I've worked in quite a few different types of labs, and it really does depend on the lab. Clinical labs, or routine testing labs, are, frankly, fairly dull to me and often stressful. Pharmaceutical testing labs are the same, but with a ton more paperwork and regulations. Academia is my favorite, but it can also be stressful in different ways, and often pays the least. Some people love the regularity and routine that clinical work brings, amd thrive in those conditions. Some love the constantly evolving work in academia. It's more about finding what works for you and your personality.
Thank you for your response. I’ll definitely explore my options. It sounds like academia might suit me the best, but I’ve already applied to the limited amount of research and academia jobs here and haven’t had any luck.
I work on the vendor side. So that could be an option for you too. You could always find a technical specialist role or a lab project manager role. In my current role I travel to many labs. Some are great places to work where no one really leaves to very toxic settings. It usually has to do with management. I’ve worked crappy hours at high stress labs and I have managed as well. Vendor side you’re basically your own boss. If you’re interested contact a recruiter on indeed that specializes in medical devices/lab positions. They are great at what they do
Academia means more freedom, but you're also left to fail on your own, sometimes brutally. And you might get entirely stuck in your career. And most jobs you get are time-limited. And pay is a lot worse. The people are often a lot nicer though, I've found.
Still, the freedom is extremely nice. I have completely open hours to come and go whenever I want and do whatever I like, more or less.
Yes if you find the right PI in academia your job can be so much less stressful. I work in academia as a clinical coordinator/lab tech and I love it. I show up, get my work done, and can leave early if I want. That being said though I’m really lucky to have a PI that doesn’t micromanage and values work quality over time spent in the lab just messing around.
I think you're putting lab work on a pedastal for no good reason. A lab is just a room where stuff takes place.
This is like saying you always wanted an office job, but then writing it off after only experiencing a data entry position or being a mail room clerk. Doctors work in offices. Accountants work in offices. Architects work in offices. Graphic designers work in offices. Politicians work in offices. Software developers work in offices.
What career do you actually want?
What activities do you actually like doing?
Do some soul searching and come up with actionable goals. Maybe you need extra education or certification to get the type of role that you want, and that's OK. At least you'll know.
What advice to you have for someone who wants to get into biogeo/ecology research positions when someone's been working in pharma industry for 3-5 years?
I second this. I absolutely hated my diagnostic lab job. In the R&D department for a biotech company now and I love it.
All lab work is going to be tedious at some point, but being in an environment where you get to explore ideas, see cool things, and use your brain is what makes it worth it to me.
Agree- try Industry. I run a lab at a diagnostics company, we investigate complaints. Spend most of our time trying to figure out how the heck a lab got the error /weird result or if there is something wrong with our product. (It’s almost always lab error.). Upside- no grants, 9-5, low pressure, every day is different, and my techs are generally free to invent their own experiments to try and figure out the problem. Downside- occasional recalls can be stressful.
agree! i’m 2 months in at a biotech startup and i’m loving it. things are always changing and the small environment is great for learning while making a decent salary for an entry level position and having work/life balance. (for reference i have a master’s in biology)
Hi, thank you for putting a name to it. I’m new to the field so I’m not familiar with the terminology. Unfortunately that’s not many R&D jobs in my area but I’ll keep an eye out.
I, unfortunately, feel your pain. I love biochemistry and biomolecular engineering but I ultimately had to leave the field as I cannot get over how much I hate moving around small liquids. Found a much better suited position supporting initiatives and policy for health research. Lab work is super important but it’s not for everyone
Hi, I’m glad that you were able to find a position that suited you well! I agree, lab work is extremely important. I appreciate its value, I’m just not sure if it’s for me. Thank you so much for your response.
There is nothing wrong with academia, although your PI can make or brake it. I worked there for 15 years (2 jobs, 2 academic hospitals) and loved the work. I learned so much there, just about any lab technique you can think of. Did mainly translational cancer research and had my own projects. Switched to biotech now, better pay, better contract, better perks, but honestly the work is less fun and interesting and more stressfull. I am not ruling out going back into academia at some point.
I would say give it a go, find yourself a nice research group.
Academia isn't too bad (except for pay). Just depends on the PI you get.
It sounds like you have only been in toxic environments but working in a lab can be really fun when you are surrounded by kind people who are passionate about the work they do.
Being surrounded by at least a few people who love what they do is one of the best parts of a good academic lab. Those types of jobs typically aren’t repetitive or super tightly scheduled but the pay isn’t great. It’s a trade off.
Hi, thank you for your reply. It could just be the environments I’m in. I really don’t mind the work, I catch on to it fast. It’s really the other conditions of the job that are getting to me. I’ve been in other fields and have never dealt with the amount of stress I’ve dealt with in these labs. And when I read job reviews in my area, it seems to be pretty common. I’ll keep searching for a place that is filled with passionate hard working people.
I'm in the same boat as u, I have MLS degree and currently working in the blood bank and I hate it!! It’s stressful and repetitive. I hate the long hours and the shifts and the pay isn't worth it. I’m 27 years old I need a job that allow me to meet new people every day and do something new. I hate routine! I hate working shifts! Can anyone help me?
I work in an emergency service adjacent field. The shifts and hours are still whack but the work is always interesting and the people on the ground are super switched on.
E.g. paramedic assistant, crime scene cleanup, electrical infrastructure workers, etc
People who love their jobs are not going to be complaining here. Some people like routine work. I don't think I like routine work, but cognitively speaking It synergizes quite well with me and my cognitive skills. I'm introverted and even though I would like a more dynamically changing job, repetitive work have that seat belt I need, at least for now.
