Is Biologist a good profession?

no.

shit pay/low job opportunity unless you land a governmend job or start your own company.

> to work as a teacher?

you don't want to, it's literally the most cancerous field to be a teacher in.

A lot of travelling, shitting in a bag, miserable in the weather.

Its like camping without beer or friends.

>>2214685
>>2214700

Don't take bugguy's "advice", he's a gardener after all.

>>2214685
>I love animals and biology in general.

Do you also love genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry? Because modern biology is mostly that, not cute fuzzy animals.

>>2214721
I do love the first two. Not sure about the last one though since I don´t like chemistry. As I said, I´m not only into animals, I like genetics and cytology a lot.

Also, keep in mind I live in Brasil and there are fucking animals everywhere. Salary is good for teachers here too but only if you have at least a master´s degree or, the ideal, if you have Phd which I can totaly see me going for.

>>2214727
I want to specialize, I´m just not sure on what but I know I´ll figure that out once I´m on my graduation course.

>>2214727
>come again after you've got a phd in biology.
>has a "degree" in gardening
opinion discarded

>>2214731
>a master´s degree or phd
>for teaching
Well that's a waste of time (unless if you want to teach at university level or something like that)

>>2214727
>unless you specialize in something.
The only people who do not specialise are the ones who barely passed their exams. People like you. :) They end up cleaning up shit in zoos and things like that.

If you don't mind volunteering/doing internships in college, are okay with being dirt poor and have good money management skills, and being unemployed frequently and pretty much constantly job hunting, sure.

>>2214738
>tries to give academic advice
>has never completed an academic program

wew lad

>>2214736
That´s exactly what I´m going for.

>>2214738
>that´s too late
Of course 4 years must be a real short period to decide on something.

>>2214750
>because people like you aren't even allowed to enroll.
Says the one who's assmad about not getting into a real program to the guy with a master's :D you never fail to make me laugh

>>2214750
>because people like you aren't even allowed to enroll.

savage

>>2214754
you'll be standing in front of a class filled with SJW's and the kind of girls you'd avoid during highschool.

>they all went off to study arts or biology depending on how bad their daddy issues are.

>>2214754
>That´s exactly what I´m going for.

Then go for it

>Of course 4 years must be a real short period to decide on something.

You'll see in your first or second year what you like and who you want to work with. Especially if you volunteer over the summer and try out different departments.

>>2214758
>your master's in dunning kruger doesn't drop any panties I'm afraid.
>projecting this hard
stay mad

>>2214757
I don´t see a lot of SJW on biology here. I´m being really honest, I didn´t even know it was an option to them. I have friends on this graduation so I know.

>>2214764
oh right, I live in the netherlands and studied in germany, it's filled to the brim with them here.

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>>2214767
>ok lol
>I-i-i'll wite "lol" so h-he knows i'm n-not a-actually ma-ad.

>>2214760
That´s exactly what I plan to do. I have a friend who is on this course already. He already had lessons with management of snakes, whales and spider capture on his first months. That was all in the field out of normal classes. And he already knows he´s going for specialization on microbiology.

So do you really think it is worth it? I mean I think I´ll be successful but I´m too cautions about anything so I´m asking for advice.

Also, do anyone here REALLY have a degree on biology or is at least coursing it?

>>2214772
Here they do not seem to go to anything beyond humanities. Is it just here? Maybe I´m just totaly wrong.

>>2214775
I'm studying biology! There's a million local internships near me. I'm not aiming for a high income though.

>>2214780
I go to a school famous for SJWs. Biology is big here.

>>2214775
>I mean I think I´ll be successful

Can you also finish your IT program? Because you'll have much better chances in biology with proof of your programming skills.

>do anyone here REALLY have a degree on biology or is at least coursing it

Yeah. Don't know how to confirm it tho, I don't have anything defining near me and I'm not posting my diploma.

>>2214784
I´m not too but I don´t want to be misarable though. I just want to buy my stuff and pay my bills without much concern. I don´t want to be rich and have a huge house and travel the world every year. I just want to have a calm life, that´s wall. If I have a stable job with decent salary (which is what a teacher with Phd here have) then I could not ask for more since I´ll be working with something I love.

>>2214785
my school had like a 30:70 male to female ratio.

and almost all of them were awkward as fuck.

>>2214793
but that was a gardening school, so it does not really apply here

>>2214796
I'm going to have to disappoint you on that one mate because there's next to zero female gardeners.

