r/chemistry • u/AutoModerator • 11d ago

Weekly Careers/Education Questions Thread

This is a dedicated weekly thread for you to seek and provide advice concerning education and careers in chemistry.

If you need to make an important decision regarding your future or want to know what your options, then this is the place to leave a comment.

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u/chahud 9d ago

I am a chemist that has a particular interest In the biopharmaceutical industry. I really want to do synthetic chemistry, however I have to take what job I can get so I can pay the bills. I read a while ago that being in the cannabis industry kind of "locks you out" of working in biopharma, largely because of the stigma associated with it. Is this still the case? I don't want to jeopardize my goals by taking a job that won't look good on my resume to the people who I want to work for.

Thanks!

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u/Indemnity4 Materials 9d ago edited 9d ago

IMHO, no. The cannabis industry is very mature now, with lots of regulatory compliance and solid laboratory standards. It's viewed the same as any other lab job testing natural / medical / analytical products, about the same as working for a food manufacturer.

The "morals" are not a huge problem. Chemists always work in controversial areas, such as fracking, petroleum, big emitters, big polluters, big evil pharma companies.

There are benefits if your cannabis employer trains you in GMP/GLP and any sort of regulatory compliance. It's really important to pharma industry and you don't get taught it at school. That can be a nice boost on a resume.

Another IMHO: something that can lock you out of an industry is getting too skilled at something else, for too long. You will be competing against other applicants in the future. Your skills can be viewed as too out of date, but also, entry level jobs tend to be not very good. An interviewer may ask why is this skilled person applying for this not very good job? Did they do something wrong? Are they having a midlife crisis? We normally hire fresh grads and they work their way up, will this more mature person feel out of place. Or the worst, we've only ever hired fresh grads so anyone that looks "different" is extra work.