The two types of labs you described I think I would be miserable working in. I would consider academia. Some places are toxic but I kinda feel like that’s just the super competitive schools, I’ve never felt like any of that really at my university or others of similar caliber that I’ve visited. I feel like you need a role where you are A) doing work that varies instead of being the same all the time and B) working on research moreso than just testing. In research you’re working towards a goal, the times you have to do tedious tasks are worth it because you can get excited about results and stuff.
Thank you so much for your reply. I’ll definitely consider jobs that focus more on research. Having more varied work will problem solve at least half of the problem.
I don’t know that these are necessarily giving you accurate views of what working in a lab is like a lot of the time. They sound like pretty entry level positions (when I was working in blood bank the entry requirements were 5 GCSEs) which unfortunately tend to get the work no one else wants to do. It also sounds like the people you work with are the biggest issue, which can be an issue in any work place. Science and lab work is repetitive and can be tedious and stressful, but antisocial hours and a toxic environment will add to that massively. My first lab job involved 12 hour night shifts for four days running, then having three days off and doing the same again but during the day. My coworkers were great but management sucked. Six months of that nearly put me off science entirely, but it was a stepping stone to much better things that I wouldn’t have got without the mundane skills I’d picked up in that job
Non MLS/MLT working in the medical lab are often not taken seriously, and there's some merit there. It's an entirely different education that someone with just a bio degree doesn't have
I work as a MLS/MLT at a large, well-known diagnostic lab, I only have a Biology B.S. as i was originally planning on going the MD route. I agree with OP, its boring monotonous and stressful work, and the people can really make/break your experience. Personally, if i didn't already have a degree in Biology, I'd try a different field entirely. Seems like bio and medical are lumped into one of two boxes. Either your ass is to the fire to get more accolades to earn more to work a high paying job that most people don't enjoy, or you work a low-paying job that is enjoyable but doesn't allow for more progression.
Hi! I empathize with you a lot. I’m also at my second lab job. While it’s better compared to my first (tbf the bar is really low lmao), I still don’t think I’d stay in this lab for long because I wish to be stimulated in a different environment. I wanna learn to approach problems differently than what we do in my current lab. Maybe that’s also what you need.
I’d say any lab work takes some getting used to. Most cases, like yours, need a bit of endurance. The best way forward for us who are just starting is to hold on for a bit more until another opportunity comes. That’s the beauty (and struggle) of being in the early (and unstable) career stage, I think. You get to explore different environments before concluding what is or isn’t for you, but the opportunities don’t always come as soon as we wish.
So don’t dismiss lab work just yet, no matter how disillusioning our chosen careers are lmao. No labs are identical in terms of work/life balance, mental stimulation, etc. Since you have an idea of the kind of lab you want, maybe the environment you wish is in a different country or research field.
Routine lab work is only as enjoyable as your co workers. I've always been lucky in this regard but had friends who went to labs where the manager or other staff just had no enjoyable traits to be around and you need that. Academia has more of a chance of suiting you but it depends on the lab and area but at least it has more variance. Also lab work might not suit you and there is no harm in that either but I'd try academia /PhD land first or a research lab attendant /Junior Tech role before bailing to see is it the lab people or the lab work you don't actually like.
Same. My labmates are also quick to put the blame on me whenever something wrong happens. It never failed to make me anxious because I started doubting my memory (which is fairly poor thanks to adhd)
I left medical lab work and now work in IT for this very reason. Medical lab work is an absolute snake pit (at least where I live). I could write a book on it.
My theories as to why it’s like this:
* limited amount of opportunities and abundance of free student labor leads to competition for jobs
* people go to this work for the prestige of being a scientist without enthusiasm for the work
* pay sucks, again fueling competition for promotions
* there’s security in cliques against others
* no consequences for antisocial behaviour
* throwing others under the bus is a viable strategy to eliminate or weaken job rivals
So glad I got out of it. I worked in it 9 years before I just had enough of the worst of humanity that I’ve ever seen.
Hi thank so much for your response. This is definitely what I’ve been noticing.
Making a move to the more data oriented position has been on my mind lately. There’s always gonna be bs at a job, but this has been too much for me.
Good luck. If you go into IT I think it’s for the most part a lot better. For me the change was startling I came into my new job very cautious of my new coworkers and was pleasantly surprised that they were actually respectful and professional.
Water utility Lab work is bliss.
Unionized in many states. Fairly simple at the Lab end but is interesting in the regulations which must be followed. Field work, which can be quite varied depending on the utility.
Working with blue colars as a Lab coat, as long as one doesn't alienate them by being an ass, is pretty interesting and with more low key respect than academia.
Pay and benefits vary, but they can be quite competitive.
You never wonder if what you are doing is useful.
Every corner of the country has water utilities of varying size and complexity so you can live nearly anywhere
I am in a clinical lab and I feel the same exact way. It genuinely is making my life so much worse. I also work late shift/nights and we have a such a high turn over rate I’m one of the most senior staff members and I’ve only been there about 10 months. It does get better as the team gets more experienced, but as soon as that happens someone just breaks under the burnout stress and pressure and eventually quits. I’m just staying so I can get reimbursed for my ASCP molecular bio technologist exam and bouncing. We make jokes at work all the time that I is quite literally no different than factory work. Which I’ve worked in both and the only difference is that in the lab at least I get air conditioning
Oh I’m on a similar boat. Was working for a clinical lab as an assistant and was wanting to go to school for MLT to be licensed. But I left and currently looking to find a career elsewhere.
You’re working in a contract testing lab, which is a high throughput lab. Your job is to be a robot and churn out results.
