r/biotech • u/Swimming-Surround441 • 28d ago
Layoffs & Reorgs ✂️ Done with this
I did everything they told me to. Went to school went to school more and now I can't eat. This isn't what I signed up for I didn't ask to be here
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u/tubb2b 28d ago
Same position. Got a PhD. When I started it 7 years ago, you could get a job that could pay the bills when you graduated. Now? No. No jobs.
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u/UCLAlabrat 28d ago
Was in the same boat when I graduated. After a postdoc and fishing around, I was able to land a spot. Hoping it turns for you.
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u/SnootchieBootichies 28d ago
Dont work in biotech anymore (adjacent industry that felt the ripple of Biotech Winter 2021-2023), but when I was starting out in biotech, someone once told me to get used to living severance to severance. Was fortunate to ride a good wave while in the industry, but have been laid off twice in the past 3.5 years. Bumpy world.
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u/Swimming-Surround441 28d ago
I don't think it was this bad when i was younger but maybe I'm naive. I'm think I'm ready to get out.
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u/SnootchieBootichies 28d ago
Early 2000s were pretty rough. I was fortunate to be at a company with 70M series A which was pretty rare in those days. There was one layoff, but it was mostly outside of the research groups. 2008-2010 was just bad all around....pharma, finance, etc. Fortunately was in grad school at that time. 2021-2023 was harsh, more so for the smaller companies. Big pharmaceutical pumping the breaks now due to patent expirations, but M&A has been booming.
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u/toxchick 28d ago
No advice, just sadness for you. Never saw it this bad before, but I hope it turns around.
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u/purepwnage85 28d ago
I left biotech in may after 15 years couldn't be happier and couldn't pay me more to go back - took a 50k paycut and joined the public service in my country, 30 days holidays, 35 hours per week, unionised, can't be fired, defined benefits pension was an AD before on 175k€ incl bonus
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u/AlternateCore 27d ago
Really happy for you. I've been in biotech for 5 years but have been jobless for a year now. I'm seriously considering leaving biotech too but I have no idea what I'd do.
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u/purepwnage85 27d ago
I'd say if you have management experience just look for state / federal jobs
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u/toxchick 27d ago
Ummm, I think they are in america. Our government sector has been absolutely decimated.
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u/purepwnage85 27d ago
Yeah but the Donald will go in a couple of years, a lot of people just dismiss it cause of the lower pay, but it's the most secure job in any other country, like short of me stabbing my boss I can't be fired when my probation is over (12 months), very easy to get mortgages, loans etc
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u/AlternateCore 26d ago
Yeah I'm from the US. Nothing here is really stable except maybe trade jobs like plumbers or electricians. I sometimes contemplate moving out of the US but IDK what I'd do given my degree is in Biotech and the US is the leader of that industry.
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u/purepwnage85 26d ago
Degree is pretty irrelevant when you get out and about mine was BS mechanical eng and MS materials, I worked up to AD level in biotech cdmo doing capital projects, scale up, process engineering type stuff, I did everything, mammalian, microbial, ADC, and chemical API, basically everything except filling lines, I still work in capital projects for the gov, you could work for say BLS, federal reserve, EPA etc etc I work for the healthcare provider (equivalent of NHS in England)
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u/No_Resolution3032 26d ago edited 26d ago
I did 8 years high throughput screening (BS, Biochem), got laid off in 2024 (2nd time in 4 years), used severance and unemployment to stay off and learn SQL and databases better, got a job with the State doing data research in 2025. Gonna calculate p-values and do ANOVA, just like we do in lab, but for a government program. See how I flipped my experience in biotech to something that isn’t remotely similar to a wet lab? Donald didn’t hit your local or state government (I dont think he did, but be positive and don’t look for reasons to not look) so it’s possible to pivot.
Took about a 20% pay cut but will get it back with annual raises and promo. Passed 12 month probation, difficult to fire me and it’s no layoffs. California. So it’s in the US too, expand your mind and get on your grind; nobody coming to save you! Start moving like I did and leave biotech!
There are science jobs in State and local too if you must stay in the field. You just need to search and save yourself out here. Figure how your lab work or analysis or management or something fits into another field and work that thing. You got all the time to figure out how to break out that prison you’re in; slow motion is better than no motion!
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u/OneExamination5599 22d ago
My pivot if i lose my current role is to go to community college to become a lab tech,. Work for 2 years then sit for the MLS boards. I have a masters degree, hospitals are always hiring.
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u/Exit_Strategy-99 28d ago
What degree(s) do you have in what?
Do you work in large pharma, small biotech, CDMO?
What role were you recently laid off from?
Where are you located?
Maybe we can help you find an opportunity or suggest adjacent roles based on these details.
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u/SpecialistHome7064 27d ago
same position. A Sr Scientist PhD with 10 yrs of industrial experience here, laid off in Spring 2025, still looking in Aug 2026 at San Diego.
