Career pivot: pharmacy to pharma to tech

[letsquitpharm]

Hi all

Just want to share my recent experience as a data point to encourage people who want to explore this path. It is possible after all.

Yesterday I was approached on LinkedIn by a Meta recruiter, scouting candidates for senior machine learning engineer roles from multiple teams supporting Facebook and Instagram, and she thought I was a good fit and offered to initiate the interview process...unfortunately I just started my current role in pharma under 6 months and still a few month left to finish my MSCS program, so we both agreed to stay in touch and chat again after I officially graduate.

Just my two cents: my mental health improved so much after I quit pharmacy for good, and nearly 2 years of no-weekends studying as a part-time student is starting to pay off. I won't have to worry about job opportunities any more in foreseeable future, and I can expect to make a physician's salary WFH or hybrid permanently.

Honestly I am feeling much better walking away from pharmacy or healthcare in general. I invested days and nights of studying to cut the best deals to sell my labor to the highest bidder, and anything else is BS. So shower me with $$$, and give me the respect that I deserve lol.

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[PikminOC]

Hi all

Just want to share my recent experience as a data point to encourage people who want to explore this path. It is possible after all.

Yesterday I was approached on LinkedIn by a Meta recruiter, scouting candidates for senior machine learning engineer roles from multiple teams supporting Facebook and Instagram, and she thought I was a good fit and offered to initiate the interview process...unfortunately I just started my current role in pharma under 6 months and still a few month left to finish my MSCS program, so we both agreed to stay in touch and chat again after I officially graduate.

Just my two cents: my mental health improved so much after I quit pharmacy for good, and nearly 2 years of no-weekends studying as a part-time student is starting to pay off. I won't have to worry about job opportunities any more in foreseeable future, and I can expect to make a physician's salary WFH or hybrid permanently.

Honestly I am feeling much better walking away from pharmacy or healthcare in general. I invested days and nights of studying to cut the best deals to sell my labor to the highest bidder, and anything else is BS. So shower me with $$$, and give me the respect that I deserve lol.

How much is a physician salary?

 

[letsquitpharm]

How much is a physician salary?

maybe like ~500k/yr, a typical surgeon's annual comp?

 

[PikminOC]

maybe like ~500k/yr, a typical surgeon's annual comp?

Is that what you'll make?

 

[alpha12]

Is that what you'll make?

At meta the total comp can definitely go that high. They have a hiring freeze right now so surprised he got a call

 

[alpha12]

Hi all

Just want to share my recent experience as a data point to encourage people who want to explore this path. It is possible after all.

Yesterday I was approached on LinkedIn by a Meta recruiter, scouting candidates for senior machine learning engineer roles from multiple teams supporting Facebook and Instagram, and she thought I was a good fit and offered to initiate the interview process...unfortunately I just started my current role in pharma under 6 months and still a few month left to finish my MSCS program, so we both agreed to stay in touch and chat again after I officially graduate.

Just my two cents: my mental health improved so much after I quit pharmacy for good, and nearly 2 years of no-weekends studying as a part-time student is starting to pay off. I won't have to worry about job opportunities any more in foreseeable future, and I can expect to make a physician's salary WFH or hybrid permanently.

Honestly I am feeling much better walking away from pharmacy or healthcare in general. I invested days and nights of studying to cut the best deals to sell my labor to the highest bidder, and anything else is BS. So shower me with $$$, and give me the respect that I deserve lol.

Isn’t there a hiring freeze at meta? I had a phone screen that got canceled because of that.

 

[PikminOC]

At meta the total comp can definitely go that high. They have a hiring freeze right now so surprised he got a call

Total comp includes?

 

[letsquitpharm]

Isn’t there a hiring freeze at meta? I had a phone screen that got canceled because of that.

I was a bit caught off guard initially as well, but my connections at Meta said it was not a company-wide policy, so who knows?

 

[letsquitpharm]

Total comp includes?

base + bonus + stocks

 

[alpha12]

I was a bit caught off guard initially as well, but my connections at Meta said it was not a company-wide policy, so who knows?

Good luck. Out of curiosity did you have to do leetcode for the machine learning role

 

[alpha12]

Total comp includes?

Base bonus and stock. Since the stock price cratered its a good time to start. The stock award gets decided on the price when start so you get a fixed amount of shares. People who started when the stock was high will get the same amount of shares even though it’s worth less than they thought

 

[letsquitpharm]

Good luck. Out of curiosity did you have to do leetcode for the machine learning role

Yes, for sure. Even data scientist roles now have to do leetcoding. It's becoming a common practice everywhere.

 

[PikminOC]

Base bonus and stock. Since the stock price cratered its a good time to start. The stock award gets decided on the price when start so you get a fixed amount of shares. People who started when the stock was high will get the same amount of shares even though it’s worth less than they thought

Thx. For physicians I usually don't see this stock so it is interesting.