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>>2214799

>>2214785
I really didn´t know. Guess I´ll confirm with this friend of mine. But really, I don´t care about SJW. I know how to deal with this type of people. The people on my class right know are the type of people I don´t like too but they´re not a problem.

>>2214787
You don´t need to prove anything. I can´t finish it because the method used for entering uni here is different from USA and other places.

You have to take a national test that happens every year. People study like crazy to get good grades there and be accepted on some good university (usually by federal ones). I did the test without studying and got a good grade right out of the way but it wasn´t enough to get 100% of scholarship but for 50%.

I´m on the best private university here now and I would risk lose everything if I did the test again so I entered anyway. The remaining 50% is financed by the government but I have to pay it later. If I leave now I´ll pay little but if I finish I´ll pay a lot for something I won´t be doing as a profession. I don´t like programming and I´m not good at it.

>>2214802
My plan right now is to do this test again (this time really studying for it and focusing on it) and getting a 100% scholarship

>>2214802
I've never heard of it being a thing either. Honestly though I am pro most things SJW, although some of the poor are ridiculous.

If you don't enjoy programming definitely switch majors. Maybe talk to a career counselor and see what kind of salary you can get. Brazil seems like an amazing place to study biology.

>>2214800
go call your local gardeners and ask if they've got any females employed, try to sound as creepy as possible while you're at it and record it since you're not actually hiring them anyway.

i've been around this scene my entire life since I inherited the company from my dad, never saw a single female.

>>2214805
We call paid gardeners yard workers here in the States. Only illegal immigrants do that kind of work.

>>2214802
>I don´t like programming and I´m not good at it.

That could be a problem in some field. Average Matlab or R knowledge is much appreciated, but it really depends on the field.

>>2214775
Phylogeny/popgen here. You should keep in mind that what you do for the first 4 or so semesters has basically nothing to do with what you'll actually be doing later, you learn the basics, not the jobs.
You will however notice that at some parts you'll have trouble staying awake and at others you'd wish your lectures would last longer. As soon as they let you specialze take (overview) courses related to the things you found interesting. They'll be a lot closer to actual jobs and if you still like it talk to the profs/postdocs. They'll pick up on the people that are actually interested and talented instead of doing that particular course because they need to.

Then research that field and find out how things are done there nowadays. If it's molecular biology you're good. If you want a job you do something molecular.

Also drop the misconception that you'll be doing "something with animals". Sure, you might be out to get your samples for 6 weeks a year like I am but for the entire rest you'll be either sitting in a lab or in front of a PC.
Also

Also don't expect great pay or humane working hours. No one is in this job for the money, they're in it because it is their passion.

>>2214757
>they all went off to study arts or biology depending on how bad their daddy issues are.
And they make me laugh every year because they inevitably fail at some point once things get serious. I always see them in their first semester, thinking they're oh so clever. And always complaining about something, mostly how the exams are unfair or some bullshit like that. Predictably they never go far.
It's getting more though and that has me worried. It's not nearly as bad as in arts or stuff like that, I've seen that once, Jesus Christ it's bad.

>>2214811
I know the local gardeners. 2 males and 6 females.

>>2214812
yeah it's different here, it's only recently been 'given free' as a job title, you used to need an actual degree for it.

>>2214818
>2 males and 6 females.
is that in like some kind of gardening store?

I meant gardening/landscaping outside, you know, physical work.

>>2214808
I´m kinda mixed. Somethings make sense and some are straight out bullshit (mostthings nowadays). SJW really do not worry me, I just didn´t know they were usual in some biology graduations.

>>2214814
I´ll probably run away from that. Or maybe not. See, is not like I hate programming but I´m not really good at it and I don´t think I was born for that.

>>2214815
That sounds cool man, thanks for the advice.

> You should keep in mind that what you do for the first 4 or so semesters has basically nothing to do with what you'll actually be doing later
>You will however notice that at some parts you'll have trouble staying awake and at others you'd wish your lectures would last longer

I can read the course´s grid so I know. There are some stuff there I already know I´ll hate but that´s with any course, right? And they´re exceptions, most things get me excited to study.

> As soon as they let you specialze take (overview) courses related to the things you found interesting

Yeah and, as I said before, my friend is already doing lots of those in his first months so that´s going to be really good. I can´t wait for it.

> If it's molecular biology you're good. If you want a job you do something molecular.

I heard genectics pay really well, is that true? I like it and I could see me going for that.

>Also drop the misconception that you'll be doing "something with animals". Sure, you might be out to get your samples for 6 weeks a year like I am but for the entire rest you'll be either sitting in a lab or in front of a PC.

