Bioinformatics software engineers research the genetic composition of humans and create software that organizes, visualizes, and stores the data related to their findings. They investigate the activity of cells in order to come up with new medications and treatments for various diseases.
The software that you design as a bioinformatics software engineer will be used to analyze data assembled through genetics research. Your job will be to come up with useful functions to facilitate the work of scientific research, and you will implement those ideas working closely with programmers on coding the software.
Understanding software engineering and coding will be essential for you to do your work, though. You will be responsible for testing the software and correcting bugs and errors until the software is ready for use.
Bioinformatics Software Engineer Overview
Bioinformatics Software Engineer Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a bioinformatics software engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $46.53 an hour? That's $96,787 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 284,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Bioinformatics Software Engineer Do
There are certain skills that many bioinformatics software engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed analytical skills, communication skills and creativity.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a bioinformatics software engineer, we found that a lot of resumes listed 22.7% of bioinformatics software engineers included python, while 11.2% of resumes included java, and 9.3% of resumes included r. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the bioinformatics software engineer job title. But what industry to start with? Most bioinformatics software engineers actually find jobs in the health care and education industries.
How To Become a Bioinformatics Software Engineer
If you're interested in becoming a bioinformatics software engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 64.0% of bioinformatics software engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 28.0% of bioinformatics software engineers have master's degrees. Even though most bioinformatics software engineers have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a bioinformatics software engineer. In fact, many bioinformatics software engineer jobs require experience in a role such as software engineer. Meanwhile, many bioinformatics software engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as senior software engineer or research associate.
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Average Salary for a Bioinformatics Software Engineer
Best Paying Cities For Bioinformatics Software Engineers
Recently Added Salaries
Company  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Invitae Bioinformatics Software Engineer, Production | Invitae | 08/04/2021 | $80,00008/04/2021 |
Invitae Bioinformatics Software Engineer, Production | Invitae | 03/31/2021 | $80,00003/31/2021 |
Guardant Health, Inc. Bioinformatics Software Engineer | Guardant Health, Inc. | 03/23/2021 | $120,93103/23/2021 |
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Bioinformatics Software Engineer I | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | 03/19/2021 | $77,00003/19/2021 |
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Bioinformatics Software Engineer I | Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center | 03/19/2021 | $85,00003/19/2021 |
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Top Colleges for Bioinformatics Software Engineers
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. University of California, Irvine
Irvine, CA • Private
3. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
4. University of Washington
Seattle, WA • Private
5. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
6. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Private
7. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
8. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
9. SUNY at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY • Private
10. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
Online Courses For Bioinformatics Software Engineer That You May Like
For software professionals entering Bioinformatics: DNA sequencing data analysis, NGS, & Biology prerequisites...
Your Complete Guide to Statistical Data Analysis and Visualization For Practical Applications in R...
The past 15 years have been exciting ones in plant biology. Hundreds of plant genomes have been sequenced, RNA-seq has enabled transcriptome-wide expression profiling, and a proliferation of "-seq"-based methods has permitted protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions to be determined cheaply and in a high-throughput manner. These data sets in turn allow us to generate hypotheses at the click of a mouse or tap of a finger. The Plant Bioinformatics Specialization on Coursera introduces core bio...
Top Skills For a Bioinformatics Software Engineer
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 22.7% of bioinformatics software engineers listed python on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.
- Python, 22.7%
- Java, 11.2%
- R, 9.3%
- Data Analysis, 9.1%
- AWS, 7.3%
- Other Skills, 40.4% See All Bioinformatics Software Engineer Skills
Best States For a Bioinformatics Software Engineer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a bioinformatics software engineer. The best states for people in this position are California, Washington, Nevada, and Oregon. Bioinformatics software engineers make the most in California with an average salary of $120,935. Whereas in Washington and Nevada, they would average $106,671 and $98,545, respectively. While bioinformatics software engineers would only make an average of $97,920 in Oregon, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. California
$120,935
Avg. Salary
2. Washington
$106,671
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$97,920
Avg. Salary