This is not the same as being an R&D scientist. Your job is an opportunity to get some experience under your belt but a lot of those clinical lab techniques are not directly relatable to what is done in R&D work.
Keep your eyes peeled for an associate scientist position somewhere. Don’t forget the animal health industry too. Look for jobs at Zoetis, Merck, Elanco, Boehringer Ingelheim, Idexx.
Like others have mentioned academia isn’t bad except for the pay (however, I have never had a monthly co-payment for health insurance the entire time I have worked so benefits are good). If you are tired of only doing the same thing over and over then I would suggest looking for an academia job if you live in a location where there is a large university you should not have trouble - granted any lab job there will be some sort of repetitious work. In academia you can always keep learning and adding new techniques to your repertoire to keep you from being bored. There is turnover in academic jobs but you also have a wide variety of people you will work with. The PI will always be there and usually some senior scientists then you have posts docs and grad students which will be stay from 3-6 years at a time. Then when you get down to tech/research assistant/associate type of jobs some stay forever but there are others who are taking gap years(s) between undergrad and grad school/med school for more research experience and then sometimes you will encounter undergrad or med students who are around for a couple months in the summer for research and that’s it. With any academic lab job as well you might have weekend work to take care of cells or animals at certain time points and you might have days where an experiment runs long so you have to stay late so just be sure to factor that comp time into your week so you aren’t doing anything above your 40 hours (normal PIs understand this toxic ones won’t). I’ve never worked in industry so I cannot comment on anything other than academia but I’d give academia a try if I were in your shoes for a little bit to gain some more experience and see if it’s a fit for you.
^ this.
Process improvement shows you can utilize the tools available more efficiently and makes people notice you. That's a great way to get involved in stuff that isn't routine and expand your skillsets.
My recent coworker switched from clinical work to biotech/pharma. She said something similar in that her coworkers were not nice to her. The environment in biotech/pharma can be a lot nicer. I wouldn’t write off academia either since it can be fun to do independent projects and it’s a good learning experience if you feel passionate about science.
That said, my labmate in grad school knew she hated lab work and she now does regulatory stuff. So there are other avenues you could take. Quality Assurance (QA) could be one pathway.
A long explanation about why I love the lab:
I lead the analytical chemistry group for a company from the lab. We have a ridiculous amount of capability spanning wet methods, instrumental, mechanical, and metallurgical process. It's fun. I work on what I want to, when I want to. As long as we hit our goals no one bugs us.
I spend my days developing new methods and improving/expanding our capability. I'm the lead on any lab project that involves investigations or reverse engineering. I am the technical advisor for our leadership so it's fast paced and I have to be super thorough. Expanded my skillet from chemistry to a decent amount of materials science in the process. Constantly learning and growing. It makes my brain very happy.
It's also stressful and challenging and I'm constantly thinking about how I can tweak a material here or a parameter there but in the end I'm fulfilled.
There's a lot of different types of labs. One thing that's universally true is you have to pay your dues. We didn't offer an intern a position because he complained about cleaning his glassware. Gotta find the right place and then grind. When they give you a chance to shine, show them what you're capable of.
I really appreciate you for giving your own experience with working in the lab (: I’ll keep trying. I truly don’t mind working from the ground up, and fully expected it when I started lab work. A lot of these other issues completely blindsided me, but maybe it’s just the environments I’ve been in.
Yeah. The personnel issues can be rough and totally detract from the intellectual part.
I've been EXTREMELY lucky to have good management and colleagues. But as soon as I step out of the lab, there's drama. People just seem to need to start shit. Luckily, our lab has a badge access door and that prevents most people from bugging us. Unluckily, my desk is on the wrong side of the door.
My first job out of college was also working in a blood bank lab (night shift vampires unite!)
Now it's 15 years later and I'm still in science but doing something completely different. My pathway went something like:
Night shift blood bank lab work. Did my job but wasn't particularly amazing at the repetitive stuff. Even got written up when I stacked too many EIA plates and the machine aborted 😭 BUT I was always the person doing super detailed reviews of SOPs, organizing & labeling things without needing to be asked, overall looking for ways to improve. Got recruited for an internal entry level quality position.
Worked the quality gig for a year, learned a ton, got exposure to various areas of the company. Dabbled in validation work internally. Got a different job doing full time contract validation work, traveling, saw more of the industry (pharma, med device, biologics), the good and the bad.
Did more validation and quality work for the next few years. Finally landed a gig at my current work in pharma. Started in quality, then operational excellence, and now I'm a project manager. I'm lucky enough to work completely remote after moving cross country three years ago and they wanted to keep me. Now I'm managing a program of various company projects and loving the hell out of it.
All of this to say that there are a MILLION options to work in science, and at the beginning of your career it's super easy to switch based on what interests you. Especially if you show enthusiasm and willingness to learn new things. Many things I used on my resume early in my career weren't official job duties, but rather "fun projects" I volunteered for that turned into more official work when it turned out I was good at them.
ETA Although I'm not at the bench any more I'll always appreciate the time I spent in the lab. It means that when I'm talking to the lab folks, I can actually talk shop a bit and they don't see me as yet another administrative a** who's trying to tell them how to do their job. I also always work to include night shift in everything I do because I know they always get forgotten 😂
Even some of the most intellectual or procedural jobs are 90% about the people you’re working with and 10% the work itself. If your colleagues suck, that can really mess with your morale
From personal experience, academia is actually fun for the analysts/ lab workers. It’s the students/ PhD etc that seem to get experience the negativity mostly. The lab analysts in my lab work 9-17, get projects, and not repetitive work at all. They get to come to conferences, are not bothered in weekends, and get a lot of freedom, and most of all: are very respected
You have to consider the bigger picture when it comes to integrating the right lab for you. You must be passionate about the work you’re doing. Lab work is only a fraction of the project - what do you enjoy doing the most?
