How To Become A Bioinformatics Software Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a bioinformatics software engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Jim Huggins

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.

What general advice would you give to a Bioinformatics Software Engineer?

Dr. Jim Huggins

Associate Professor of Computer Science, Kettering University

Computer science is a problem-solving discipline. Computer scientists help people solve problems. Typically, those problems deal with data; someone has a large set of data and needs to answer questions about that data, or process it in some way. Computer scientists write programs that run on computers to help their clients answer those questions and perform those processing tasks. On a given day, a computer scientist might do any or all of the following tasks, working alone or in teams: - Meet with clients to understand their problems and how a computing system might help them solve their problems. - Design computing systems to meet client needs. - Build computing systems to meet design specifications. - Test computing systems in order to find errors in their construction and fix those errors. - Repair computing systems that are not functioning properly. - Instruct users how to use the computing systems the computer scientist has designed for them. - Brainstorm new ideas for computing systems that would meet the needs of new customers.

ScoreBioinformatics Software EngineerUS Average

Salary

7.6

Avg. Salary $99,311

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.0

Growth Rate 21%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.16%

Asian 31.31%

Black or African American 2.85%

Hispanic or Latino 6.37%

Unknown 4.34%

White 54.97%

Gender

female 4.00%

male 96.00%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress Level

4.0

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.9

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.6

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a bioinformatics software engineer

Explore bioinformatics software engineer education requirements

Most common bioinformatics software engineer degrees

Bachelor's

64.0 %

Master's

28.0 %

Diploma

4.0 %

Start to develop specific bioinformatics software engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Python	19.64%
Java	13.95%
Next-Generation Sequencing	12.73%
Visualization	11.81%
AWS	6.39%

Complete relevant bioinformatics software engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New bioinformatics software engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a bioinformatics software engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real bioinformatics software engineer resumes.

Research bioinformatics software engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage the documentation website for Alchemy.js and convert it to AngularJS making it dynamic and allowing for quick changes to documentation.
Support developers and testers on code debugging and business process troubleshooting.
Perform all aspects of system management including system performance tuning, configuration design, troubleshooting and debugging of software programs.
Participate in the design and development of a prototype relational database system; are responsible for SQL processor/optimizer and query parsing.

Apply for bioinformatics software engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a bioinformatics software engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average bioinformatics software engineer salary

The average Bioinformatics Software Engineer salary in the United States is $99,311 per year or $48 per hour. Bioinformatics software engineer salaries range between $72,000 and $136,000 per year.

Average Bioinformatics Software Engineer Salary

$99,311 Yearly

$47.75 hourly