nodalpoint.org - career - Comments

blogs and interviews

Neil — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 07:16:24 -0400

Interestingly, there is a (lone) bioinformatics interview question posted (http://www.techinterviews.com/?s=bioinformatics )

"1. When a bicycle is in motion, the force of friction exerted by the ground on the two wheels is such that […]"

What? (a) How is this relevant to bioinformatics, other than demonstrating a knowledge of physical sciences? (b) What's the answer? This is such a dumb question. It's not a question designed to test reasoning or knowledge about science - it's a question looking for a prescribed answer from a Book of Official Answers to This Test. Without the official answer it's actually meaningless by its ambiguity. Jeez, this stuff really makes me angry.

Draws deep breath - I'm all for blogs as part of the job selection process. In fact if I were the employer, I'd be looking for evidence of web activity (though I wouldn't necessarily mark the applicant down if there were none). I'm with Deepak - don't censor yourself, just be reasonable. Interesting that the Nature article comments specifically on the "whinging postdoc" style of blog too.

As a side note

mako — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 02:18:24 -0400

I'm often drawn to websites like "Interview Questions for Tech Companies" (http://www.techinterviews.com/ ) as a perverse test of my accumulated knowledge. There is a short list of putative Google interview questions, but I question the validity of these listings, since every Google question I've seen referenced in the past seems way harder than what is posted there. Interestingly, there is a (lone) bioinformatics interview question posted (http://www.techinterviews.com/?s=bioinformatics ) but it falls very short of what I would use for an interview, as it seems more appropriate, as the article reads, as an SAT type question.

Which got me to thinking about bioinformatics interviewees. At a place I consult for they are currently hiring bioinformaticists, and I inevitably participate in the interview process. With what seems to be a deluge (still, and it's 2007... go figure...) of people trained in field X and coming into bioinformatics (it used to be that running a BLAST search qualified you as a bioinformaticist) there is a real opportunity to examine just what is and what qualifies one as a bioinformaticist. More interestingly to me would be to classify would-be bioinformaticists by the level of their involvement in computational biology, or the level at which they have operated (algorithm development, high-level analysis, etc...).

Because we as bioinformaticists are required to hold knowledge in a vast array of related topics such as mathematics, statistics and probability, programming languages, and oh yes biology and chemistry, overly pedantic questions in one subject area is not appropriate to differentiate potential candidates. What then are thought-provoking questions that yield insight into a candidate's experience dealing with analyzing biological data in novel ways? It might be nothing more than a thought exercise, and compiling a generalized list would serve no purpose since many positions focus on one area of bioinformatics (proteomics, microarrays, ...), but it may be helpful for those times where you've read all the papers from a candidate, the person seems like a good fit, and you have 10 minutes to kill before they go to the next person to interview.

So what of it Nodalpointers? Any good ideas for bioinformatics interview questions? I'd honestly like to hear what others think is generally important knowledge for someone to have to enter into a new basic or applied research or technology development bioinformatics team.

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I'm not so sure

lbbros — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 17:18:11 -0400

Being a person that uses his own blog to talk a bit about everything, including but not limited to science related posts, I'm not so sure that it would be useful or not (I admit some guys from Affymetrix checked it because I criticized their software, and a few days later one of their representatives wanted to talk with me). It all depends on the topics that the blog deals with. Some may give an unfavorable bias to a prospective employer, because they may be unconventional, or just unexpected. That is why it doesn't show up on my resume, and that I'm very cautious of who I show it to when at work.

Personally I keep my resume in a separate section of my blog to be linked directly to, just in case.

I include my blog in the CV

PedroBeltrao — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:46:01 -0400

For my recent post doc interview travels, I included my blog and my interest in science blogging in the CV. I still believe it was a good idea given that the PIs were interested in talking about science blogging even if just for small talk. In general I think a blog can really be used to have a feeling for someone in whatever facet (work, personal or both) the person is showing.

Interesting to see how

Greg — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:37:49 -0400

Interesting to see how perceptions of blogging are changing in the science community :)

Already happening

mndoci — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 12:01:43 -0400

That's already happening. When my current employer was doing their due diligence on me, the recruiting agency they were using definitely used my blog to support my candidacy. It depends on how you use your blog. It can be a "personal brand" and if you write about science or technology or anything remotely related to your personal life, it is one, whether you like it or not. If you are a personal blogger or have a tumblelog or something, it does say a little about who you are, and if an employer didn't check those out, they'd be foolish. Does that mean you should watch what you say? Other than common sense, hell no!!! Be yourself. Best way to get a job.

My Blog: http://mndoci.com