Though advanced degrees are certainly helpful, they’re not always necessary to start and advance in a career in the life sciences. One just has to be willing to put in the work.
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Many who graduate with a bachelor’s degree in the life sciences decide to pursue higher education, but these degrees are not always necessary to land fulfilling and high paying jobs.
Some wait until after they get their first job to pursue higher education in order to move up in their careers.
Though advanced degrees are certainly helpful, they’re not always necessary to start and advance in a career in the life sciences. It is possible for life science professionals to use experience in place of degrees, but only if they’re willing to put in the work.
Industry Experience vs Degrees
Experience is invaluable in the biopharma and biotech industry. It can provide candidates with skills and resources that may never be prioritized in the classroom.
Jennifer Kozlowski is a strategic delivery executive at Actalent, an engineering and science consulting firm. She emphasized the difference in candidates who have worked in the industry versus academia.
“Even just interacting with life sciences professionals within the field and the workplace is so much different than interacting with your fellow students or peers in a lab,” Kozlowski told BioSpace.
Although graduate level education can provide critical thinking skills gained through working in a laboratory and participating in peer review, Kozlowski said it cannot substitute for hands-on learning in the industry.
Kozlowski noted that decision making within the industry can have vastly different consequences than within academic settings.
“If someone makes a mistake in industry, it could be the difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars. There’s not always as much pressure or exposure to these consequences in academic settings,” Kozlowski said.
Candidates that enter the industry immediately after graduating from their undergraduate program may also have a leg up on their peers that choose to pursue higher education first.
Working in biopharma and biotech environments can expose people to working with a variety of different professionals all on the same team, help them to understand budgets and deadlines and experience conceptual science put directly into action.
People who spend more time in academic labs may not have this exposure, potentially putting them at a disadvantage when applying for similar positions after graduating.
Corrie Ortega, vice president of operations and product strategies, Ozette Technologies, emphasized the growth opportunities working in industry provides.
“Industry is really fast paced. There are probably multiple projects happening in parallel, so you’re learning and producing at the same time. There are a lot of opportunities to grow very quickly, both in technical skillset and in understanding the bigger picture,” Ortega told BioSpace.
Leveraging Experience to Level Up
It is possible to land a job with only an undergraduate degree, but is it just as easy to move up the ladder?
The answer is often dependent on the specific role and company, but Kozlowski noted that there are some barriers to candidates who don’t have a graduate level degree.
Using the example of analytical chemists, she says that it can take candidates on average two to five additional years to move up or be promoted compared to their more highly educated counterparts.
Some people within the industry call this experience “Ph.D. bias.” It occurs when companies are more likely to open certain doors or career paths to candidates with graduate level degrees, even if someone without the degree is equally qualified through experiences.
But some companies, like Ozette, make it a point to assess candidates based on their experiences and not their education level.
“We actually don’t look at degrees initially. We look at experience collectively and dive into their most recent, hands-on experience,” Ortega said.
Not all companies are like Ozette, though, and Kozlowski highlighted that it might be time for some sectors of industry to reconsider and ask why they require higher education.
For example, clinical research associates are critical for the success of clinical trials. Many of these roles now require a four-year degree or even a more advanced medical degree.
“We have people that have been in the industry for 20 years that have only worked through experience. Some of these people don’t have a four-year degree,” Kozlowski said. “We’ve seen instances where companies won’t even interview these folks that have all of this experience because they don’t have the degree.”
Kozlowski said companies should revisit their educational requirements and determine if the four-year degree or graduate level degree is truly necessary.
