Bioinformatician
Uses programming and statistics to make sense of biological data, from DNA sequences and gene expression to protein structures.
Bioinformaticians work in genomics labs, hospitals, drug companies and universities, often as the link between wet-lab scientists and the data their experiments produce. It suits people who like biology and coding equally and enjoy turning messy data into clear answers.
Also called Bioinformatics scientist, Computational biologist or Bioinformatics programmer.
At a glance
- Way in
- Master's degree, often in bioinformatics, computational biology, genetics, computer science and biochemistry
- Pay in the US
- $98,920 a year, the medianFor biological scientists, all other, the group O*NET places bioinformaticians in, 2025
- US outlook
- Faster than average, 2025-2035
- Suits you if
- You enjoy biology and coding in equal measure and like hunting for patterns in data
Pay is a guide: it moves with the country, the employer, the sector and the years in the job. Figures from O*NET OnLine (US) and the National Careers Service (UK); see the sources below.
The work
What does a bioinformatician do?
- Build and run pipelines that turn raw sequencing reads into usable results
- Analyse genomes, gene expression or proteomics data to answer research questions
- Write code in languages such as Python and R, and keep it tested and documented
- Design and maintain databases of biological sequences and annotations
- Explain findings to lab scientists and help them plan better experiments
Where they work
- Genomics and sequencing centres
- University research groups
- Pharmaceutical and biotech companies
- Hospital genomic medicine services
Skills
The skills a bioinformatician needs
- ProgrammingPython, R and the Linux command line
- Statisticstesting, multiple comparisons and modelling
- Molecular biologygenes, sequencing and how the data are made
- Data handlinglarge files, databases and cluster or cloud computing
- Problem solvingdebugging pipelines and odd results
- Communicationexplaining analyses to non-programmers
Route in
How to become a bioinformatician
- Study a life science, computer science or mathematics degree, and learn to code alongside it
- Take a master's in bioinformatics or computational biology to bring the two sides together
- Build a portfolio of analyses or tools, for example on public data sets, to show employers
- Join a research group or company; a PhD helps for senior research and lead roles
Degrees people take
- Bioinformatics
- Computational biology
- Genetics
- Computer science
- Biochemistry
Practise for it
The quizzes and tools that fit
- Bioinformatics quizzes
- NGS Platforms & Library Prep10 questions
- Introduction to Sequence Alignment10 questions
- Systems Biology & Network Analysis10 questions
- Genetics quizzes
- Incomplete Dominance and Codominance15 questions
- Pedigree Analysis15 questions
- Blood Types15 questions
- Molecular Biology quizzes
- Epigenetics & Chromatin Remodeling20 questions
- DNA Replication Machinery15 questions
- Recombinant DNA Technology15 questions
Also on biofideX
Next to it
Careers to weigh against it
Data
Data Scientist
- Way in
- Bachelor's
- US
- $120,230
- UK
- £32,000–£83,000
Data
Biostatistician
- Way in
- Master's
- US
- $105,650
- UK
- £28,000–£65,000
Research
Geneticist
- Way in
- PhD
- US
- $98,920
- UK
- £35,000–£58,000
Research
Molecular Biologist
- Way in
- PhD
- US
- $98,920
Research
Biomedical Research Scientist
- Way in
- PhD
- US
- $103,410
- UK
- £27,000–£48,000
Sources
Where the facts come from
Written for biofideX from these public sources. The pay figures are theirs, copied as published, last read 2026-10-25.
Requirements differ by country and change over time; check with the body that registers the profession where you will work. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll correct it.
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