The
BiB logo
Bits in Bio
presented by

Nitro Bio

The 2024 State of TechBio Survey aims to provide data to those who want to improve the software and tools used in the field. We hope that the community will discover insights on attitudes, tools, and environments influencing science and software today.

Read the year over year analysis of the survey results here.

Survey Results are grouped into 4 sections:

  1. BiB Community
  2. Professional Experience
  3. Technical Experience
  4. Respondent Demographics

Acknowledgments

A huge thank you to all the Bits in Bio community members who participated in this annual survey, to Cradle Bio for helping create the inaugural version of this survey, and to Nitro Bio for the technical support.

Feedback

We welcome feedback! Please reach out to Shaq Vayda with your suggestions! For any technical issues or feedback concerning this website, please reach out to survey@nitro.bio.

Survey Data

Download Data

BiB Community

Professional Experience

BiB Community

How did you hear about Bits in Bio?

224

Respondents

0%35%70%
Through word of mouth (a colleague or friend)
58%

Through word of mouth (a colleague or friend)

131/224 respondents58%
LinkedIn
14%

LinkedIn

31/224 respondents14%
Bits in Bio meetup
12%

Bits in Bio meetup

26/224 respondents12%
Twitter
11%

Twitter

24/224 respondents11%
Search Engine
3%

Search Engine

6/224 respondents3%

How frequently would you say you go on the Bits in Bio Slack Channel during a typical month?

223

Respondents

0%19%38%
A few times per month or weekly
31%

A few times per month or weekly

70/223 respondents31%
A few times per week
24%

A few times per week

53/223 respondents24%
Less than once per month or monthly
22%

Less than once per month or monthly

49/223 respondents22%
Daily or almost daily
10%

Daily or almost daily

22/223 respondents10%
Never
9%

Never

21/223 respondents9%

Which part of Bits in Bio do you find most useful?

223

Respondents

0%35%70%
Slack community
58%

Slack community

130/223 respondents58%
In-Person Meetups
48%

In-Person Meetups

107/223 respondents48%
Job Board / Channel
33%

Job Board/Channel

73/223 respondents33%
Q&As
13%

Q&As

28/223 respondents13%
Lightning Talks
12%

Lightning Talks

26/223 respondents12%

Do you consider yourself a member of the Bits in Bio community?

223

Respondents

0%27%54%
Yes, somewhat
45%

Yes, somewhat

101/223 respondents45%
No, not really
26%

No, not really

58/223 respondents26%
Yes, definitely
19%

Yes, definitely

43/223 respondents19%
No, not at all
7%

No, not at all

16/223 respondents7%
Not sure
2%

Not sure

5/223 respondents2%
Professional Experience

Do you consider yourself to be working (or seeking work) in industry or academia?

224

Respondents

0%50%100%
Industry
87%

Industry

195/224 respondents87%
Academia
11%

Academia

24/224 respondents11%
Other
2%

Other

5/224 respondents2%

Which of the following best describes your current employment status?

224

Respondents

0%42%84%
Employed Full time
70%

Employed Full time

157/224 respondents70%
Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed
14%

Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed

31/224 respondents14%
Not employed, but looking for work
6%

Not employed, but looking for work

14/224 respondents6%
PhD-student or post-doc
5%

PhD-student or post-doc

11/224 respondents5%
Student, full-time
2%

Student, full-time

5/224 respondents2%

What sources do you use to keep up to date in your field?

224

Respondents

0%43%85%
Linkedin
71%

Linkedin

159/224 respondents71%
Bits in Bio Slack
51%

Bits in Bio Slack

115/224 respondents51%
Biorxiv
46%

Biorxiv

103/224 respondents46%
Journals
46%

Journals

102/224 respondents46%
Conferences
43%

Conferences

96/224 respondents43%

Which of the following best describes your current role?

224

Respondents

0%21%42%
Computational Biologist / Bioinformatician
35%

Computational Biologist/Bioinformatician

79/224 respondents35%
Management
25%

Management

57/224 respondents25%
Data Scientist
23%

Data Scientist

51/224 respondents23%
So!ware Engineer
19%

So!ware Engineer

43/224 respondents19%
ML Engineer / Researcher
13%

ML Engineer/Researcher

30/224 respondents13%

What industry does your organization operate in?

224

Respondents

0%43%86%
Biotech / Pharma
71%

Biotech/Pharma

160/224 respondents71%
Software / Information Technology
31%

Software/Information Technology

70/224 respondents31%
Basic / Fundamental research
19%

Basic / Fundamental research

43/224 respondents19%
Diagnostics
10%

Diagnostics

22/224 respondents10%
Agriculture
4%

Agriculture

10/224 respondents4%

Approximately how many people are employed by the company or organization you currently work for?