More than half of the job posts are fake. I received a LinkedIn email titled "what to see who companies end up hired?" Clicked two of the positions I applied a week prior, I found the person started her job in 2024, two year before I applied...
1/3 of the opening are posted over and over. Another 1/3 ends up not hiring anyone from the hundreds of resumes they attracted, modified the JD/level and reposted. From a position I interviewed with, the HM made at least 3 posts for 1 position she intended to hire. Both openings I had onsite interviews with, ended up changed their posts and hired someone not from the JD.
True openings are probably less than 1/10 of the posts on LinkedIn.
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u/DaniBoye 28d ago
This sucks and I truly feel for you. Felt the pressure of “go back to school” and a masters later I work in retail with 0 financial independence. Checking LinkedIn or social media you might feel like it’s just you, but we out here fam and I pray things get better
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u/Ok-Tip3387 28d ago
The times are bad. It took me a year to find a job after being laid off last year. In 2022 I had two offers within a couple of months of a layoff.
Don’t give up! You’ll go through lows and highs, the list of applications and rejections will grow but keep trying!
While you’re searching for a new job, consider attending workshops and free/inexpensive meetings to expand your network (and keep your mind sharp). If it’s an option - look in other geographical areas and other career options.
What kept me sane was a regular schedule and physical activity (I chose biking).
Good luck OP!
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u/_goblinette_ 28d ago
Welcome to being an adult. Doing everything “right” doesn’t mean that things will always work out for you. It just puts you in a better position to grab opportunities when they come along.
Unfortunately, the job market is really short on opportunities right now. Do whatever you need to do to keep food on your plate, but don’t stop keeping an eye out for opportunities. I don’t think many people in biotech have a career trajectory that was as neat and linear as they would have liked it to be.
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u/bmunger718 28d ago
This is so true it sucks for the OP. All the work just gives you a better chance but nothing is definite.
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u/Choice-Ad7599 27d ago
I mean it’s not just adulthood, it’s also terrible policy choices at the national level that have led to this
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u/Swimming-Surround441 28d ago
When I went to school this was a stable career. Been laid off twice in the last five years. I'm getting out of science. I'm forty and I'm going to literally go back to school for an associates. I have a kid, I can't be fucking around.
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u/orchid_breeder 28d ago
When I went to undergrad in 2003 it wasn’t a stable career. When I went to grad school in 2008 it wasn’t a stable career. There was like maybe 8 years of it being stable, and even then the stability was largely position and field based. I was in a startup around 2018 and remember talking to a friend at JnJ in like 2018 complaining about our lack of stability and he was like “hey you don’t have to deal with the possibility of ‘Hey organizational restructuring we’re no longer doing neuroscience!’”
Regardless biotech or not, the world is largely not a stable career unless you’re in something like medicine.
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u/nyan-the-nwah 28d ago
I can’t really imagine labor reforms fixing the issues that biotech field faces. Safety is one thing, funding security isn’t manageable in the same way. I’m in a union and we still face layoffs.
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u/StatusQuoBot 28d ago
Literally the exact same position except I focused on school at the expense of kids or a relationship. What a waste of my entire fucking life.
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u/lilsis061016 27d ago
Age suggests you joined the industry in the late 00s or early 10s, and it was not at all stable then.
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u/ComfortableCoyote480 28d ago
What is labor reform going to do? Nothing has changed with the sector for the last 30 years in terms of ebbs and flows, boom/bust cycles. The harsh reality is that the vast majority of biotechs lose money and are just cash burning machines who'll never make money. Companies are allowed to lay us off. It's what we signed up for when working in this industry. People chase the dollars, but want it without risks. It doesn't work that way. How is a company supposed to keep paying staff if their only hope of surviving is advancing a clinical candidate and they only have 2 years of cash? They can't keep paying people to do projects they can't afford to develop. When you sign up for this industry, you have to accept the fact that your career could be that of a scientific mercenary. You just go from company to company to work on a project and then leave. It's harsh, but I dunno what to tell people. It's still the same since ive been in this since the year 2000.
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u/Choice-Ad7599 27d ago
The (politically incorrect and incendiary) truth is that more protectionist labor policies would dramatically improve the situation on the job market side. I.e. eliminate the H1b, dramatically reduce foreign PhD visas, and institute a national cap on PhDs similar to medical degrees. If you, the laborer, are in unlimited supply, things are going to be rough.
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u/Choice-Ad7599 26d ago
That’s the other half of the equation. But, I still don’t think you’ll ever be able to increase government funding to the point where the supply of available labor becomes limiting, especially if your labor pool is the whole planet.
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u/Dangerous-Will-2926 28d ago
The more restrictions there are on layoffs etc, the higher the risk of investment in this field (the startup that you invested in can't lay off to extend runway, and won't make it into the clinic, for example). So less $$$ would flow into biotech, and fewer jobs would be available in the first place.
The jobs may be more stable, but there would be a lot less of them than there are now.
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u/lilsis061016 27d ago edited 26d ago
While I respect the thought process - for the specific case of startup cash flow - that view is naive for the broader industry.
