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Re:Ten Simple Rules for Starting a Company [PLoS Computation... by ahelwer on Friday March 30, 2012 @01:15PM (#3777006)
I would definitely want to go into industry. This is not to say I am averse to getting a masters degree, but I am having great fun in my internship in the private sector.

I believe I'll have one more summer left in my degree, so that's 4 months open for an internship. Do you suppose it would be possible to get a meaningful feel for the field in practice by finding an internship at a lab or company somewhere?

Re:Ten Simple Rules for Starting a Company [PLoS Computation... by timr on Friday March 30, 2012 @01:31PM (#3777103)
It's not much time, but it's better than nothing. You'll get a taste for the field, but that's about it. Start looking now.

If you have another school year before graduation, you should also seriously consider doing some work in a campus biology lab. If you're at a larger school, there will be at least one lab that does computational biology work, and if not...well, it's important to know something about biology. A winter spent in a lab will be a learning experience, either way.

And if you're having trouble getting your foot in the door, here's an easy way to get a gig in a campus lab: work for free. Tell them that you're a CS student interested in computational biology, and that you'll be free, eager labor if they'll let you learn about biology research. It's a time-honored tradition -- nearly everyone in the field gets their start this way.