224

Respondents

0%17%33%
2 - 19 employees
28%

2 - 19 employees

62/224 respondents28%
20-99 employees
21%

20-99 employees

47/224 respondents21%
Just me - I am a freelancer, sole proprietor, etc.
15%

Just me - I am a freelancer, sole proprietor, etc.

33/224 respondents15%
100-499 employees
14%

100-499 employees

31/224 respondents14%
500- 4,999 employees
13%

500- 4,999 employees

28/224 respondents13%
5,000 or more employees
10%

5,000 or more employees

23/224 respondents10%

What annual salary range do you fall into?

213

Respondents

0%10%21%
$80,000-$110,000
17%

$80,000-$110,000

37/213 respondents17%
$140,000-$170,00
13%

$140,000-$170,00

28/213 respondents13%
$0-$50,000
12%

$0-$50,000

26/213 respondents12%
$170,000-$200,000
11%

$170,000-$200,000

23/213 respondents11%
$50,000-$80,000
10%

$50,000-$80,000

22/213 respondents10%
Technical Experience

Which persona do you most identify with?

224

Respondents

0%23%47%
You primarily write code within a biotech / pharma
39%

You primarily write code within a biotech/pharma

87/224 respondents39%
None of the above
21%

None of the above

48/224 respondents21%
You primarily write code, but not in a biotech / pharma
17%

You primarily write code, but not in a biotech/pharma

38/224 respondents17%
You work in a biotech / pharma, do wet lab experiments, and also do a modest amount of coding
13%

You work in a biotech/pharma, do wet lab experiments, and also do a modest amount of coding

28/224 respondents13%
You work in a biotech / pharma, but mostly do not write code (e.g. majority wet lab)
8%

You work in a biotech/pharma, but mostly do not write code (e.g. majority wet lab)

17/224 respondents8%
Other
3%

Other

6/224 respondents3%

Has your work involved machine learning?

224

Respondents

0%38%76%
Yes
63%

Yes

142/224 respondents63%
Not yet - but I'm curious to explore machine learning in the future
23%

Not yet - but I'm curious to explore machine learning in the future

52/224 respondents23%
No
13%

No

30/224 respondents13%

Which of the following machine learning models do you regularly work with?

124

Respondents

0%36%72%
Proprietary / In-house models
60%

Proprietary/In-house models

74/124 respondents60%
GPT-4 / GPT-4o
52%

GPT-4/GPT-4o

64/124 respondents52%
AlphaFold
34%

AlphaFold

42/124 respondents34%
Claude
32%

Claude

40/124 respondents32%
ESM / ESMFold
22%

ESM/ESMFold

27/124 respondents22%

Which of the following design objectives do you regularly work on using machine learning?

131

Respondents

0%32%63%
Writing code
53%

Writing code

69/131 respondents53%
Library / in silico screening
30%

Library/in silico screening

39/131 respondents30%
Target identification / selection
29%

Target identification/selection

38/131 respondents29%
Automation
25%

Automation

33/131 respondents25%
Hit generation / selection (e.g. generating binders)
21%

Hit generation/selection (e.g. generating binders)

28/131 respondents21%

Has your work involved lab automation?

224

Respondents

0%24%49%
No
41%

No

91/224 respondents41%
Yes
35%

Yes

78/224 respondents35%
Not yet - but I'm curious to explore lab automation in the future
25%

Not yet - but I'm curious to explore lab automation in the future

55/224 respondents25%

Which lab equipment vendors do you regularly work with?

69

Respondents

0%34%68%
Illumina (e.g. NovaSeq, MiSeq, NextSeq)
57%

Illumina (e.g. NovaSeq, MiSeq, NextSeq)

39/69 respondents57%
Hamilton (e.g. Microlab, Verso, NIMBUS)
49%

Hamilton (e.g. Microlab, Verso, NIMBUS)

34/69 respondents49%
Agilent Technologies (e.g. InfinityLab, Intelliq)
46%

Agilent Technologies (e.g. InfinityLab, Intelliq)

32/69 respondents46%
Tecan (e.g. Freedom EVO, Fluent)
42%

Tecan (e.g. Freedom EVO, Fluent)

29/69 respondents42%
Thermo Fisher (e.g. Sorvall, Heracell, Applied Bio)
42%

Thermo Fisher (e.g. Sorvall, Heracell, Applied Bio)

29/69 respondents42%

Which of the following design objectives do you regularly work on using lab automation?