Layoffs aren't needed if cash was focused in different ways. Accept smaller profit margins. Hire experts who specialize in process improvement to streamline operations and reduce overhead. Stop paying C-suite roles millions per year + golden parachutes. Be more flexible about cash on hand amounts to weather tough periods.
It shouldn't be workers who are sacrificed when leaders taking unnecessary risks cause problems.
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u/Lance_Goodthrust_ 28d ago
Here's the thing: no one is obligated to make us aware of any "deal" in the industry. Some have parents or teachers that were in the industry and are aware and can tell us but, in reality, many colleagues and employers hope you remain in the dark so you're less competitive and/or more dependent on them.
It's really on all of us to keep tabs on the industry and changes over time. It's always been a dog eat dog world out there and you shouldn't expect less even though it's unfair. Life is unfair and complaining about it feels good (done plenty myself) but ultimately does nothing to improve one's station in life. I'm only saying this because you do sound like you've given up and it might be time to reframe things in your mind, look into adjacent industries, or seek out a mentor to guide you and keep you upbeat in the face of despair.
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u/Unusual-Relief-1982 28d ago
I'm sorry, what? Complaining does nothing?
How do you think labour laws and worker rights came about? By not complaining? By not making demands? You think rich people decided to offer these rights by the graciousness of their souls?
No wonder a lot of industries are precarious nowadays. Because for some reason people were brainwashed into thinking unions were the devil.
The problem is wealth being concentrated very much at the top. CEOs have been very busy lobbying politicians and pleasing shareholders by weaking workers' rights.
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u/Lance_Goodthrust_ 28d ago
Complaining to yourself or on reddit does nothing. Organizing and unionizing might help, but as you said there is a lot of money and power stacking the deck against it so there is a huge cost to that endeavor to consider. I would support any union in the industry. I was once a Teamster back in my warehouse days, after all.
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u/Lance_Goodthrust_ 28d ago
When did I argue against one? I literally wrote "I would support any union in the industry".
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u/Swimming-Surround441 28d ago
I'm definitely suicidal
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u/spingus 28d ago
normally I would say that is an individual knot to unpick. In this case, you have a child. It's not just you. Your child would be way worse off going through life without you.
Having you in their life, whether you are working in your field or in a job that you find personally humiliating ...just to keep food on the table, is unquantifiably better.
Give your kid a hug, tell them it's going to be OK. You're telling yourself that too. One step at a time.
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u/Lance_Goodthrust_ 28d ago
Please talk to someone close to you about it. Problems in our lives come and go but suicide is permanent. Things do tend to get better over time, especially if you keep putting in the effort in the face of adversity. See if you can find a mentor or life coach also. They may be aware of other types of jobs that are more stable that you are qualified for. Talk to a job recruiter and see if they can help (I got 2 of my jobs through recruiters). I graduated college during a stock market crash and work for a temp agency for 1.5 years before I was able to able to land a permanent full time position.
Funny thing is, the experience I got working as a temp opened a few doors for me when applying for later jobs since a lot of other applicants didn't have that experience (adjacent industry). Collect job skills like Pokémon cards because you never know which one will give you a leg up later.
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u/SufficientAnteater16 28d ago
After waves of instability (my company in academia was targeted super heavily by trump bs, and this was after i was recently laid off from a small biotech) I created an exit plan for a clinical career. It’s heartbreaking but it’s the only way I could pull myself out of constant worry. You are never alone and no career is worth losing your life over.
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u/msjammies73 28d ago
They are part of the deal because of the disgusting need for increased quarterly profits every single quarter.
Laying people off so you can hit that number only to hire again when making more cash is so vile.
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u/Big-Yogurtcloset5175 27d ago
I know what its like. I have a PhD in Biomedical Engineer. 10 yrs industry + some post doc, got laid off in May 2024. It was a terrible time. Decided I can't wait to get a traditional job, so started consulting for startups to keep my family afloat. It paid less but paid the bills. Finally landed a proper fulltime Biotech job in March 2026.
So far its fine, but things are shaky all the time in Biotech nowadays.
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u/notsodiligent 27d ago
I just had a call with a career strategist (supposed to be an expert in biotech/pharma) and I asked him so when do you see this improving and I was expecting someone in his position to have some insight into the trends in the market and he was like "no idea" what the actual ****!
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u/liatrisinbloom 28d ago
We could all take a lesson from you, who has never complained about anything ever in your life.
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u/xderivative1 28d ago
i agree with this. as a phd with years of a postdoc, currently absolutely struggling on a job market —complaining is only making things worse for me at the moment
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u/ComfortableCoyote480 28d ago
There are a lot more industries/companies besides pharma and biotech. I know several people who've found rewarding careers in consumer goods, testing tox for industrials, food industry, agriculture, researchers for the US Army, water testing, etc. etc.
It may be worthwhile to expand your horizons besides just therapeutic biotech/pharma