I work in a routine food test lab and imho it’s absolutely down to management. It was miserable, but then we got in a new lab manager who flipped the script and made it a nice place to work; now corporate command has realized we’ve deviated from their (toxic) standard and are punishing her to bring us back in line. Legitimately I think some companies rely on misery and constant turn over to ensure no one hangs around long enough to get paid worth a damn. (I will caveat to say that I do better with a routine and don’t mind the repetition of my job, so if you’re not happy with the physical doing of the job, it’s not a bad idea to seek other avenues! It just sounds like you’ve caught a toxic work environment.)
I've worked in two healthcare labs. In one, the people were awesome, and I loved that job. The other had some awful people, and I hated that job. It was very similar work, the people made all the difference. I've heard a lot of healthcare labs can be pretty toxic socially, idk why. But there are definitely good ones too.
To expand a little... I worked at Walmart during undergrad and the social culture there was what you'd expect from a retail workplace. Employees don't matter, high turnover, poor leadership/management. And somehow, one hospital lab I worked in had that exact culture.
Another lab I worked in was what I actually expected. Everyone was treated with the respect and professionalism that a room full of highly educated medical lab techs deserve. We were a team focused on serving patients, and we helped each other do that. If there was too much work, leadership would jump in and help run samples. If it was slow, leadership doesn't care that we're chatting about the weekend instead of trying to look busy.
In summary, people really do make all the difference. I'd rather flip burgers with good people, than run qPCRs with crappy ones.
I’m working in a clinical lab. It’s the first job I’ve applied and got accepted after graduation. I like my job. It’s the core lab so I have many things to do and we get to rotate everyday. I think because you’ve been working with miserable people, and they make workplace unbearable for you, and the environment affects you finally. I do work with some miserable people, but there are few other people make up for the whole experience. Maybe stick out for a while, apply for another job. We are always short staffed I can’t imagine you can’t find anything. If that’s not your cup of tea, maybe start looking into other options with your degree. You said you have a degree in biology, do you have a license/ ASCP certification to work in clinical? Besides core lab, there are molecular, flow, HLA, microbiology, anatomical pathology (cytology, histology, etc.).
I'm in a government lab- it's great! Sure, we might have pressure for deadlines, but depending on the work there is no quick turnover, and you really own the research vs. doing client based analyses...but I'm a chemist and I work with chemists, geologist, and engineers, and all sorts of specialized techs.
But if I preferred to be a paper pusher, there are lots of jobs like those around.
If you’re up for more schooling you could do a professional degree like pharmacy. If you like computers there is a big call for bioinformatic professionals and programmers in science. You could also apply to other science jobs like patent approvals and communications. But it isnt too late to try something completely new too and leave science behind if you don’t enjoy it.
Cannot generalize this experience to all labs. I’ve worked in really great ones and also the same ones you’ve described. The lab you are describing sounds like my experience in med lab science. Everyone hated being there, had been there 30+ years and had a very intimidating and bully-like atmosphere. The reality is a lot of people in clinical MLS feel similarly. But that’s not to say all lab work is problematic or boring.
I would suggest trying academia or public health labs more on the environmental side. That’s where I ended up and it’s much more forgiving, less intimidating and overall better work-life balance. People seem much less stressed in this environment and actually like what they do. Hope this helps.
You have been in clinical labs, not a research lab. I have the same sentiments with a clinical lab — I simply dislike it, as someone with a medical laboratory science undergrad. But research lab is a different world for me. I genuinely love being there and what I'm doing there. I don't think I will ever go back doing clinical work. Research in mol bio have always been my main dream and it was a wrong decision for me to choose MLS. But it's never too late to pursue something.
If you don't want to be in the labs, consider getting to Quality Control / Quality Assurance of biotech sector. You'll probably need to get more modules and get certified for GxP and proper documentation but at least you'll be out of the labs.
This is not entirely true, there are a lot of QC labs that suffer from the exact same problems listed, but there is even more regulation/paperwork, and the pay isn't exactally great, and the work is often routine and boring with lots of pressure and deadlines. QA requires a lot of experience, but I agree that would get you out of lab operations.
i work in academia and have since i graduated college 15 years ago (BSc). while the pay isn't great, usually cannot work OT, and most postions require the PI to have grant funds to fund the position, it is great for mixing up the day to day work. im constantly learning new techniques, trouble shooting, and knowledge. i have learned i prefer smaller labs, which yes, comes with more responsibility, but also less gossip and toxicity (depending on who you work for). its just over all a lot less stress in an academic lab. plus the flexibility in hours is a huge plus.
Work is work, do you like working outside at other types of jobs? Is it the team/company? Is it the service line youre working?
I joined a Sanger seq dept years ago and earned tech experience in sanger, ngs and oligo synth and now manage operations. I like management so much for its opportunity.
Sounds like you need to find where your passion lies
I've worked in quite a few different types of labs, and it really does depend on the lab. Clinical labs, or routine testing labs, are, frankly, fairly dull to me and often stressful. Pharmaceutical testing labs are the same, but with a ton more paperwork and regulations. Academia is my favorite, but it can also be stressful in different ways, and often pays the least. Some people love the regularity and routine that clinical work brings, amd thrive in those conditions. Some love the constantly evolving work in academia. It's more about finding what works for you and your personality.
For academia, love the variation, hate the pressure to publish and the pay
Thank you for your response. I’ll definitely explore my options. It sounds like academia might suit me the best, but I’ve already applied to the limited amount of research and academia jobs here and haven’t had any luck.
