Re[2]-exploring my options

Last updated April 13, 2006.

Since last wondering what I should be doing with my life 2 years ago, I got a job at Google, and then embarked on a biotechnology career.

Google

Google gave me what I wanted in terms of using my skills (technical, planning, autonomy, organizational, social) and resources (time) in a field that I enjoy (computing). What Google missed though was I wasn't working on the things I care about. I also found the technical pace at Google a little extreme, and it had a very steep learning curve, with so much of the technology they use having been developed in house. So I wasn't totally satisfied at Google, but I didn't have a clear option of what else to do next.

CASE

When I was given the opportunity to join the Biomedical Sciences Training Program at CASE I jumped at the opportunity. This became an opportunity to work on what I care about (poverty and in particular malaria) in a field I enjoy (biotechnology) utilizing my skills (science, assimilation of new ideas, autonomy, organizational, and social) and my resources (time).

This has highlighted for me some of the fears I had about a biotechnology career before entering it:

The amount of academic research going in to infectious diseases is controlled by the NIH, not by the decisions individual researchers make, and hence as a researcher you can only make a small incremental improvement in the amount of research performed; my abilities appear on par with and not significantly above my peers so I would only be able to make a small contribution at best.
Key treatment access issues that matter a lot, such as pro-poor patent licensing terms, reducing drug manufacturing costs, and clinical trials of existing compounds, fall outside the academic mandate.
Their is an overly heavy focus on publishing papers and applying from grants that distracts from the broader goal of tackling infectious disease.
The cost of setting up my own lab might be around $500k/yr, which is well outside my reach.

Going to grad school has also raised a number of new issues of which I previously wasn't aware:

I suspect I wouldn't enjoy working as a researcher. There is a lot of pressure to publish. There is also a constant need to be applying for grants. Something that I wouldn't enjoy, and would find stressful. I think I used to have a more romantic vision of what science was like.
I don't enjoy lab work. This isn't totally true. At times I have really enjoy it, but with time a lot of it becomes repetitive and boring. On balance, I don't enjoy lab work. The lab work is the primary component associated with becoming a researcher. Consequently, I don't think I will enjoy the 7-10 years spent getting a PhD and a Postdoc.
Even after completing a Postdoc, you might not be able to become a researcher with your own infectious disease lab. The job market appears saturated. Rajiv's situation is an example of this. The entire NIH budget for malaria research is only around $70m/yr (2001).
My position as a graduate student does not contribute to my goals of combating malaria. Capital that might have been used elsewhere to combat malaria, is simply applied to my education and research output. Becoming a grad student fails to take funding away from a less productive area of the biomedical sciences and redirect them towards malaria.
I really enjoy learning about biotechnology, but I find the pace of my present genetics class excessive. This isn't a long term complaint, since there is relatively little class work remaining before I am studying full time for a PhD.

What's next?

Retrying some of my previous plans:

voting/delegation software - I created a website called Votocracy that implemented this. The difficulty was in attracting users. The application is not sufficiently compelling for people to want to use it.

Reviving some of my previous plans (in priority order):

volunteer with a science/technology public policy organization - CPTech is the only option for now
volunteer with RESULTS
continue to dabble in biotechnology - For fun, explore the evolution of sex in eukaryotes.
travel in the developing world - Once she is well, I can travel with Tracy. Learn about what is needed in the world.
public health - Obtain a certificate in public health. I am not sure I am cut out for this. Like biotechnology it has a long term training phase, and your ability to have an impact is economically limited. It might also involve too much social interaction for me to enjoy.

Exploring some new options (in priority order):

Social networking for donors/charity linking - Based on past GWoB discussions I think there could be a real need for such an application; it would help with my goals by ensuring the best charities get the funding they deserve to continue and expand their operations and it would reduce grant administrative overheads.
drspock.org - Support for drspock.org. Doesn't fit well with my goals, but this is offset by it being likley to have a high societal payoff, and low chance of fialure.
Software development for Zimmerman malaria lab - I have the skills and there is an interest. I am unsure of the value proposition.
Malaria report - Produce an IAVI report like newsletter for the malaria research community. I don't quite have the knowlege base, but I think I could teach myself, and this would help push the research envelope and agenda. I would be working alone for an extended period of time.
World Social Forum voting support - Voting/decision making solutions are clearly needed for such large gatherings. The pressure would be on though to have something working right out of the box for tens of thousands of people. It would be desirable to find some smaller monthly gathering and initially develop the software there.
shyness website - Beef up my shyness website. This would be valuable, but other web sites already exist, and it doesn't really lead me anywhere.
open source voting - There is probably still an opportunity for open source voting software, such as being worked on by OVC and OVS. The difficulty is how to leverage this into effecting the democratic process. It would also most likely involve working alone for a long period of time.
distributed Linux - This would be fun, but doesn't help with my goals.

Plan

A ranked list of what I plan to work on:

voting/delegation software - Done. Did not work.
Social networking for donors/charity linking - Work with GwOB.
drspock.org - Keep to a part time engagement.
volunteer with a science/technology public policy organization - Will have to wait until relocate to D.C..
volunteer with RESULTS - Will have to wait until relocate to D.C..
continue to dabble in biotechnology - For fun. Part time only.