Job details - Dan

Looking for jobs is not a terribly fun process, especially since you're essentially bleeding money without any replenishing supply while you're doing it. Now that I've found a job, I figure I should write a little bit about what the job actually is, and how I feel about it.

First, a story: my job search unofficially started in late December, before really picking up at first in February, and then again in March and April, and then really picking up in June and July. I'd draw a nice little graph to illustrate my point, but it's nearly 1am and I don't particularly feel like wrestling with any photo, illustration, or similar image-creation program. Not even MSPaint. If starting the search were assigned a numerical value, let's give it the value 1 to provide a baseline. The intensity of the search kicked up to level 3 in February, and then up to levels 5 and 7 in March and April, respectively. Similarly these levels increased to 12 and 15 in June and July, to give you some sort of comparison.

Part of the difficulty I had was that having a Bachelor's in Biomedical Engineering, specifically Tissue Enigneering, with professional experience in genetics and cancer/immunology, and extracurricular commitments to student council, doesn't seem to really provide much in terms of qualifications for many jobs. A good number of government agencies (mostly in the Armed Forces) and even private companies, are looking for engineers. Government agencies want every type of engineer and scientist except for biomedical engineers, and private companies want engineers to run their computers and their infrastructure, as well as biology or biomedical engineering majors with a Ph.D. and/or over a decade of experience. A bachelor's with two years of experience doens't quite fit the bill. Maybe it's the economy, but it also just seems like very few people outside of academia do biomedical tissue engineering. It really does seem that employers see me as a highly qualified candidate, qualified to do anything, everything, and nothing all at the same time.

That said, my new job is a Research Assistant position in a virology lab in the Cancer and Immunology Department at the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the lab is the investigation of the pathway that Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) uses. HCMV is responsible for a large number of birth defects in children, including deafness and mental retardation. The virus has serious effects on newborns, but largely only mild effects on adults. The effect on newborns is of particular interest not because adults show few or no symptoms, but rather, because this is research being done at a Children's Hospital.

All seriousness aside, the work being done in this lab is so cool. The PI is really nice, and reportedly works people really hard, but is fair about it. Honestly, I'm glad for this -- I think I might get bored otherwise. The grad students in the lab seem awesome as well, and we all live in Virginia, within about 5-10 miles of each other, with maybe two exceptions. Quite the coincidence.

The pay isn't great, but I was never expecting to find a job that would have stellar pay, especially given the current economic climate. I was always looking for a job I would learn a lot from, pay enough to cover basic costs, and, really, provide health insurance. Anything beyond that is a bonus. I didn't take this job for the money; I'm taking this job becuase the people are great, the work is impressive on so many levels, and everything about this is stimulating. Once everything is settled and I'm set up in the lab a few months from now, I'll likely start volunteering in the hospital after work one or two evenings a week to get some clinical experience.

In short, I haven't even started work yet and I already love the job. Now to get all my Bio and Biostat books sent from home so I can brush up on that material...