Five steps for getting started with bioinformatics

This video answers a question I often get on this channel, namely "bioinformatics sounds great, but how do I actually get started with it?"

Links:
* My bash videos:

[dominic]

5 steps
1:34 learn python
4:05 do courses
5:27 statistics
7:38 command line
9:03 science

[laibaabbasi-ef]

i am currently doing bachelors BS degree in bioinformatics, its my last year of degree, and your videos has taught and uncover soo much more about bioinformatics than i have ever got to know in the 3 years of my BS degree. i feel like i am learning bioinformatics from scratch and getting to know what actually is bioinformatics and what its like to be a bioinformatician... Genuinely love your content, your videos and the way you explain things😍

[tallon]

Yes you’re back! You’ve been a big reason why I’m a PhD student studying bioinformatics.

[angezoclanclounon]

Thanks a lot. I am a PhD Student working on plant genome assembly and annotation. Your video is very hepfull for me. I have no background in bioinformatics. So I struggle a lot. "Learning by doing" in South Korea. No help..no support...It is very hard. But I keep going. Youtube, github, and R plateforms help me a lot. Thanks again

[nullbytes]

Your videos have helped me so much, I’m currently an 18 year old apprentice working in a cell engineering R&D group. I started looking at bioinformatics and now I’m hooked, I’m learning python and hope to start applying some programs in my everyday lab work.

[makulmahato]

You are one of those rare people who can explain and present bio soo beautifully. I watched one of your seminar recently and that was one of the best presentation i have seen. Thank you very much for that!

[vichobrega]

Oh my, such valuable videos here. I just graduated with a bachelors in Biology and I am stuck on how to move forward. Trying to find a specialization or skill that I want to learn and apply moving forward to get a job, and I feel like bioinformatics can be extremely useful in todays biotechnology industry. Will definitely look into it based on what you said in this video. Thank you so much ur a geniussss

[dami]

Thank you so much for linking these steps together and how data in bioinformatics helps to reveal bigger truths in biology. Excited to read more papers in my field.

[ayoelegs]

Thanks Maria. I am from Africa and there seem to be a dearth of bioinformaticians on the continent. Your videos inspire and I am considering going into Bioinformatics after my PhD (Microbiology).

[Chaosdude]

Thanks for coming back! Good to see you're uploading again.

[Webigbie]

Recent CS grad, newly interested in this field. Your videos have been so helpful, thank you!

[jeremyrodrigoguerreroalejo]

OMGG, I miss so much your videos. I am in my junior year of bioengineering in Peru and I super interested in bioinformatics. Your videos have helped me so much to start learning the basics of this wonderful set of tools. Thank you and I wish you the best in all your projects.

I received some financial help to do a Phd in bioinformatics, I would have rejected the whole thing (coz bioinformatics seemed completely intractable at first) if it wasn't for your encouraging words.
Much love and respect

[raselsiddiqe]

Since this video is for beginners and as Maria is welcoming people to share, here's my first hand experience from learning programming to actually getting published.

First, I went through an Introduction to Python course that got me familiar with loops, conditions, lists, arrays and dataframes. Now this was proving more than difficult because I had no practical way to apply what I was learning. So I went directly to the last step. Papers!

Found some articles that were fairly easy for me to understand. From these I found some web based tools with simple use cases that generated data. After understanding what these tools were doing, I figured I should try to reproduce the papers using my newly earned python skill, mostly dataframes and csv module.

What I did unique was I used my own sample space. So I didn't reproduce the experiments, I reproduced the experimental model on a different sample set.

3 months later, I had a concrete dataset, and I had learned the basic statistical values from those papers to extrapolate new information from my samples. While this was on going I contacted one of my professors who had used Bioinformatics tools in his own work. He suggested i publish my findings.

Fast forward another 3 months and I had my first publication. All from my own computer, without getting inside a lab or doing wet work.

Not bragging or anything. Seemed like this was a good place to share my journey for others to learn from or at least get started.

Ps. Currently working on a script that can eliminate most of the manual work I had to do so I can work with larger sample spaces. I also wanted to find an alternative to the web-based tools. There are python modules that work ofline on your computer so you won't have to get on the web.

Cheers

[FieldsDynamic]

Hi, is wonderful to see you again, please don´t disappear any more. Your courses are amazing. Best

[dream-sage]

Another useful and thoughtful video thanks a lot! And as a beginner, I definitely recommend Rosalind, problems in there really helpful to understand how python or in general programming languages work. But beware hours and hours long of mind-games are waiting for you ! :D

[MrErick]

I’ve just got into bioinformatics PhD. Got my first meeting today. Feeling this is a new step in my life. Im so excited

[rebelScience]

Hell yes! You are back ? Thanks so much fore inspiring me to start my own channel!

[juanma]

Thanks for coming back! I watched your video from the beginning until the last seconds, and I loved it!
I really like your passion for real science and the way you express your ideas.
You're so lovely! Good luck in your job! Stay Healthy!

[KoboraBC]

Thankyou so much I was enjoying the five tips a lot because I’m a sophomore in college but the ending really hit different for me as a young Afro-American I appreciate your amazing content please keep at it when you have the time #notificationsquad