Hi Jeff, just wanted to say thank you for sharing all your insights. Would you mind expanding on how you were able to pivot to a career in biosecurity. More specifically, did you work on side projects, do some sort of fellowship, or jump straight to applying for jobs in biosecurity. If the latter, why/​how did you choose the Nucleic Acid Observatory?
For context, I’m a software engineer at a big tech company with 4+ years of experience in mobile development. I’m very much interested in pivoting to either biosecurity or cybersecurity, but I lack the relevant experience for roles in these areas. The way I see it, I could take any of the following approaches, but wondering which would be the most optimal:
Applying for roles at Biosecurity organizations, such as the ones listed here
Work on side projects such as the ones listed here
did you work on side projects, do some sort of fellowship, or jump straight to applying for jobs in biosecurity?
I did a lot of reading, and a side project around air filtration (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) that I don’t think was all that helpful, but mostly I talked to people in the field about what was missing. I think it helped a lot that I was a bit of a known quantity: I’d been writing publicly for a long time which let people have a sense of what to expect from me.
why/​how did you choose the Nucleic Acid Observatory?
Based on my reading and talking with people in biosecurity I thought the NAO was aiming to solve a really important problem and it had a lot of good people but the group as a whole was too academic: not enough experience building things, learning by doing, or moving quickly. This seemed like a project where my skills were very complementary, and I think that did end up being the case.
interested in pivoting to either biosecurity or cybersecurity
Great to hear! I don’t have a good sense of what would make sense. The NAO isn’t currently hiring, but at some point it’s possible we’ll be looking for engineers and for candidates who were sufficiently strong elsewhere not having a bio background wouldn’t be a blocker.
I do think working on side projects is often pretty good for getting a sense of whether you like the work and other people seeing what you can do. And with LLMs it’s easier than ever to get spun up in new domains.
I don’t really have good advice on how to get into the field, though; sorry!
Hi Jeff, just wanted to say thank you for sharing all your insights. Would you mind expanding on how you were able to pivot to a career in biosecurity. More specifically, did you work on side projects, do some sort of fellowship, or jump straight to applying for jobs in biosecurity. If the latter, why/​how did you choose the Nucleic Acid Observatory?
For context, I’m a software engineer at a big tech company with 4+ years of experience in mobile development. I’m very much interested in pivoting to either biosecurity or cybersecurity, but I lack the relevant experience for roles in these areas. The way I see it, I could take any of the following approaches, but wondering which would be the most optimal:
Applying for roles at Biosecurity organizations, such as the ones listed here
Work on side projects such as the ones listed here
Apply for career development and transition funding through Open Philanthropy
Also let me know if there’s anything else I might be missing. Thanks in advance!
I did a lot of reading, and a side project around air filtration (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) that I don’t think was all that helpful, but mostly I talked to people in the field about what was missing. I think it helped a lot that I was a bit of a known quantity: I’d been writing publicly for a long time which let people have a sense of what to expect from me.
Based on my reading and talking with people in biosecurity I thought the NAO was aiming to solve a really important problem and it had a lot of good people but the group as a whole was too academic: not enough experience building things, learning by doing, or moving quickly. This seemed like a project where my skills were very complementary, and I think that did end up being the case.
Great to hear! I don’t have a good sense of what would make sense. The NAO isn’t currently hiring, but at some point it’s possible we’ll be looking for engineers and for candidates who were sufficiently strong elsewhere not having a bio background wouldn’t be a blocker.
I do think working on side projects is often pretty good for getting a sense of whether you like the work and other people seeing what you can do. And with LLMs it’s easier than ever to get spun up in new domains.
I don’t really have good advice on how to get into the field, though; sorry!