The most exciting and regret moment for a bioinformatician

Question

[zizigolu]

Hi everyone,

Sometimes I am asked to mention the most exciting moment or part of my research works, I often say that I was excited first time I know how to work with command lines in Linux. However I think might be there is a specific purpose behind asking this question. What would you reply if you asked so?

Thank you very much

Answer 1

[JC]

I believe that is a common job interview question, in general, it is used to check with the candidate what are his/her expectations and what consider important in his/her career. It also depends on the background, a biologist entering into bioinformatics will be excited about CS stuff and vice-versa. So, there is no correct answer, just be sincere.

On my particular case, I am constantly excited but I can highlight:

• Learning the command line
• Learning to code
• The first time I use an HPC
• The first paper in a high-impact journal

[Kevin Blighe]

Yes, it's common. It caught me off guard the first time that I was asked, though, and I responded with: 'Umm, nothing much excites me anymore'.

Answer 2

[WouterDeCoster]

I'd say fixing a bug/error in a script you wrote, or significantly speeding things up is particularly rewarding. But also getting nice feedback from users is great.

Answer 3

[ATpoint]

As a part wet lab rat, part computer guy, the most exciting thing is actually the fact to be able to analyze the data you produced in the lab yourself, without being dependent on a second person (at least standard analysis). That directly leads to the most frustrating thing, which is realizing how overwhelmingly much I still cannot do, especially when it comes to advanced data analysis strategies and statistics.

Answer 4

[Alex Reynolds]

Seeing my work in a published paper, be it figures or analysis or, ultimately, a citation to a paper where I was one of the authors. Seeing my first high-profile paper get used in a Coursera genomics class that I had signed up for was a genuine thrill.