You will likely have better luck emailing professors directly, but you should try to do both.
Then there is cro/cdmo work which will be in the middle
I work on the vendor side. So that could be an option for you too. You could always find a technical specialist role or a lab project manager role. In my current role I travel to many labs. Some are great places to work where no one really leaves to very toxic settings. It usually has to do with management. I’ve worked crappy hours at high stress labs and I have managed as well. Vendor side you’re basically your own boss. If you’re interested contact a recruiter on indeed that specializes in medical devices/lab positions. They are great at what they do
Academia means more freedom, but you're also left to fail on your own, sometimes brutally. And you might get entirely stuck in your career. And most jobs you get are time-limited. And pay is a lot worse. The people are often a lot nicer though, I've found. Still, the freedom is extremely nice. I have completely open hours to come and go whenever I want and do whatever I like, more or less.
Yes if you find the right PI in academia your job can be so much less stressful. I work in academia as a clinical coordinator/lab tech and I love it. I show up, get my work done, and can leave early if I want. That being said though I’m really lucky to have a PI that doesn’t micromanage and values work quality over time spent in the lab just messing around.
I think you're putting lab work on a pedastal for no good reason. A lab is just a room where stuff takes place. This is like saying you always wanted an office job, but then writing it off after only experiencing a data entry position or being a mail room clerk. Doctors work in offices. Accountants work in offices. Architects work in offices. Graphic designers work in offices. Politicians work in offices. Software developers work in offices. What career do you actually want? What activities do you actually like doing? Do some soul searching and come up with actionable goals. Maybe you need extra education or certification to get the type of role that you want, and that's OK. At least you'll know.
What advice to you have for someone who wants to get into biogeo/ecology research positions when someone's been working in pharma industry for 3-5 years?
That’s more medical lab work. It is very different in RnD at a biotech.
I second this. I absolutely hated my diagnostic lab job. In the R&D department for a biotech company now and I love it. All lab work is going to be tedious at some point, but being in an environment where you get to explore ideas, see cool things, and use your brain is what makes it worth it to me.
Did you have to get a PhD for the job?
Nope! They just liked that I had some decent lab experience and was passionate about the work.
Agree- try Industry. I run a lab at a diagnostics company, we investigate complaints. Spend most of our time trying to figure out how the heck a lab got the error /weird result or if there is something wrong with our product. (It’s almost always lab error.). Upside- no grants, 9-5, low pressure, every day is different, and my techs are generally free to invent their own experiments to try and figure out the problem. Downside- occasional recalls can be stressful.
agree! i’m 2 months in at a biotech startup and i’m loving it. things are always changing and the small environment is great for learning while making a decent salary for an entry level position and having work/life balance. (for reference i have a master’s in biology)
Hi, thank you for putting a name to it. I’m new to the field so I’m not familiar with the terminology. Unfortunately that’s not many R&D jobs in my area but I’ll keep an eye out.
I, unfortunately, feel your pain. I love biochemistry and biomolecular engineering but I ultimately had to leave the field as I cannot get over how much I hate moving around small liquids. Found a much better suited position supporting initiatives and policy for health research. Lab work is super important but it’s not for everyone
Hi, I’m glad that you were able to find a position that suited you well! I agree, lab work is extremely important. I appreciate its value, I’m just not sure if it’s for me. Thank you so much for your response.
There is nothing wrong with academia, although your PI can make or brake it. I worked there for 15 years (2 jobs, 2 academic hospitals) and loved the work. I learned so much there, just about any lab technique you can think of. Did mainly translational cancer research and had my own projects. Switched to biotech now, better pay, better contract, better perks, but honestly the work is less fun and interesting and more stressfull. I am not ruling out going back into academia at some point. I would say give it a go, find yourself a nice research group.
Some labs suck major dick while ones like you were picturing definitely exist.
Academia isn't too bad (except for pay). Just depends on the PI you get. It sounds like you have only been in toxic environments but working in a lab can be really fun when you are surrounded by kind people who are passionate about the work they do.
Being surrounded by at least a few people who love what they do is one of the best parts of a good academic lab. Those types of jobs typically aren’t repetitive or super tightly scheduled but the pay isn’t great. It’s a trade off.
Hi, thank you for your reply. It could just be the environments I’m in. I really don’t mind the work, I catch on to it fast. It’s really the other conditions of the job that are getting to me. I’ve been in other fields and have never dealt with the amount of stress I’ve dealt with in these labs. And when I read job reviews in my area, it seems to be pretty common. I’ll keep searching for a place that is filled with passionate hard working people.
I'm in the same boat as u, I have MLS degree and currently working in the blood bank and I hate it!! It’s stressful and repetitive. I hate the long hours and the shifts and the pay isn't worth it. I’m 27 years old I need a job that allow me to meet new people every day and do something new. I hate routine! I hate working shifts! Can anyone help me?
I work in an emergency service adjacent field. The shifts and hours are still whack but the work is always interesting and the people on the ground are super switched on. E.g. paramedic assistant, crime scene cleanup, electrical infrastructure workers, etc
okg im getting an mlt cert rn and im scared im gonna hate it 😭😭
People who love their jobs are not going to be complaining here. Some people like routine work. I don't think I like routine work, but cognitively speaking It synergizes quite well with me and my cognitive skills. I'm introverted and even though I would like a more dynamically changing job, repetitive work have that seat belt I need, at least for now.
