u/BiteConsistent5151

Moving to Metro Philly this fall for a biotech/tech gig. I am eastern Mediterranean, mid 30s M, bi, and musician too so wondering how international music 🎶 is. Do folks go to NYC a lot to even expand the cultural experiences?

I found a place in KOP, love the quiet and convenience (also had EV charging, amazing) coming from Midwest 😆, the town center was cool. Wondering how bad it is to get to the city let’s say at lunch time during day or after dinner. I will be working in Spring House.

I also play squash, so any recommendations there would be great.

I used to live in NYC and NC so east cost felt natural when I was just there. The food is so good too. Also how racist or homophobic different areas of city and king of Prussia it is?

Thank you!!

*forgot to add I have self driving with Tesla, emptied the bank lol but I am hooked, less hassle with traffic.

I am interviewing for a couple of data science roles in pharma safety. Both are in Philly/NJ corridor. Considering making the move from biotech in consumer product industry to pharma for more career opportunities. I am currently senior data scientist with 8 years experience (applied ML/AI, cheminformatics, bioinformatics, computational tox) post PhD ( computational biophysics/bioinformatics). First 3 of those years were in federal gov, and then last 5 multi national corporation.

I make 160k base and bonus in LCOL, but have no other biotech place in the area to accelerate getting to principal. Is this a good salary for my experience ? I have crazy amount of student loans so 😆 more cash would be great.

One role would be slightly step down like senior scientist with just PhD needed and the other is principal data scientist. Wondering if worth it to take the senior ML scientist role at highest end of the pay band like 195-200k base ? I am really at associate director level but perhaps little step down to lateral ish is needed to get into industry ?

Has anyone had a similar path ? Or had a good experience relocating for better opportunities? I would love to be in Cali, just tough to get in from out of state. Thought Philly area would be fun culturally too, I am a musician as well.

Any insights or recommendations would be much appreciated. Thank you!!

I am having an interview for senior specialist role in data science, equivalent to senior scientist which seems be PhD entry level.

The post asked for 0+ years experience and PhD. I have a PhD computational biophysics, biochemistry and bioinformatics, 3 years in federal gov and 5 years in consumer product and currently senior data scientist with specialized domain experience. I would like a principal data scientist role next. The salary listed was I believe 120-200k, and I would want 190k-200k to make a jump.

I have a diverse skill set in ML, AI, omics, software development (intermediate), molecular modeling and simulation, cheminformatics, toxicology.

Is it common to ask for a change in level during final interview ? Would it be wasting years of experience to not take a title jump ? The role is at Merck. I am also interviewing for a principal data scientist role at J&J. Also what salary would be reasonable for this experience in the greater Philly area or NJ.

Any insights would be much appreciated, thank you.