Workplace Dilemma

[netmystique]

Sorry, haven't been on Live Journal in some time.

I have a bit of a dilemma. I find myself in a research department where creationism is tolerated and, in some instance, accepted.

How do I get my career back on track and find a job with people who accept science?

Comments

[fishwithfeet]

Pardon me while my jaw drops.

Ahem. Maybe look into Kelly Services? They have a nice network of sciencey jobs, both permanent and temporary. They might be able to find something in your field of interest. Check out other universities or even other departments where you are presently? I would imagine that a job change would be all it takes.

Are you in a biology research department?!

[netmystique]

Bioinformatics department, yes. One thing about bioinformatics, it is quite probably that a bioinformatics department will be dominated by computer scientists and engineers. That wouldn't be so bad if they didn't look down on biologists.

[niseno]

LOL.
Most probably the guy, being apparently very religious about evolution of very primitive version hardcoded in his brain, had been just trolled by computer geeks: they are often way more smart than those biologists with obscurantist version of primitive Darwinism (usually they are ignorant in statistics, blindly use formulas, prone to research misconduct and they cannot even count mutations rate for a couple of centuries with their stupid believe in approximation of molecular clock model).

[zandperl]

What level of your career are you at? Answer will make a big difference - for example if you're at a level of your career with automatic expiration dates (like a postdoc), or where it's not too big a deal to change to a place with a better fit (like a first-year grad student, or a non-tenure track faculty

[netmystique]

Mid-level career. I'm in bioinformatics dealing mostly with genetic data as it pertains to transplantation. In a department of 23, only two of us have degrees in the biological sciences. Most of the department is engineers and computer scientists. That isn't bad in and of itself, but here they tend to look down on biologists and not seek us out for any biological considerations

[zandperl]

So basically their ignorance and dismissal of science make your job more difficult in a way that you do not find enjoyable. It sounds like the main question you really face is are you willing to stick it out a little longer so it doesn't look bad on your resume to jump jobs now, or should you job hunt now? To me it's not a question of whether you leave this place, but when. Only you can answer that question. So what do you think? Suck it up a little longer, or start hunting now? And if you're not sure, just start browsing the ads now anyway, maybe you'll find something that catches your eye, or maybe everything'll look even worse than what you currently have. Just remember, your best option is to apply for actual good jobs, not better than this jobs - you don't want to end up in the same situation at a new place a few months from now

[viva_la_vanille]

I agree with this...You really should be somewhere your education and experience are valued.

To be honest, though, it seems more that your department is just really out of touch with the founding precepts of bioinformatics...and their 'research' suffers as a result.

There was a similar problem in my graduate department--'epigenetics' was the new hot thing and I know a couple of professors that were writing grants and performing experiments without any idea of how to actually interpret the data or design plausible experiments. The one professor who really understood the topic left because the department was a really really really bad fit and no one paid any attention to her perspective. It's a sad world.

[oonaseckar]

You didn't know before you signed up, there were no warning signs? *slack-jawed* We really are all doomed. God.

Sorry, words are failing me at the moment.

[netmystique]

I didn't know. My postdoc had ended and I had been unemployed for a year. I wasn't too choosy.

In fact, when I was hired, I was the seventh member of the department. Now it's number is 23. It went through this expansion in only a two year period. Hiring was based more on ability to code than anything else.

[threegoldfish]

I once temped at a place that turned out to be full of climate change denialists. It's a well-known chemical industry association. Granted, associations are their own beasts and not the same as the OPs situation, but yeah. thankfully, just a temp job.

[tylik]

Like a little social creationism?

No one lets it get on the science... right?

[netmystique]

It's gotten on the science.

If one doesn't believe that humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas have a common ancestor, it is easy to dismiss research that says certain markers are a poor choice because of ancient, shared polymorphisms.

[mokele]

There are 3 simple steps:

1) Leave

2) Lock the doors behind you, with everyone inside

3) Set the whole place on fire.

I would also encourage the optional fourth step of urinating on the still-smoking ashes, but make sure you're upwind.

[netmystique]

It's crossed my mind.

To leave, I need to improve my CV. I've made poor decisions through graduate school and for my postdoc that resulted in a poor publication record. I'm hoping to get some more publications under my belt before I start looking for greener pastures. I might go to work the competitors. From what I've seen, they respect the biology.

[shamebear]

At my last job interview I was up-front and honest about my poor choices. I've been employed at that company for five years now. Spending years improving your resume does not fill in the gaps in the past, which the interviewer will tend to point out anyway