BIOTECH-- Is it as rosy as it is claimed to be

One more year of admissions are over with the students undergoing the grind of counseling, cut-offs and what not.
Good sense, that the government too has realized the folly of churning out too many engineers and technologists than the demand, with a cap being brought on the opening of new engineering colleges from the next year onwards. Enough is enough, thought they.
The placement scenario has been okay, if not great as in the yesteryears, with the IT biggies weaning off the available talent.
Having said that, it is time enough for me to get into what I thought should be scribbled about one ‘specialty segment ‘which promises to be promising but yet not arrived.
Be wary, students.
Whenever a sector sees light these days, it has been very normal to equate it with the boom of one industry..IT. That has been the biggest selling point of any segment which needed the necessary push and pull. Biotechnology, willy-nilly, had fallen into that bracket. With the entire industry poised for a huge growth, the need for qualified manpower was likely to be in great demand and the compensation package too was likely to be on par.
Well, now reality bites..
The hype created by the Bio segment was neither a bubble which burst nor was it anywhere close to real. The lessons that the qualified career seekers learnt needed to be experienced to be believed.
One such experience,
A bright M.Tech from one of the best BIOTECH institutes in the country with a good academic record and prestigious projects to her name was courageous and pragmatic enough to forego all the carrots offered by the IT industries in their placement programs conducted in her institute.
Reason-- she did not want to ditch the field which she had been wedded to for the last 5 years.. Almost eating, sleeping, talking, walking and what not, her only Mantra... Biotechnology. To her dismay none of the industry majors of her most adored field, turned up for campus placement. Says she, if this was the treatment meted out to this prestigious institute, the plight of the others need not be mentioned. A couple of her batch mates were lucky enough to get projects in an industry major that absorbed them for a good package. That was more incidental than an organized appointment. Not one of the batch of 34 pass outs was placed by a biotech company of repute.


The Scenario outside:
After 3 months of active knocking of many industry doors, she is yet to find herself a suitable job. She is in a catch 22 situation where job needs experience and experience gets job. She has neither. Her hunt did open the eyes of many and sundry; breaking a myth that Biotech is the most sought after field after IT (you must have heard that too).
The lessons learnt would certainly benefit her, and if shared the entire community would, as it is tantamount to a rude awakening. These experiences are endured during the rookie stage; it would sure harden the victim for tough situations ahead.
Lesson 1-If your objective is to find a job in Biotechnology, introspect before making a decision to join the course because rewarding jobs are far and few at the entry level (unlike IT)
Related jobs do come but with a cost. If you are a Biotech grad from a reputed university, the company which needs you also senses your desperation. The result-- Offers are made to you for peanuts and the irony is that these peanuts don’t come with butter but with bondage ranging from 2 – 5 years.
Lesson 2- Check if you would like to get bound to a medium sized company just for the sake of getting employed and that too underpaid
The BPO bug is prevalent in this industry too. Night shifts to work for the western clock for medical coding, transcription and documentation just because you happen to be a Biotech candidate. The selection procedures are invariably murky with touts advertising on the net to pick up innocent and hapless job seekers again for peanuts.
Lesson 3 – The jobs available in this BPO segment, don’t be surprised, would just require a science graduate. The training would be intense and would involve a cost for you too. Check if you need to be into this before opting for this.
With all the above riders, the moot question would be whether any student looking for a job, post graduation should chose this segment? The prospects are no doubt, slim.
Lesson 4 - However, if the student has the intention of going ahead with academics, with research and teaching as priority areas, then it would be a choice stream.
The objective of this write up is to make the student understand why he/she is choosing this particular segment.
If there is willingness to wait for long term (how long) then it could be preferred.
Most importantly…don’t fall for hype and the exaggerated claims of the industry being equated with the IT industry. (Could be a redundant point in this write up but still underscores the reality)