What happens when you finally get the degree you worked so long for and then realize you really don’t want to spend the rest of your life in the lab?

Or if you get tired of working long hours with few results and low pay… or you succumb to any of the other reasons that might put you off being a scientist.

One option is to hang up your lab coat and move into something else… and there are a lot of great options for people with a science background and post-graduate degrees that lead to rewarding and lucrative careers.

Here is a list of career paths you might consider if you ever decide its time to leave the lab. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but might give you a few ideas…

1. Technical Service
Technical support involves interacting with scientists over the phone to trouble-shoot problems with products or even to provide a scientific consultation on general experimental strategy and design. Since you are not face to face with other people, it makes for an easy transition for an introverted scientist in moving to a more outgoing profession. Many opportunities exist to grow in your career within a company if you want to move up the corporate ladder. Just be prepared to answer the phone 30-40 times a day and, once in a while, be berated by a customer.

2. Product manager/marketing
Product managers are responsible for taking care of a product from birth to discontinuation. The job has many responsibilities so fits best with people who are highly organized, can multi-task and lead teams. The main goal of a product manager is to make money for the company. You accomplish that goal by numerous marketing activities (advertising, attending scientific conferences, promotional giveaways, etc.), by building new products that people want and by making sure that every product is available working perfectly when received by the customer. The salary is generous but be prepared to work no less than 12 hrs a day and be under constant pressure to increase revenues.

3. BioTech Sales Representative
Who is that person who comes to your door and tries to sell you everything from tips and tubes to kits and instruments for PCR? Its your friendly neighborhood sales representative. Most, if not all sales people in biotech, have worked in the lab and some even have PhDs. If you take a minute to talk to your biotech sales rep, you will see that their true purpose is to make sure you have everything you need (from their company!) to be a success. But your success is always paramount to their sale. Of course there are those who are under intense pressure to make a sale to the point where they push too hard or some are too green in their career to understand they are trying to sell you something you don’t use. But overall, they are a bright and hard-working group of people who want to excel at their job by helping you excel in the lab. The income you can make in sales can be very high but so is the pressure to meet the revenue targets assigned to you.

4. Field Application Scientist (FAS)
The FAS role is often a perfect position for academic bench scientists looking to move into industry. The FAS is called in when a key customer is interested in purchasing a new product or is having trouble getting one to work. Working in the customer’s lab the FAS will demonstrate how well a product works, troubleshoot problems with a product or teach the lab how to use a complex instrument. The FAS may also install instruments or robotics and maintain their proper function.

The FAS travels frequently because they are assigned large territories and will need to stay at an account sometimes up to a week. Part of their role is to build solid friendships with the labs they support while helping their company win (or keep) a new account.

5. Business development
Business development is a very exciting role that involves growing and shaping the scope of a company’s business approach. This can mean making technical collaborations with other companies, bringing in contract work or licensing in or out technologies through to deciding on mergers and acquisitions.

Typically, this requires an MBA degree in addition to a science background but working your way up through the company ranks is another route. Business development requires a strong mix of technical knowledge and marketing experience. The person should have a good feel for the changes going on in the market and what might be the next hot technology or area of research. Your advice can have a big effect on a company’s decisions so expect high stress and pressure.

6. Manufacturing Quality Assurance (QA)/Quality Control (QC)
The process to take a product from the research phase to market requires the ability to produce it on a large scale. You’ve successfully formulated the buffers and the procedure for a new kit in the lab. Now try building 500 of them and make sure they work exactly as good as the single one from the lab.
… or try scaling up protein expression and purification to make liters of enzyme and keep it soluble.
… or try making liters of competent cells, bearing in mind that if the efficiency falls below a set number and then you have to start all over again.
…you get the picture…!

Manufacturing requires precision, perfection, and focus. Manufacturing scientists do everything from production, to the QC. Depending on what the product is used for, the QC can involve complex techniques like real-time PCR, cloning, or enzyme activity assays. Manufacturing is not a glamorous job but it is critical to the company’s success… if manufacturing can’t keep up, it can cause huge losses in revenue and customers.

7. Technology Transfer
Technology transfer involves finding ways to commercialize technologies developed in the public sector (universities or government agencies). It is like the academia equivalent of business development and requires many of the same skills. Tech transfer jobs can be found either in the public institutions themselves, in companies who routinely commercialize technologies that originate in the public sector or in non-profit technology transfer organizations. Further information on working in technology transfer can be found here.

8. Science copy writing
Copy writers produce the “copy” (the written material) for marketing a company’s, products or ideas and is a great position for people who like to communicate science through writing. If you work for a biotech company as a copy writer, you would be helping product managers to communicate their message to the market about a product via a print ad, email blast, banner ad, webpage or a flyer. Copy writers and product managers work together to perfect the message before the copy goes to design for layout and imagery. This position really accentuates your creative side but be prepared to have to deal with cranky stressed out product managers.

9. Medical/technical writing
Another type of science writing is technical writing, which includes writing handbooks/ product manuals and application notes. This uses less of the creative side and more of the ability to communicate exactly how something should be done. If the protocol is not clear, it is the problem of the technical writer (and the product manager). More info on working in medical and technical writing is available here.

10. Science journalism
…and yet another type of science writing is science journalism. Science journalists produce content for newspapers, magazines and websites (just like I am doing now). You can either work freelance or as a staff writer, employed directly by the publication. Either way, the competition is tough. The best way in is simply to start writing and trying to get things published…! You can get some additional info on science journalism here.

If you are looking to start out in science journalism, Bitesize Bio is a good place to start… contact us for details on writing an article for Bitesize Bio!

11. Scientific illustration
If drawing, rather than writing, is your forte then scientific illustration may be an option. Although opportunities in this field are limited, they do exist. Breaking into this field is like scientific journalism – you just have to start drawing and try to get your work noticed. Here is a great Science article on carving out a career in scientific illustration.

12. Recruiting/head-hunter
Recruiters help companies to find suitable candidates for job openings and can work for independent recruitment consultancies or for a company’s in-house HR department. This type of job requires an out-going personality and the ability to develop a great network for candidate searches. Having a science background will help you know when a candidate’s skills match are a good match for an employer, but the competition for good candidates is high and part of the job is being a nudge… typical recruiters call or email at least 10-15 times before they accept a “no” answer!

13. Teaching
Some people are born teachers and in this case, high school teaching can be a great option. Aside from the joy of teaching (assuming it is a joy for you), the holidays are great and the pay can be pretty good too. The downside is working with teenage kids, which is an unenviable task if you ask me! Here is good article on moving from the lab to teaching.

14. Patent examiner
Patent examiners are employed by the government to review patent applications and decide whether they should be granted. Typically this involves searching literature and patent databases to determine whether the application is innovative and meets the requirements for a patent to be granted. Get more info on the role of a patent examiner here.

15. Patent lawyer/attorney
Patent lawyers operate at the other end of the patent application process – working for clients who wish to file and maintain or need guidance with any aspect of patent law. This is a very well paid career, but is also high pressure and requires both scientific and law training. The level of training required to become a patent lawyer varies from country to country. More details about the qualifications required to become a patent lawyer can be found here.

If you have any other ideas, are thinking of leaving the lab.. or you have already done so, please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in a comment.

Photo: Greg Arius

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About the Author

Suzanne Kennedy