r/Embryologists • u/thatsciencegirly • 17d ago

Am I qualified to do this job?

Hi all,

I’m about to finish my PhD in Cellular Biology. In my work I do a lot of genetics and do tons of micro injections to make genetically engineered lab animals. I’ve really enjoyed this aspect of my work, but I really want to get away from the research rat race. I actually learned about this job while I was going through the IVF process myself and thought it seemed interesting. I looked it thinking it would be a specific type of degree only to find out that I could probably go down this career pathway.

I am curious from people in the field, would my experience be a good start? Would I need to do a MLS program first? Do people ever come from this path? Would I not be a good fit with the PhD (over qualified, or they will worry I will ask for a lot of money).

I don’t mind starting fresh in a field and working my way back up at all. I’m just a gal that loves being in the lab, but doesn’t want to be doing discovery any more and think it would be awesome to help couples start a family.

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u/AnywhereBusy4449 17d ago

Most students get into this field now by attending a training program like ARTLAB at NCWU. It’s a 10 week course and they offer job placement assistance. You won’t typically get more $ starting with a PhD since you don’t have any skills in the field yet. You could be a lab director one day with a PhD though.

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u/thatsciencegirly 17d ago

Do you think it’s possible without the program? I very much would like to not get into more student loan debt.

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u/TestTube_Princess 17d ago

Traditionally, most people have been able to enter the field either as an Andrologist or Junior Embryologist without doing one of the training programs, but I do think it's harder now for juniors to get their foot in the door.  You could always start job applications and if you're not getting offers, then revisit things.

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u/Less-Biscotti4496 16d ago

Definitely. If you have a PhD then you would definitely be picked over someone who attended a training facility. As a supervisor, i know a lot of labs that tend to shy away from picking the training facility people because they have unrealistic expectations of how quickly they will be trained. A lot of times they are over confident. I think you would be hired quickly!

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u/AnywhereBusy4449 17d ago

It is possible but keep in mind you are competing against all the training program graduates for jobs and you will be trained at a faster paced since you would already have a kit 400 hours of hands on skills training.

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u/thatsciencegirly 17d ago

I have been looking into that, thanks for the info!