When I say I love animals I don´t necessarily mean I want to hug them and keep´em as pets. I like everything about it. If by sitting in a lab or pc you mean researching them I would be really happy to. But that´s if it is really what´s in my mind. Can you explain that in more details?

>>2214815
>>2214833

>Also don't expect great pay or humane working hours. No one is in this job for the money, they're in it because it is their passion.

That´s what worries me the most. I don´t really care about getting a lot of money though as long as I have enough to live a life without much worries. But I really don´t like working for too many time. My ideal job would be to work from 6 to 8 hours. Is that even possible?

Also, is getting a Phd really difficult? Because I could see me being a teacher and getting a good salary with a Phd degree. It doesn´t seem to be so difficult for me honestly.

>>2214833
>heard genectics pay really well, is that true?

Genetics is not a field, it's a method. Nowadays everything is genetics. Cellular, neuro, even ecology. Everything uses molecular genetics as one of their main methods now, so what you do nowadays as a biologist is some form of that. The other stuff, like going outside and getting samples or setting up behaviour experiments, stilll exists but it is mostly a way to either get data for your molecular analysis of choice or test the results of one.

>But that´s if it is really what´s in my mind. Can you explain that in more details?
What do you mean by that? Please elaborate.

>>2214836
My ideal job would be to work from 6 to 8 hours. Is that even possible?

That...depends. On some days that means I don't have much to do at all, so I just go home or talk to people. On others, especially when something doesn't work, you stay late. Not because you have to because your boss expects results but because you really, REALLY wanted those results. Hell, sometimes I come on on saturdays not because I have to but because I couldn't sleep thinking about how I could fix the latest problem I was working on. Again, you don't go into science for a 9 to 5 job. And the higher up you go the more you can make up your own plans and schedules. Overall I don't think I work THAT much and considering how other people talk about their jobs some times I think I don't work at all because while it can be frustrating at times I actually like what I'm doing. I even like my colleagues. I can talk to them about stuff that interests me, like, ya know, biology.

Also (though that might just be our department), "work time" includes stuff like meeting up and discussing recent papers or just stuff we find interesting, going to conferences and listening to guest lecturers we invited.

Of course I'm talking about academic employment here, things might be entirely different in a company or even a private institute.

>>2214900

>>2214836
>Also, is getting a Phd really difficult?
My old prof put it really well, he said "a phd is not about how clever you are but how good you are at working". And he really hit the nail in the head. You really have to organize yourself and stick to it. The hard part is the "yourself" part, no one there to guide you, no one to put the blame on if you fail. You have limited time and you have to get shit done.

>>2214900
>>2214902
>What do you mean by that? Please elaborate.

What I have in mind is kind of what you said, examining data. Maybe a video with footage about the behaviour of an animal or just examining the stuff you wrote while observing the animal you´re studying. Or maybe obeserving how cells react to something on the microscope. Stuff like that sound really interesting and I´d love to do that. I´m really ignorant though and I´m not sure if that really is something or just bullshit. Is that it? What do you actually do everyday?

>Not because you have to because your boss expects results but because you really, REALLY wanted those results

That sounds good to me. If I work more because I want to then it´s fine.

>>2214902
>My old prof put it really well, he said "a phd is not about how clever you are but how good you are at working". And he really hit the nail in the head. You really have to organize yourself and stick to it. The hard part is the "yourself" part, no one there to guide you, no one to put the blame on if you fail. You have limited time and you have to get shit done.

Sounds good to me too since I´ll be doing something I like.

Thanks for all that. You´re helping a lot.

Guess the job I would mostly want to do would be this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZQQNGGJoLE

But as I said, I also like genetics so nothing is sure.

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Also, is studying insects a good way to go? I love insects, mainly pic related.

I started saying most of the same things you are, I went into biology, 2 years later I switched to nursing and made biology my minor. It either happens and you get to find out for yourself how you would fare as a biologist and what you would work in, or you could switch majors; hopefully you'd be "re-routing" to put your effort into something else that you are interested in. You'll never know what happens til you do it. Sit down with your guidance counselor or talk to someone you think will help steer you in a good direction (or research/go for it).

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So without that one Dutch guy shitposting, what is a general route people take to focus on genetics and cytology? Do you first do stuff with Microbiology?

