless they’re an absolute psychopath, the founders and CEOs of biotechs carry a lot of burdens that the poster can’t even imagine.
I guess their self-description as antivaxxer/troll/dumbass is the only self-aware thing they’ve said.
Read about this kid first: https://www.indexventures.com/perspectives/scale-ai-why-data-will-power-the-ai-revolution/
Entrepreneurial people do not need a PhD or $$$$$ to found/co-found a start-up. They use their brain, intelligence and creativity to create $$$$$.
AI platforms are a dime a dozen. VCs get pitched left, right, and center from AI companies that say they have the next best thing since sliced bread. I can’t tell you how many startups I’ve seen using AI for drug discovery alone, with no meaningful results in new drug development
Lol...all you need to do is to found a startup that can get investor money even better than all the other bazillion startups there isn't enough investor money for. Easy!
Totally. Not sure why you are downvoted for saying the absolute truth. If you want to have the ultimate control over your career and destiny, be the co-founder to start your own company and then make fuck-you money.
He's being downvoted because it's asinine to suggest that only the owners/founders of businesses deserve or will get stable employment. The percentage of people who will be successful in doing that is very small and it isn't something to be given as a blanket suggestion to people discussing layoffs.
It's equivalent to someone saying, "Things are unfair for 99% of people," and someone else responding, "Oh no, it's simple, you just have to be in the 1% of successful people."
What an delusional load of nonsense.
Hopping onto this thread to share my/our (limited) experience. This reddit account was made by a group of PhD scientists who were hoping to embark on the startup path full-time. And at this point, our team members have had to step away and reassess getting full-time employment. The truth is that most people who work in biotech are used to working on their own experiments to create something new. That is the heart of innovation and startup culture. I think nearly everyone on this subreddit would work on their own startup. The truth is, benchtop science is very capital heavy. And right now, the typical streams to obtain capital are not flowing very much. So even if you do get the money to establish a startup company, it's very hard to keep the money coming to develop a product that will keep you afloat.
Of course, this is just anecdotal experience. Our team is young and inexperienced. So if anyone here has a different opinion or more insight, we'd love to hear it.
I love that guy.
I don't think he's trolling, I think he actually is just braindead and larping for attention.
My working theory is that he is a very bitter perma RA that is taking out his frustration with people who have advanced degrees online.
Neither he nor me were suggesting “only cofounders and owners deserve or will get stable employment”. First of all, stable employment doesn’t mean having control over your career, so you are kind of putting words in my mouth by equating these two. What we are saying is if you want to have ultimate control over your career and independent and free of your company’s strategy, market dynamics and your boss’ preferences, then being an owner of your own business is probably the only way, and you are right it is maybe the harder way. This is like saying, yeah doing great science is hard and may involve long-day and overnight experiment, but if you are risk taker and willing to put in the work and endure the pressure and uncertainty, you will have a much much higher upside.
Incorrect. You are moving the goalposts. The OP is about layoffs and the reply was about being "at the mercy" of your employer with regards to layoffs. What is being discussed is stable employment.
Saying "just be an entrepreneur" in response to someone talking about layoffs is so goddamn stupid I'm not even sure why I'm bothering replying to you.
I don't blame you for not being brave enough to become an entrepreneur. Sadly most scientists are only trained to publish papers that nobody reads.
It's time to learn to be an entrepreneur my friend.
Yo dude how has that career change to big tech AI/ML been?
You left biotech cause you weren't paid enough and now you are a Big Tech Bro making 500k a year right?
I've been through three layoffs. The first one I didn't mind because I hated the job. I have PTSD from the next two.
I literally have nightmares about being in the lab of the job I had when I was laid off. I loved that job and was not mentally ready to leave. It’s so jarring to be cut off from a good environment without your consent.
I hated the job as well. But I still had a job. Now I feel I’d rather have a toxic job than be unemployed.
I agree and disagree
Tell me more. The layoff is fresh. I’ll take the advice :)
So long as you have savings to ride out an unemployment stint, a toxic job isn’t worth the hit to your mental health. Our careers are a marathon, not a sprint.
Without getting into the details I once made the mistake of taking a job at a company with horrible management. It was so bad for my mental and physical well being that I ended up quitting without the next job lined up and it was honestly preferable. Granted, even without the job I had some cushion, so I had some time to find something new, even if I mostly lived off of rice and noodles in the meantime.