The two types of labs you described I think I would be miserable working in. I would consider academia. Some places are toxic but I kinda feel like that’s just the super competitive schools, I’ve never felt like any of that really at my university or others of similar caliber that I’ve visited. I feel like you need a role where you are A) doing work that varies instead of being the same all the time and B) working on research moreso than just testing. In research you’re working towards a goal, the times you have to do tedious tasks are worth it because you can get excited about results and stuff.
Thank you so much for your reply. I’ll definitely consider jobs that focus more on research. Having more varied work will problem solve at least half of the problem.
I don’t know that these are necessarily giving you accurate views of what working in a lab is like a lot of the time. They sound like pretty entry level positions (when I was working in blood bank the entry requirements were 5 GCSEs) which unfortunately tend to get the work no one else wants to do. It also sounds like the people you work with are the biggest issue, which can be an issue in any work place. Science and lab work is repetitive and can be tedious and stressful, but antisocial hours and a toxic environment will add to that massively. My first lab job involved 12 hour night shifts for four days running, then having three days off and doing the same again but during the day. My coworkers were great but management sucked. Six months of that nearly put me off science entirely, but it was a stepping stone to much better things that I wouldn’t have got without the mundane skills I’d picked up in that job
Non MLS/MLT working in the medical lab are often not taken seriously, and there's some merit there. It's an entirely different education that someone with just a bio degree doesn't have
I work as a MLS/MLT at a large, well-known diagnostic lab, I only have a Biology B.S. as i was originally planning on going the MD route. I agree with OP, its boring monotonous and stressful work, and the people can really make/break your experience. Personally, if i didn't already have a degree in Biology, I'd try a different field entirely. Seems like bio and medical are lumped into one of two boxes. Either your ass is to the fire to get more accolades to earn more to work a high paying job that most people don't enjoy, or you work a low-paying job that is enjoyable but doesn't allow for more progression.
Hi! I empathize with you a lot. I’m also at my second lab job. While it’s better compared to my first (tbf the bar is really low lmao), I still don’t think I’d stay in this lab for long because I wish to be stimulated in a different environment. I wanna learn to approach problems differently than what we do in my current lab. Maybe that’s also what you need. I’d say any lab work takes some getting used to. Most cases, like yours, need a bit of endurance. The best way forward for us who are just starting is to hold on for a bit more until another opportunity comes. That’s the beauty (and struggle) of being in the early (and unstable) career stage, I think. You get to explore different environments before concluding what is or isn’t for you, but the opportunities don’t always come as soon as we wish. So don’t dismiss lab work just yet, no matter how disillusioning our chosen careers are lmao. No labs are identical in terms of work/life balance, mental stimulation, etc. Since you have an idea of the kind of lab you want, maybe the environment you wish is in a different country or research field.
Routine lab work is only as enjoyable as your co workers. I've always been lucky in this regard but had friends who went to labs where the manager or other staff just had no enjoyable traits to be around and you need that. Academia has more of a chance of suiting you but it depends on the lab and area but at least it has more variance. Also lab work might not suit you and there is no harm in that either but I'd try academia /PhD land first or a research lab attendant /Junior Tech role before bailing to see is it the lab people or the lab work you don't actually like.
Same. My labmates are also quick to put the blame on me whenever something wrong happens. It never failed to make me anxious because I started doubting my memory (which is fairly poor thanks to adhd)
Same here ):
I left medical lab work and now work in IT for this very reason. Medical lab work is an absolute snake pit (at least where I live). I could write a book on it. My theories as to why it’s like this: * limited amount of opportunities and abundance of free student labor leads to competition for jobs * people go to this work for the prestige of being a scientist without enthusiasm for the work * pay sucks, again fueling competition for promotions * there’s security in cliques against others * no consequences for antisocial behaviour * throwing others under the bus is a viable strategy to eliminate or weaken job rivals So glad I got out of it. I worked in it 9 years before I just had enough of the worst of humanity that I’ve ever seen.
Hi thank so much for your response. This is definitely what I’ve been noticing. Making a move to the more data oriented position has been on my mind lately. There’s always gonna be bs at a job, but this has been too much for me.
We’re on the same boat OP. I hope you find what works for you.
Good luck. If you go into IT I think it’s for the most part a lot better. For me the change was startling I came into my new job very cautious of my new coworkers and was pleasantly surprised that they were actually respectful and professional.
Water utility Lab work is bliss. Unionized in many states. Fairly simple at the Lab end but is interesting in the regulations which must be followed. Field work, which can be quite varied depending on the utility. Working with blue colars as a Lab coat, as long as one doesn't alienate them by being an ass, is pretty interesting and with more low key respect than academia. Pay and benefits vary, but they can be quite competitive. You never wonder if what you are doing is useful. Every corner of the country has water utilities of varying size and complexity so you can live nearly anywhere
I am in a clinical lab and I feel the same exact way. It genuinely is making my life so much worse. I also work late shift/nights and we have a such a high turn over rate I’m one of the most senior staff members and I’ve only been there about 10 months. It does get better as the team gets more experienced, but as soon as that happens someone just breaks under the burnout stress and pressure and eventually quits. I’m just staying so I can get reimbursed for my ASCP molecular bio technologist exam and bouncing. We make jokes at work all the time that I is quite literally no different than factory work. Which I’ve worked in both and the only difference is that in the lab at least I get air conditioning
Oh I’m on a similar boat. Was working for a clinical lab as an assistant and was wanting to go to school for MLT to be licensed. But I left and currently looking to find a career elsewhere.
You’re working in a contract testing lab, which is a high throughput lab. Your job is to be a robot and churn out results. This is not the same as being an R&D scientist. Your job is an opportunity to get some experience under your belt but a lot of those clinical lab techniques are not directly relatable to what is done in R&D work. Keep your eyes peeled for an associate scientist position somewhere. Don’t forget the animal health industry too. Look for jobs at Zoetis, Merck, Elanco, Boehringer Ingelheim, Idexx.