>>2214914
>What do you actually do everyday?
I've been sitting here trying to write up a generally intelligible explanation and I'm drawing blanks. I guess this is why people often view science as this magical bullshit. I’m just gonna tell you what you actually DO without any explanation of why or for what purpose or this would be a very long post. And I can only tell you what I do, this is probably very different in every field.
There is outdoor work, lab work and office work.
Outdoor work (for me) means designing experiments or thinking about how, when and where to set up traps to get my samples. Data sets have to be statistically solid so this takes a while. And also making those traps in the first place, then going out and doing it. I’m in the tropics 4 to 12 weeks a year, mostly only 5 though, that’s what I do there. Well, and a lot of walking around and taking pretty pictures, biologists in the rainforest are like kids in a candy store. Absolutely no “working hours” there of course. You do what you have to do, no matter how long it takes. I’ve been going from 7AM to 11PM with no real breaks and I don’t regret it.

>>2215004
Lab work mostly means read a lot of stuff online, picking out the stuff you think sounds logical then ordering it, heading into the lab and mixing up a bunch of stuff with a micropipette while being very, very careful not to fuck anything up. Depending on how many samples you have this takes anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. There are usually wait times of 1 to 3 hours here, in which you can do more reading online, clean the lab (lol), jerk off or whatever.
Then you do basically the same stuff again for your PCR (or send it off to let it get sequenced). It takes another 1 to 2 hours before you get the results from that, so another round of jerking off for you. Then you check if all the stuff you've been doing so far has actually worked (takes another 30 minutes or so).
Now this will most likely not work the first time, so you go checking for errors, changing volumes, concentrations and times based on your knowledge of molecular biology and start over. You can get maybe 2 runs of this done in a single day, probably only one. Once you've found a combination that works you do this en masse for all your samples. This is where the irregular working hours come from, stuff doesn’t work so you stay late and wait for the machine to finish and so on.
The higher up you go the less you will do this stuff, this is what technical assistants and students are for after all :^)

>>2215007
Now this is where the actual meat of the work is and I’m not gonna explain this in a 4chan post. Look up phylogenetic analysis. That means picking the right data set, the right algorithm and so on and then waiting for a progress bar to finish. This can take a long time. Of course you double check all of your results and so on. Then you think long and hard about what you’ve done and what your results actually mean. You think that’d be obvious after working on it but it’s not. Writing up a paper and submitting your results for review would be the last step in that chain.

Of course there is other stuff like prepping lectures and teaching courses, responding to mails, checking exams and so on.

>>2215009
Whoops, forgot a paragraph. I wrote this out in a word document because it was way too long for 4 chan. This part goes at the front of the 3rd post.

Anyway, the point to all of this is to get the DNA you want for analysis. However long this takes at the end you’ll either have a shitton of small or several fuckhuge text files full of genetic information. And I mean fuckhuge, ever seen a 15 GB text file? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/SRX1998280[accn]
This is basically office work, you stare at a screen and do computer stuff. this can be a 9 to 5 job if you want.

>>2214991
Ye. Take courses that are the closest to the topic.
You should study somewhere where modern microbio or neuro/cyto is done so you can get to know people. Take their courses, make a good impression.

>>2215004
>>2215007
>>2215009
>>2215016

So you what I could understand from that is that you are a teacher that does research, am I right? Because I know teachers also do a lot of research. If that´s the case, I´m all into it. If not I might be also but I´ll just be 1005 sure if I actually study this shit.

Actually I´m getting excited about all this. Getting out of my shitty course to study this would be really awesome.

>>2214985
Guess you´re right. I know I was born to this, I´m just afraid of becoming a slave. It seems more unlikely to me now. Seems more like a normal job rather than one in which you´ll just fuck your entire life.

>>2215096
Oops

*100%

>>2214731
>do love the first two. Not sure about the last one though since I don´t like chemistry.
So you love genetics and molecular biology but you're not sure about biochemistry? I don't think you've taken any sort of courses related to those fields. I'm a biochemist and can tell you that cell biology is heavily dependent on biochemistry. There's so much overlap that biochemistry and molecular biology are basically the same field.

>>2214948
I hate entomology. I'm doing a master's in it but I think entomology for the sake of entomology is dead

Do something with genetics or functional genomics

Some parts of it suck but it's really the only thing theres a lot left to study in

>>2215096
take some of those SRA files and do an RNASeq analysis of one of the experiments or make a phylogeny with some COI sequences from Phylota and a program like BEAST or RaxML

if you like that stuff you'll like it
if you don't dont do it
I enjoy it but it's not for everyone noob

>>2215217
This. There's tons of online tutorials for this. Go construct a mtDNA or make a CO1 tree, Geneious has a 30 day free trial. All the other stuff is freeware too.