 

[Me_Gusta_Drugs]

Hi all

Just want to share my recent experience as a data point to encourage people who want to explore this path. It is possible after all.

Yesterday I was approached on LinkedIn by a Meta recruiter, scouting candidates for senior machine learning engineer roles from multiple teams supporting Facebook and Instagram, and she thought I was a good fit and offered to initiate the interview process...unfortunately I just started my current role in pharma under 6 months and still a few month left to finish my MSCS program, so we both agreed to stay in touch and chat again after I officially graduate.

Just my two cents: my mental health improved so much after I quit pharmacy for good, and nearly 2 years of no-weekends studying as a part-time student is starting to pay off. I won't have to worry about job opportunities any more in foreseeable future, and I can expect to make a physician's salary WFH or hybrid permanently.

Honestly I am feeling much better walking away from pharmacy or healthcare in general. I invested days and nights of studying to cut the best deals to sell my labor to the highest bidder, and anything else is BS. So shower me with $$$, and give me the respect that I deserve lol.

I second that and agree w/ the above. My pharmacist friend went from retial to tech and is now WFH, same salary, unlimited PTO, likes their job. Once you see the "light" you will wonder why anyone goes to pharmacy school. Its pretty sad what some of us have to put up w/.

 

[grumpyRph]

I second that and agree w/ the above. My pharmacist friend went from retial to tech and is now WFH, same salary, unlimited PTO, likes their job. Once you see the "light" you will wonder why anyone goes to pharmacy school. Its pretty sad what some of us have to put up w/.

yeah pandemic really made it extreme the difference people have outside of health care/retail with their work life balance. ouch ouch ouch.

 

[grumpyRph]

Yes, for sure. Even data scientist roles now have to do leetcoding. It's becoming a common practice everywhere.

and how old are you give or take? just curious.

 

[letsquitpharm]

and how old are you give or take? just curious.

31

 

[PharmDBro2017]

More info on steps taken to go from pharm to tech plz. Expand on the following and any additional advice as you see fit:
-Where did you learn tech skills
-Boot camp? if so, which one?
-How long did you prepare
-Certs earned/needed?

 

[DagS132]

If you have time, I would suggest going back to school for a second degree in anything CS related. These are usually 2-3 year programs. Try to find a program that offers a course that deals with real world experience, otherwise you will have to go find an internship where you are actually involved with a company that uses Agile for software development.

If you don't want to go back to school, you can try a bootcamp since these are usually less than a year long. However these are also very intense, you learn a very specific skill so you should definitely look into a company and see what IDEs or languages they use before applying to a bootcamp, you will know significantly less than the average CS student who barely knows anything, and most bootcamps also have requirements to get admitted.

If you can't do any of these, I think there is a cert you can get. Ive heard about it once here on this site actually so there is probably another user here who has done this already. I suggest learning how to use java. Geeksforgeeks.org has most, if not all, of the basic concepts you will learn at school. However, you definitely need some kind of experience to show to employers. Make sure you develop at least 1 big project, maybe something to do with web development(not just html and css!) that deals with databases.

Don't take advice from anyone who tells you to watch a couple of youtube videos and just apply. There is absolutely no way someone with this little amount of experience in both programming and process of software development is even going to be considered by any recruiter/TA.

Good luck to anyone who wants to take this journey of being both a student and full time pharmacist.

 

[Me_Gusta_Drugs]

I can confirm from the person i know who did this...

They were in their late 30s (age), did a boot camp, did a couple big projects....did a short internship...definitely networked a lot. Did this part time so took them a couple years.
Advice is to learn one language really really well
They also got kinda lucky and the job market was super hot (2021)...theres currently talk of job market slowing down but still really good

 

[letsquitpharm]

More info on steps taken to go from pharm to tech plz. Expand on the following and any additional advice as you see fit:
-Where did you learn tech skills
-Boot camp? if so, which one?
-How long did you prepare
-Certs earned/needed?

Where did I learn tech skills?
MOOCs and freecodecamp for the cs foundation, then coursera/edX courses to add more theory and projects, then use those certs and grades (edX has grade transfer agreement with schools I wanted to apply) + pharma industry work (clinical trial data analytics) to formalize my education and applied to cs masters programs.

Boot camp? if so, which one?
I wouldn't recommend any bootcamps. I don't believe them, and I don't trust their employment data. There is undoubtedly much better career outcome for formal CS grads: exclusive campus-career fair, exclusive new grad hires at top tier companies that are just NOT available for any bootcamps.

How long did I prepare?
Formally I would say ~5 years when I felt pharmacy was just meant for me. ~3 years of directed self-teaching just clearing the fundamentals, and 2 years of CS masters. The CS knowledge gained not only helped me transition to a WFH stress-free pharma industry job but also was instrumental in terms of negotiating higher total comp for the recent job switch.

Certs earned/needed
Other than a whole bunch of coursera and edX certs, nothing yet, and I don't think I would need one if I intend to work in an SDE role.