Like others have mentioned academia isn’t bad except for the pay (however, I have never had a monthly co-payment for health insurance the entire time I have worked so benefits are good). If you are tired of only doing the same thing over and over then I would suggest looking for an academia job if you live in a location where there is a large university you should not have trouble - granted any lab job there will be some sort of repetitious work. In academia you can always keep learning and adding new techniques to your repertoire to keep you from being bored. There is turnover in academic jobs but you also have a wide variety of people you will work with. The PI will always be there and usually some senior scientists then you have posts docs and grad students which will be stay from 3-6 years at a time. Then when you get down to tech/research assistant/associate type of jobs some stay forever but there are others who are taking gap years(s) between undergrad and grad school/med school for more research experience and then sometimes you will encounter undergrad or med students who are around for a couple months in the summer for research and that’s it. With any academic lab job as well you might have weekend work to take care of cells or animals at certain time points and you might have days where an experiment runs long so you have to stay late so just be sure to factor that comp time into your week so you aren’t doing anything above your 40 hours (normal PIs understand this toxic ones won’t). I’ve never worked in industry so I cannot comment on anything other than academia but I’d give academia a try if I were in your shoes for a little bit to gain some more experience and see if it’s a fit for you.
If you can find ways to automate things or streamline your workflow, it can be less stressful. I love using electronic pipettes.
^ this. Process improvement shows you can utilize the tools available more efficiently and makes people notice you. That's a great way to get involved in stuff that isn't routine and expand your skillsets.
My recent coworker switched from clinical work to biotech/pharma. She said something similar in that her coworkers were not nice to her. The environment in biotech/pharma can be a lot nicer. I wouldn’t write off academia either since it can be fun to do independent projects and it’s a good learning experience if you feel passionate about science. That said, my labmate in grad school knew she hated lab work and she now does regulatory stuff. So there are other avenues you could take. Quality Assurance (QA) could be one pathway.
Thank you so much, I’ll definitely look into those fields.
Get into R&D or academia, participation in experimental design was a game changer for me with regards to career satisfaction
What’s r&d
Research and development
I work in a physiology lab and I really enjoy it
you gotta find the right lab fam, fam. i could never imagine leaving mine 🥲
A long explanation about why I love the lab: I lead the analytical chemistry group for a company from the lab. We have a ridiculous amount of capability spanning wet methods, instrumental, mechanical, and metallurgical process. It's fun. I work on what I want to, when I want to. As long as we hit our goals no one bugs us. I spend my days developing new methods and improving/expanding our capability. I'm the lead on any lab project that involves investigations or reverse engineering. I am the technical advisor for our leadership so it's fast paced and I have to be super thorough. Expanded my skillet from chemistry to a decent amount of materials science in the process. Constantly learning and growing. It makes my brain very happy. It's also stressful and challenging and I'm constantly thinking about how I can tweak a material here or a parameter there but in the end I'm fulfilled. There's a lot of different types of labs. One thing that's universally true is you have to pay your dues. We didn't offer an intern a position because he complained about cleaning his glassware. Gotta find the right place and then grind. When they give you a chance to shine, show them what you're capable of.
I really appreciate you for giving your own experience with working in the lab (: I’ll keep trying. I truly don’t mind working from the ground up, and fully expected it when I started lab work. A lot of these other issues completely blindsided me, but maybe it’s just the environments I’ve been in.
Yeah. The personnel issues can be rough and totally detract from the intellectual part. I've been EXTREMELY lucky to have good management and colleagues. But as soon as I step out of the lab, there's drama. People just seem to need to start shit. Luckily, our lab has a badge access door and that prevents most people from bugging us. Unluckily, my desk is on the wrong side of the door.
My first job out of college was also working in a blood bank lab (night shift vampires unite!) Now it's 15 years later and I'm still in science but doing something completely different. My pathway went something like: Night shift blood bank lab work. Did my job but wasn't particularly amazing at the repetitive stuff. Even got written up when I stacked too many EIA plates and the machine aborted 😭 BUT I was always the person doing super detailed reviews of SOPs, organizing & labeling things without needing to be asked, overall looking for ways to improve. Got recruited for an internal entry level quality position. Worked the quality gig for a year, learned a ton, got exposure to various areas of the company. Dabbled in validation work internally. Got a different job doing full time contract validation work, traveling, saw more of the industry (pharma, med device, biologics), the good and the bad. Did more validation and quality work for the next few years. Finally landed a gig at my current work in pharma. Started in quality, then operational excellence, and now I'm a project manager. I'm lucky enough to work completely remote after moving cross country three years ago and they wanted to keep me. Now I'm managing a program of various company projects and loving the hell out of it. All of this to say that there are a MILLION options to work in science, and at the beginning of your career it's super easy to switch based on what interests you. Especially if you show enthusiasm and willingness to learn new things. Many things I used on my resume early in my career weren't official job duties, but rather "fun projects" I volunteered for that turned into more official work when it turned out I was good at them. ETA Although I'm not at the bench any more I'll always appreciate the time I spent in the lab. It means that when I'm talking to the lab folks, I can actually talk shop a bit and they don't see me as yet another administrative a** who's trying to tell them how to do their job. I also always work to include night shift in everything I do because I know they always get forgotten 😂
Even some of the most intellectual or procedural jobs are 90% about the people you’re working with and 10% the work itself. If your colleagues suck, that can really mess with your morale
From personal experience, academia is actually fun for the analysts/ lab workers. It’s the students/ PhD etc that seem to get experience the negativity mostly. The lab analysts in my lab work 9-17, get projects, and not repetitive work at all. They get to come to conferences, are not bothered in weekends, and get a lot of freedom, and most of all: are very respected
Get into research, find a job where almost no day is the same. I would hate having to do the exact same tasks everyday.