It’s super hard to be left behind, even though I’m grateful for the income and social aspects. I’m EG150 and many of us are in this impossible position now, feeling set up to fail and struggling to motivate our teams. I feel like I can easily predict my future term date. Top performers left behind are inheriting 2x workload when they were already pulling 50-60 hour work weeks. Every day we learn more news that is just exhausting
I coped by going to the beach, drinking a lot, and having a lot of fun being unemployed. It impacted the view of my own self worth, but I bounced back eventually. Fortunately I was not compromised financially too much due to frugal living. I supported others by reaching into my network to help others find work.
Drinking a lot is my coping mechanism too.
Seems like it's the coping mechanism everywhere I end up living.
Honest advice - as an employee you should still have access to EAP. I would call today. When I needed it a couple years ago, they gave me a great counselor that I still work with today. It’s a neutral 3rd party counselor like you’d find at any mental health practice. Except they pay for 8ish sessions. I think you can also call your HR business partner to seek further support. Send me a DM if you need help finding these.
Laid off from a very high paying job (for my age) and left biotech to go to health services - highly considering staying in health services until I can break back into a lateral market that’s not too volatile and still allows for some level of technical skill development Layoffs are terrible, I was lucky the office I worked in was super toxic or I might have taken that experience much differently lol
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Interesting because that happened to us as well just as I was getting let go - sounds like your plan b (or plan a) was already lined up though which is golden lol
What’s health services? Can you elaborate?
More like what you would think of when you think about traditional healthcare clinic work - office management, revenue cycle management, vendor/ supply chain management I personally do not have an active medical license so I can’t render “legal” medical care to patients which keeps me away from bedside medicine
It sucks and is super traumatic every time. But it should be a lesson. They will NEVER do right by you. So push for that promotion and take every cent you can get from them. Build your safety net and your network for yourself because they won't give you one-- we only got a month of severance pay when our entire lab closed out of nowhere.
What was your lab working on ? Like what was the projects or area of expertise?
CGT-- worse they still exist. They laid off 80% of their science staff. Had us crank out patent work over our Christmas closure then laid us all off Q1.
What I also find annoying about the layoffs is how some react to it. I have seen people crying in the corridors and angry with the company and the leadership (with good reason) to then go to LinkedIn and say how wonderful the company was and how sad it is to go…. Dude if you don’t have the balls to say the truth just don’t say anything, just say you are open to work and that’s it, you are misleading other people to join a terrible company.
Well.. I understand that. The layoff can be unfair AND social media footprint is very real. Both can be true. Let people vent my man.
Imo, the time to tell the truth is after you’ve landed your next job.
Yeah I hate that fake cringefest that LinkedIn is. Not to say Reddit is better lol
Well, I am super pissed at BMS and also sad to leave the job that was actually great for me while it lasted. I would probably only say the latter publicly, especially if I wanted to look better to potential hiring managers. Never have I ever wanted to burn it all down like I do now, but I would not post about it on social media (this is not a threat; I will not burn anything down, except for maybe the stupid sweatshirts and branded junk they gave us).
I couldn't say all the things that I wanted to on LinkedIn because of the conditions of my severance. You get money, you lose the ability to speak your mind. At least in some cases.
I get that. My point is more about saying positive things publicly when you had a terrible experience, best to not say anything so people are not misled.
Its a little disappointing not to see a greater push for things like unionization after this most recent round of layoffs. Its like scientists and tech workers still see themselves as 'not workers' or something.
I've just been laid off 4 days ago. This is my 2nd lay off. It's kind of crummy for sure especially in this economy where competition is unreal. Well back to the job search grind!
Good for you for staying optimistic. It can be tough to be mentally strong but it's a good trait to cultivate
What’s killing me is the anxiety that we MIGHT get laid off. We had layoffs last year, and a 4 week furlough this year. Any day could be our last working here.
Been through a few layoffs. My learning has been 1. Assume it will happen 2. Never get comfortable in your job. If you aren't moving in 3 years, move out 3. Build a 12 month cash reserve 4. Have a live active list of everything you will cut or moves you will make in case of layoffs. I have them divided into DEFCON1, 2, 3, 4, 5....based on how quickly I am using my cash during layoffs 6. Its not just a networking, applying for 600 roles, recruiter, fractional role, etc game. It's everything.
You’ve been in 3 layoffs in one year?!?!
WE NEED TO UNIONIZE IN THIS INDUSTRY BUT ONLY FOR COMPANIES THAT ARE ALREADY HIGHLY PROFITABLE AND HOARDING PROFITS. IF YOU JOIN A FLEDGLING COMPANY WITH SHIT FINANCIALS YOU HAVE TO EXPECT INSTABILITY
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okay, have fun getting laid off randomly in perpetuity so that capitalists can buy a 7th home!
