The sought-after candidates are, however, those with PhD degrees and software engineers with masters degrees. Research needs often drive biologists into the field. Develop IT tools embodying novel algorithms and analytic techniques, or apply existing tools to achieve new insights about molecular biology. There are, however, other opportunities radiating from the core. Jobs range from testing, documentation, running operating procedures, and database administration to programming, software development, algorithm creation, and scientific visualisation.
Companies value people who can keep their eyes on the big picture.
At firms where pharmacology is a focus, such as Ranbaxy and Monsanto, bioinformaticians are required to distill a galaxy of drug candidates into a few bright stars. This is not surprising given that the going price for a bioinformatician with 1 year experience in the country from the private sector is anything upwards of Rs 50,000 a month. This is more so because there would be a huge demand for top class, high throughput database management. With its strengths in mathematics, IT, physics and chemistry, the country is positioned ideally to emerge as a frontrunner in bioinformatics. What is required is investment, a bandwidth, integrated databases.