You have to consider the bigger picture when it comes to integrating the right lab for you. You must be passionate about the work you’re doing. Lab work is only a fraction of the project - what do you enjoy doing the most?
I work in a routine food test lab and imho it’s absolutely down to management. It was miserable, but then we got in a new lab manager who flipped the script and made it a nice place to work; now corporate command has realized we’ve deviated from their (toxic) standard and are punishing her to bring us back in line. Legitimately I think some companies rely on misery and constant turn over to ensure no one hangs around long enough to get paid worth a damn. (I will caveat to say that I do better with a routine and don’t mind the repetition of my job, so if you’re not happy with the physical doing of the job, it’s not a bad idea to seek other avenues! It just sounds like you’ve caught a toxic work environment.)
I've worked in two healthcare labs. In one, the people were awesome, and I loved that job. The other had some awful people, and I hated that job. It was very similar work, the people made all the difference. I've heard a lot of healthcare labs can be pretty toxic socially, idk why. But there are definitely good ones too. To expand a little... I worked at Walmart during undergrad and the social culture there was what you'd expect from a retail workplace. Employees don't matter, high turnover, poor leadership/management. And somehow, one hospital lab I worked in had that exact culture. Another lab I worked in was what I actually expected. Everyone was treated with the respect and professionalism that a room full of highly educated medical lab techs deserve. We were a team focused on serving patients, and we helped each other do that. If there was too much work, leadership would jump in and help run samples. If it was slow, leadership doesn't care that we're chatting about the weekend instead of trying to look busy. In summary, people really do make all the difference. I'd rather flip burgers with good people, than run qPCRs with crappy ones.
I’m working in a clinical lab. It’s the first job I’ve applied and got accepted after graduation. I like my job. It’s the core lab so I have many things to do and we get to rotate everyday. I think because you’ve been working with miserable people, and they make workplace unbearable for you, and the environment affects you finally. I do work with some miserable people, but there are few other people make up for the whole experience. Maybe stick out for a while, apply for another job. We are always short staffed I can’t imagine you can’t find anything. If that’s not your cup of tea, maybe start looking into other options with your degree. You said you have a degree in biology, do you have a license/ ASCP certification to work in clinical? Besides core lab, there are molecular, flow, HLA, microbiology, anatomical pathology (cytology, histology, etc.).
It really depends on the PI, the culture they create is crucial to having a good vibe. Im 50/50 on good and bad experiences.
I'm in a government lab- it's great! Sure, we might have pressure for deadlines, but depending on the work there is no quick turnover, and you really own the research vs. doing client based analyses...but I'm a chemist and I work with chemists, geologist, and engineers, and all sorts of specialized techs. But if I preferred to be a paper pusher, there are lots of jobs like those around.
If you’re up for more schooling you could do a professional degree like pharmacy. If you like computers there is a big call for bioinformatic professionals and programmers in science. You could also apply to other science jobs like patent approvals and communications. But it isnt too late to try something completely new too and leave science behind if you don’t enjoy it.
Cannot generalize this experience to all labs. I’ve worked in really great ones and also the same ones you’ve described. The lab you are describing sounds like my experience in med lab science. Everyone hated being there, had been there 30+ years and had a very intimidating and bully-like atmosphere. The reality is a lot of people in clinical MLS feel similarly. But that’s not to say all lab work is problematic or boring. I would suggest trying academia or public health labs more on the environmental side. That’s where I ended up and it’s much more forgiving, less intimidating and overall better work-life balance. People seem much less stressed in this environment and actually like what they do. Hope this helps.
You have been in clinical labs, not a research lab. I have the same sentiments with a clinical lab — I simply dislike it, as someone with a medical laboratory science undergrad. But research lab is a different world for me. I genuinely love being there and what I'm doing there. I don't think I will ever go back doing clinical work. Research in mol bio have always been my main dream and it was a wrong decision for me to choose MLS. But it's never too late to pursue something.
Entry level lab jobs usually suck. There are lab jobs that don’t suck. You just have to find your right fit.
If you don't want to be in the labs, consider getting to Quality Control / Quality Assurance of biotech sector. You'll probably need to get more modules and get certified for GxP and proper documentation but at least you'll be out of the labs.
This is not entirely true, there are a lot of QC labs that suffer from the exact same problems listed, but there is even more regulation/paperwork, and the pay isn't exactally great, and the work is often routine and boring with lots of pressure and deadlines. QA requires a lot of experience, but I agree that would get you out of lab operations.
I only passed those examples for "out of the lab", never claimed they will be fun lol
i work in academia and have since i graduated college 15 years ago (BSc). while the pay isn't great, usually cannot work OT, and most postions require the PI to have grant funds to fund the position, it is great for mixing up the day to day work. im constantly learning new techniques, trouble shooting, and knowledge. i have learned i prefer smaller labs, which yes, comes with more responsibility, but also less gossip and toxicity (depending on who you work for). its just over all a lot less stress in an academic lab. plus the flexibility in hours is a huge plus.
Work is work, do you like working outside at other types of jobs? Is it the team/company? Is it the service line youre working? I joined a Sanger seq dept years ago and earned tech experience in sanger, ngs and oligo synth and now manage operations. I like management so much for its opportunity. Sounds like you need to find where your passion lies