Students are encouraged to check with high school or community college guidance counselors, who have access to specific computer-based information linked to biotech career pathing. They are also reminded to check out details on Maryland's new high tech tuition remission initiative, which provides substantial incentives for graduates who are then employed in the State of Maryland. Web sites and professional journals are also highly recommended sources for job seekers. Even at the entry level, however, the most often repeated piece of advice is to get as much hands-on lab experience as possible. The opportunity to be a part of cutting edge science is obviously one big draw of the biotech industry but there are others too.
Compensation is clearly attractive.
Wages are competitive, many firms provide stock options to all their employees, spot cash bonuses are used to recognize special effort, and benefits are often outstanding. Experts agree Maryland's biotech industry will stay on the front of the wave, even if the pace of new developments is so dizzying that we can't predict where it is taking us. Having NIH and Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland assures us of the continued capacity to generate new lechnology. Each discovery adds to the base. These are truly exciting times.