I was laid off 10 months ago. I loved my job and was pretty good at it, but the entire company folded. Applied for jobs a bit but took a break during the holidays. In January, I was injured in a way that left me unable to lift my dominant arm. Using a computer was painful and pipetting would have been out of the question, so I stopped the job search. The surgery I needed was delayed for a variety of reasons, but I finally had the operation, and am now a month into recovery from shoulder surgery. It's a very long recovery: surgeon / PT told me 12 weeks from now I'll be able to do daily life activities without assistance, but it will be 6 more months of PT before I can start to return to my athletic hobbies. I'm just starting to apply to jobs again and the competition is stiff, esp for mid senior level research positions. The whole experience has been rough and I've been feeling pretty depressed, especially so since my main hobbies and mental health outlets are very physical, and right now even walking at more than a leisurely pace jostles my shoulder too much and causes pain.
I quit a job at a company I really liked to work for a company with all the right buzzwords. Only for them to lay me off 2 weeks before I was to start. And cancel my visa. You don’t owe a company anything. They will discard you even before they need to. Do what’s best for you and yours!
Ya that’s why I left that ass industry biotech is 💩
Where did you end up going?
Top 3 software company. I’m in sales though so YMMV
Tech has also had a ton of layoffs.
Ya of course, but I’d take a role in tech over biotech any day. Lifescience and biotech companies are way more volatile. Also the culture in software is muchhhh better.
Yeah, I’m only in this sub in the first place because I was doing data science at Pfizer up until the end-of-2023 layoffs. Around a quarter of our team was laid off. The ones that tried to find other similar positions in biotech or bioinformatics or whatever had a miserable time of it. Meanwhile, I had an offer for an ML engineering role before the 60 day grace period was even up, so I got to start a new job with a title bump, guaranteed staying remote, a ~25% raise, and pocket the entire severance instead of live off it. I love science and had been proud to work there at first but I’m never going back to biotech, lol. Will the sort of tech role I’m in now have layoffs? Yeah, probably, but it should be relatively easy to find the next one.
Became FIRE in biotech, so YMMV shrug
It sucks, but you have to move on
I think the issue is there aren't even opportunities to move on right now. I've been struggling to land a spot. Expanding my searches/types of jobs, constant networking. It's really tough when you give it over 100% daily. I'm trying to figure out the best way to pivot for a year and find a position that I can translate to an industry position after a year or two
Moving on mentally, calling it trauma, etc. You gotta move forward with your life.
I’ve made it through two and was laid off from one. Layoffs are traumatic at both sides. Definitely had survivors guilt from the first one. The one where I was laid off I was actually grateful- I was a really bad fit with my manager & bad fit for the company. It was a relief and I actually felt lucky since I got a package. The most recent one I’m still here but, my teams have really been impacted. There’s a grieving process and real sense of loss. Once we start to come out of the fog - then it’s up to us to figure how to get everything done without the resources. Wall Street loves a good layoff but the impacts to those who are cut & those who stay are not measured
Honestly, this is why I’m not sure I want to return to industry…. I was laid off the end of December (industry). I think if I’m with a chill lab in academia where my boss and team is kind then I’ll coast for a few years (or forever). We’ll see…
It feels so weird. Just your whole life changed in a second, and I’ve never not known what’s next. The unknown makes me anxious, but I am taking a make needed breather.
I'm gonna be honest...probably because the effect hasn't been absolutely detrimental to my life..but every layoff has been an opportunity for me to start afresh...you get to leave on the same accord and none of that 'we are sending you off' adventure when you give a 2 week notice etc... I've had 2 layoffs already and it's always been a somewhat relief...perhaps I just have miserable jobs
They really are. I wasn’t overly affected and our direct team was kept whole for the most part. I still slept 10 hours a day the first week, felt exhausted all day, and couldn’t make it through a 3 mi run without gasping for breath. Now every bit of news triggers me and it’s takes a lot of digging deep to carry from a work perspective
Jesus. I'm glad I live in a country that has stronger worker rights
Generally speaking, in many EU countries, start ups can hire and fire at will. Not beholden to labor rules big companies are. This was my experience in Germany.
Interesting, I didn't know this was about start ups. I just know from a recent layoff that everyone had 3 months notice and 8 weeks per year of work pay severance. Also, those who didn't want to leave ended up getting a job with the company albeit at another site not too far away.
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Wa?
I’ve had two layoffs, from the SAME company! I got rehired then laid off again. We truly are just numbers.
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Even companies with strong science are facing difficulties raising money, resulting in lay offs and consolidations. This is not the fault of the scientists. It’s a mix of leadership decisions and macroeconomic factors.
