What You'll Do

  • Develop or maintain applications that process biologically based data into searchable databases for purposes of analysis, calculation, or presentation.
  • Enter or retrieve information from structural databases, protein sequence motif databases, mutation databases, genomic databases or gene expression databases.
  • Monitor database performance and perform any necessary maintenance, upgrades, or repairs.
  • Analyze or manipulate bioinformatics data using software packages, statistical applications, or data mining techniques.
  • Confer with researchers, clinicians, or information technology staff to determine data needs and programming requirements and to provide assistance with database-related research activities.
  • Create data management or error-checking procedures and user manuals.
  • Design or implement web-based tools for querying large-scale biological databases.
  • Develop or apply data mining and machine learning algorithms.
  • Document all database changes, modifications, or problems.
  • Extend existing software programs, web-based interactive tools, or database queries as sequence management and analysis needs evolve.

Essential Skills

Reading Comprehension 3.75/5
Active Listening 3.5/5
Writing 3.5/5
Critical Thinking 3.5/5
Active Learning 3.5/5
Complex Problem Solving 3.5/5
Judgment and Decision Making 3.5/5
Speaking 3.38/5
Mathematics 3.38/5
Monitoring 3.25/5
Systems Analysis 3.25/5
Science 3.12/5

Career Fit Overview

Use this summary to sense whether the day to day rhythm and focus of this path line up with what energizes you.

Top passions

  • Analyst: Investigating problems and finding patterns keeps you engaged.
  • Organizer: Bringing order to data and processes satisfies you.
  • Maker: Building and fixing energizes you. You like tangible results and practical tools.

Common styles

Attention to Detail, Cooperation, Analytical Thinking, Achievement/Effort, Dependability

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Key Abilities

This career demands strong capabilities in the following areas:

Written Comprehension 4.0/5
Oral Comprehension 3.75/5
Deductive Reasoning 3.75/5
Inductive Reasoning 3.75/5
Written Expression 3.62/5
Information Ordering 3.62/5
Mathematical Reasoning 3.62/5
Oral Expression 3.5/5

Technologies & Tools

Apache Subversion SVN Atlassian Bamboo Avaya Identity Engines Basic Local Alignment Search Tool BLAST Bioconductor Bowtie Burrows-Wheeler Aligner BWA C C++ ClustalW Cufflinks Customer relationship management CRM software Data visualization software Enterprise resource planning ERP software Esri ArcGIS Genome Analysis Toolkit GATK GENSCAN Geographic information system GIS software Git Hypertext markup language HTML

Work Environment & Style

Common Styles for This Career

  • Attention to Detail (High importance: 4.25/5)
  • Cooperation (High importance: 4.23/5)
  • Analytical Thinking (High importance: 4.16/5)
  • Achievement/Effort (High importance: 4.03/5)
  • Dependability (High importance: 3.85/5)

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How to Become One

Most employers require a bachelor's degree in a relevant field. Some positions may also require experience through internships, co-ops, or entry-level work to strengthen your candidacy.

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Also Known As

This career is known by many different job titles across industries. Here are all the variations:

Bioinformatics Analyst Bioinformatics Research Technician Bioinformatics Specialist Bioinformatics Technician Biometrics Technician Biotechnician Data Analyst Data Technician Database Technician Field Data Technician Log Data Technician Museum Informatics Specialist Research Scientist Scientific Informatics Analyst Submission Technician