As I have been alluding to for some time, I have officially moved to Boston to begin work in the industry. And my first impressions have been pretty good aside from their harsh winters. I think my stay here will dictate if I see a future in Boston because it is one of the more attractive destinations for the biotech industry. So in this first post of the new year, I wanted to discuss my first impressions of Boston and my thoughts overall.
After spending some time in New York over the break, I think my mind was made up that I wanted to live in a city. However some of the largest cities in the USA come at a hefty price with the most attractive destinations being San Francisco, and New York City. However, Boston was a city I never really saw myself staying in but with an opportunity to work in Biotech, I immediatley took the offer. Although I am moving here in some of the coldest months, I think this tenure if you will, can dictate whether or not I can see a future here. But overall so far, I am quite impressed with the Boston scene. As a young scholar, it is sort of the perfect place for intellectual activity, arts, and a dynamic social scene. With Boston filled with many universities around the area, it really is the perfect place to be for someone in their young 20s. But amongst this young demographic, are also plenty of families who have a desire to live in Boston for a lot of similar reasons.
Boston itself is considered a “city” but it is very non-traditional to my typical view of a city. San Francisco, and New York City are both very much centralized cities where a lot of the cities density surrounds a small region. However Boston is very much decentralized and spans out across a very wide region. So while it is a city, it doesn’t have the feeling of chaos or overwhelm-ment(?) that a typical city would. Boston itself is designed in a series of squares where they have like micro-cities each with particular themes or motives behind them. Some of my early favorites have been where I work at Kendall square due to its more modern features, and also Harvard square which has a very great young deomgraphic scene. And because there are numerous colleges in the area, the city is very diverse making it a very comfortable area after coming from a predominantly white country.
Work itself has been great, already learning a lot as a data scientist in the pharmaceutical industry. A lot of biotech as it currently stands appear to be in this application, so getting experience at a young age can only help in guiding my career path. Some of the current things I am working on at the moment, are getting acclimated into the company, meeting a lot of co-workers 1:1, and getting my developing environment up and running. It seems very atypical sometimes to be a data scientist in a biotech environment, but a large positive is seeing a diversity of roles within a small group. From Data Scientists, to Biologists, and even Business people, I think there is a good spread of different things going on which all play an integral role in the company.
I very much look forward to exploring the city of Boston for the next six + months and can’t wait to update you all on my journey here. I think I have finally settled down so I am trying to build out a schedule and live by it. I hope to spend some time during the new year definitely building out weekly blog posts, and writing more as an outlet of expression. Truth is the new year was a rough start, having to let go of the past, but I think this is all just part of the ambitious journey I decided to embark on. In terms of other New year goals I have, I want to continue learning a lot not just in academics but also about myself. I think for a long time I’ve overlooked my own self and want to take care of myself in a better way. So I really am excited for the next few months, all the people I will meet, all the new stories I will be able to tell, and the start of a new me. Happy new years to you all, and I look forward to writing more soon. Thanks for reading.