Also what >>2215208 said. You're not getting past biochemistry if you want to do anything except shoveling shit at the zoo.
You're also not getting past statistics and stochastics. Both of those are surprisingly fun once you're into it though. I never thought I'd say that, especially about statistics since I fucking suck at math but it's actually really interesting. I guess this has to do with it being attached to the things I love working on so it's easier to learn for me.

Also if you want to do phylo/popgen there'll be some (very basic) programing involved and of course (hopefully) actually trying to understand the algorithms with which your programs work. That's not hard on a math level but can be complicated on an actual understanding level. Too many actual researchers seem to have no fucking clue what they're doing, so they produce shitty papers. Garbage in > garbage out.

>>2215208
I didn´t know. I´m not sure because I don´t like chemistry. It was always hard for me, but I don´t know how biochemistry is going to be since there is biology involved.

>>2215214
Really? That´s bad since I wanted to do it. I love rhino beetles but I would love to study ants or work with bees also. I heard there are good oportunities on bees.

>>2215217
>>2215326
You guys are saying I have only one option but anywhere I look, people say there are tons of other areas I could go into. Teaching is one of them and one I really consider. As I said before, not sure about doing what you guys are talking about, but I might like as well. Although it seems to extend far beyond that. Are you guys implying that´s the only area you can earn money? Is that what you mean?

>>2215096
Nah, I'm a researcher that unfortunatley also has to teach.

>>2215377
No, we're saying that if you want to go into research, academic or private, you'll be doing biochemistry and statistics and bioinformatics. The amount might vary but you can't get around it anymore. Even in conservation you'll have to do with statistical tests and proofs. Those are just the methods that are used nowadays, there are still more classical experiments and observation but they are not the focus of current research, they are methods to get samples or stuff you include in a note.

Of course there are other things you can do with biology but I wouldn't call those professions biologist.

If you want to earn money you go into the private sector, which does mean biochem and bioinformatics, yes. In academical research you won't earn as much but you'll also have more freedom (eventually).

>>2215395
Oh, I see. But you guys have the wrong idea. I don´t want to get around anything, I´m just not sure about it already.

I hate math because I suck at it but I have statistics in my current course and I passed with good grades.I found it really easy and not a drag at all (I actually think it´s the best area in math). I also like computers and all that, I just don´t want to do for a living since the job oportunities here are really bad despite what they tell you. Chemistry was hard for me at some points, but organic chemestry was really easy as fuck and I actually liked it. But I don´t really know about biochemestry since I´m guessing it´s something else.

I feel like research might be a good way for me, I´m just not sure about it yet.

Here where I live there area a lot of companies that deal with envoriment, ecology and I feel like that´s a good option too (people often say that too). Again, teaching also pays really well here but only if you have at least a master´s degree. I feel like I´m going into ecology, research/microbiology, paleontology or teaching.

>>2215407
you can do wildlife conservation and ecology

only problem is research in those fields are dying
pay is shit
and you have to do lots of fieldwork in inhumane conditions

you can see why I chose functional genomics in my lab instead

but hey if you like back-breaking fieldwork you can really work with animals and the environment

>>2215674
aw, really? that's the field I'm going into... shit.

>>2215676
it's fun for some it's not for everyone
I liked it some days and other days I wanted to die
being in the lab is more boring, but it's also less stressful and more convenient

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Don't do it unless you plan on getting a PhD, going to medical/optometry/dental school, or working a minimum wage job and destroying all passion you had for the industry.

>>2215674
This >>2215676 is not OP, I am. I´m not sure about that. I mean, wildlife is not only about research, right? What if I get an conservation job? Is that considered research (sorry if I sound too dumb)? Like this >>2214918 seems cool and not really that bad.

Where I live there are tons of companies that need that type of professional and it seems like a good idea. But I´m not sure since teaching is something I really want to do too.

>>2215837
I plan going all the way to Phd. At least Master´s Degree.

Also, what are the possible opportunities for a biologist in an area where the economy pretty much composed of mining (Paleontology and Geology, right?)?

>>2216327
>Also, what are the possible opportunities for a biologist in an area where the economy pretty much composed of mining (Paleontology and Geology, right?)?
You'd have the opportunity to go back to school and get a chemical engineering degree. Or you could work at taco bell

>>2216337
Didn´t mean you just get a job in that area, just meant it is big here so I wanted to know if there was anything I didn´t know about.