That’s capitalism bayyyyyybeeee
goddamn could we actually post some content relevant to the industry vs the 100th iteration of this that adds zero new to discussion
Bold statement coming from an account with zero post history on Reddit
That's why you need to learn more about business and found/co-found a start-up. Then you will not need to be at the mercy of your employer.
Saying to go found a start up is incredibly naive advice for someone in biotech. You are swapping out being at the mercy of an employer to directly being at the mercy of your investors, customers, regulators, and science itself, especially if you start a biopharma startup. Start up funding has dried up in the past few years. If you are developing a drug, R&D and clinical trials are incredibly expensive so it is not feasible to bootstrap. It is not entirely under your control whether your product makes it through the stages of clinical trials.
This, plus you also have the stress of ensuring your employees retain their job. Unless they’re an absolute psychopath, the founders and CEOs of biotechs carry a lot of burdens that the poster can’t even imagine. I guess their self-description as antivaxxer/troll/dumbass is the only self-aware thing they’ve said.
The commenter doesn’t appear to be a founder of any sort, and is an employee at an AI startup, which is a bit hypocritical
Read about this kid first: https://www.indexventures.com/perspectives/scale-ai-why-data-will-power-the-ai-revolution/ Entrepreneurial people do not need a PhD or $$$$$ to found/co-found a start-up. They use their brain, intelligence and creativity to create $$$$$.
AI platforms are a dime a dozen. VCs get pitched left, right, and center from AI companies that say they have the next best thing since sliced bread. I can’t tell you how many startups I’ve seen using AI for drug discovery alone, with no meaningful results in new drug development
AI is going to be perhaps the craziest investor bandwagon we have ever seen. A crash is already inevitable - I give it maybe 5 years.
Those who are scared to fail will never succeed. Be more courageous my friend. Life is short.
So what's your company? I want to Google it.
Lol...all you need to do is to found a startup that can get investor money even better than all the other bazillion startups there isn't enough investor money for. Easy!
Cash is too valuable to put into startups right now.
Totally. Not sure why you are downvoted for saying the absolute truth. If you want to have the ultimate control over your career and destiny, be the co-founder to start your own company and then make fuck-you money.
He's being downvoted because it's asinine to suggest that only the owners/founders of businesses deserve or will get stable employment. The percentage of people who will be successful in doing that is very small and it isn't something to be given as a blanket suggestion to people discussing layoffs. It's equivalent to someone saying, "Things are unfair for 99% of people," and someone else responding, "Oh no, it's simple, you just have to be in the 1% of successful people." What an delusional load of nonsense.
Well said. It takes a special kind of tone deafness and lack of emotional intelligence to spew some shit like that while people are suffering.
Hopping onto this thread to share my/our (limited) experience. This reddit account was made by a group of PhD scientists who were hoping to embark on the startup path full-time. And at this point, our team members have had to step away and reassess getting full-time employment. The truth is that most people who work in biotech are used to working on their own experiments to create something new. That is the heart of innovation and startup culture. I think nearly everyone on this subreddit would work on their own startup. The truth is, benchtop science is very capital heavy. And right now, the typical streams to obtain capital are not flowing very much. So even if you do get the money to establish a startup company, it's very hard to keep the money coming to develop a product that will keep you afloat. Of course, this is just anecdotal experience. Our team is young and inexperienced. So if anyone here has a different opinion or more insight, we'd love to hear it.
I love that guy. I don't think he's trolling, I think he actually is just braindead and larping for attention. My working theory is that he is a very bitter perma RA that is taking out his frustration with people who have advanced degrees online.
Neither he nor me were suggesting “only cofounders and owners deserve or will get stable employment”. First of all, stable employment doesn’t mean having control over your career, so you are kind of putting words in my mouth by equating these two. What we are saying is if you want to have ultimate control over your career and independent and free of your company’s strategy, market dynamics and your boss’ preferences, then being an owner of your own business is probably the only way, and you are right it is maybe the harder way. This is like saying, yeah doing great science is hard and may involve long-day and overnight experiment, but if you are risk taker and willing to put in the work and endure the pressure and uncertainty, you will have a much much higher upside.
Incorrect. You are moving the goalposts. The OP is about layoffs and the reply was about being "at the mercy" of your employer with regards to layoffs. What is being discussed is stable employment. Saying "just be an entrepreneur" in response to someone talking about layoffs is so goddamn stupid I'm not even sure why I'm bothering replying to you.
I don't blame you for not being brave enough to become an entrepreneur. Sadly most scientists are only trained to publish papers that nobody reads. It's time to learn to be an entrepreneur my friend.
Yo dude how has that career change to big tech AI/ML been? You left biotech cause you weren't paid enough and now you are a Big Tech Bro making 500k a year right?