A Journey From Biomedicine To Consulting

Almost five months ago now, I hung up my lab coat and put on some actual work pants to step into the world a couple of levels higher from the ground, the world of Consulting.

I decided to write this short post for anyone in science who ever wondered if there is a life past the lab.

Biomedical sciences adventure and what I learned:

• Science is amazing and absolutely everyone should study/ get involved/ get a better understanding of it. Never have I regretted doing my Bacherlors and Postgrad in Biomedicine.
• Even though, we are all proud know-it-alls, the culture might not be very supporting or encouraging. We are not taught how to be good managers, we are taught how to do science and hence, good communication and project planning is not so common.
• We attend conferences and meet ups and talks — all somehow purely related to science research and have no idea what happens outside of it.
• Studying science channeled my cuiriosities and gave me a crazy amount of life skills.

The problem is that I was never really told what are these skills. I met amazing people along the way but for me science institution as a whole didn’t manage to foster out-of-the-science-box thinking. It is either lab or ‘the industry’ and no one ever really talked about what this mysterious ‘industry’ was.

We went to as many talks as possible but they were all hosted by old dudes whose paths didn’t convey any relevance to us or young software engineers who worked in tech start ups (and we all of us had that note of regret about not studying engineering).

I am not trying to say that people studying science should leave research and go conquer the world somewhere else. Not at all. My message here is for the lost few who are not sure where they can apply themselves outside of the lab and research.

Big Four and Consulting adventure and what I am learning:

• Wow I have skills! How exciting! All the fascinating science stuff is totally transferrable to literally everything I do here. I can probably learn faster, research better and project manage the shit out of things.
• Another revelation: there are so many people with totally different backgrounds working in what seems like unrelated industries. On my first day I met a medicinal statistician, a rocket scientist, a bunch of engineers and a physiologist.
• If you are passionate about an area, you can learn about it and work in it too. I have been doing strategy health sector work, digital health and robotic process automation since I joined Big4 corporate. From mitochondrias to advising companies.
• Wow, clients who hire actually DO really need us. How does the world still work with so many ineffiencies? You know who is good at fixing and troubleshooting — science majors!

I am definitely enjoying this ride but my life questioning is way more apparent. When you are in science, you can hide behind the ‘contribution to the world’ as a purpose. Even though you might not feel it as strongly, it is a great excuse not to question what you do.

It has been a tough ride (mostly mentally) questioning everything I do, but I would not have it any other way.

As a beginner level science person, don’t restrict yourself to the lab walls. There is a whole world out there: consultancies, start ups, science tech companies where you and your vast knowledge might be needed.

Even if you are happy doing research but suddently feeling like you have ants in your pants, you definitely do have so many places you can apply yourself to. Start attending meet ups and conferences, look out for recruitment days, ask around!

I am here to answer any questions you might have :)