73

Respondents

0%37%74%
Data Acquisition and Analysis
62%

Data Acquisition and Analysis

45/73 respondents62%
Liquid Handling and Pipetting
58%

Liquid Handling and Pipetting

42/73 respondents58%
Sample Preparation and Extraction (e.g. dilution, mixing, extraction)
58%

Sample Preparation and Extraction (e.g. dilution, mixing, extraction)

42/73 respondents58%
Molecular Biology Workflows (e.g. PCR, sequencing)
56%

Molecular Biology Workflows (e.g. PCR, sequencing)

41/73 respondents56%
High-Throughput Screening
55%

High-Throughput Screening

40/73 respondents55%

Do you Code?

224

Respondents

0%41%81%
Yes - I am comfortable writing code
68%

Yes - I am comfortable writing code

152/224 respondents68%
No - I don't write code
21%

No - I don't write code

46/224 respondents21%
Some - I modify other people's code, but rarely start from scratch.
12%

Some - I modify other people's code, but rarely start from scratch.

26/224 respondents12%

How often do you personally do data analysis for work?

178

Respondents

0%29%58%
Daily
48%

Daily

86/178 respondents48%
Weekly
31%

Weekly

56/178 respondents31%
Monthly
10%

Monthly

18/178 respondents10%
Rarely
8%

Rarely

15/178 respondents8%
Never
2%

Never

3/178 respondents2%

Which of the following languages do you use for data analysis?

171

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
92%

Python

157/171 respondents92%
R
44%

R

76/171 respondents44%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
42%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

72/171 respondents42%
SQL
35%

SQL

59/171 respondents35%
C++
5%

C++

8/171 respondents5%

How often do you personally write or work on data engineering/bioinformatics pipelines for work?

178

Respondents

0%20%39%
Daily
33%

Daily

58/178 respondents33%
Weekly
26%

Weekly

47/178 respondents26%
Monthly
17%

Monthly

30/178 respondents17%
Rarely
16%

Rarely

28/178 respondents16%
Never
8%

Never

15/178 respondents8%

Which of the following languages do you use for data engineering/bioinformatics pipelines?

163

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
88%

Python

143/163 respondents88%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
39%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

64/163 respondents39%
R
28%

R

45/163 respondents28%
SQL
22%

SQL

36/163 respondents22%
TypeScript
5%

TypeScript

8/163 respondents5%

Which of the following frameworks do you use (if any) for your data engineering tasks?

150

Respondents

0%23%46%
Nextflow
38%

Nextflow

57/150 respondents38%
None
32%

None

48/150 respondents32%
Snakemake
15%

Snakemake

23/150 respondents15%
Airflow
11%

Airflow

17/150 respondents11%
dbt
8%

dbt

12/150 respondents8%

How often do you personally develop on developer-facing tools/libraries for work?

178

Respondents

0%18%36%
Never
30%

Never

54/178 respondents30%
Rarely
25%

Rarely

45/178 respondents25%
Weekly
17%

Weekly

30/178 respondents17%
Daily
16%

Daily

29/178 respondents16%
Monthly
11%

Monthly

20/178 respondents11%

Which of the following languages do you use to develop on developer-facing tools/libraries?

111

Respondents

0%48%96%
Python
80%

Python

89/111 respondents80%
R
22%

R

24/111 respondents22%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
22%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

24/111 respondents22%
SQL
17%

SQL

19/111 respondents17%
TypeScript
12%

TypeScript

13/111 respondents12%

How often do you personally develop on scientist-facing tools or interfaces?

176

Respondents

0%14%27%
Never
23%

Never

40/176 respondents23%
Weekly
22%

Weekly

39/176 respondents22%
Daily
20%

Daily

36/176 respondents20%
Rarely
19%

Rarely

34/176 respondents19%
Monthly
15%

Monthly

27/176 respondents15%

Which of the following languages do you use to develop new scientist-facing tools or interfaces?

127

Respondents

0%49%97%
Python
81%

Python

103/127 respondents81%
JavaScript
22%

JavaScript

28/127 respondents22%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
21%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

27/127 respondents21%
R
20%

R

26/127 respondents20%
SQL
20%

SQL

25/127 respondents20%

How often do you personally do machine learning for work?

178

Respondents

0%17%33%
Monthly
28%

Monthly

49/178 respondents28%
Never
25%

Never

45/178 respondents25%
Rarely
19%

Rarely

34/178 respondents19%
Daily
15%

Daily

27/178 respondents15%
Weekly
13%

Weekly

23/178 respondents13%

Which of the following languages do you use to do machine learning?

125

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
94%

Python

118/125 respondents94%
R
24%

R

30/125 respondents24%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
10%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

12/125 respondents10%
SQL
6%

SQL

7/125 respondents6%
Rust
3%

Rust

4/125 respondents3%

Which of the following machine learning tools (frameworks, libraries, models, etc) do you work with?

126

Respondents

0%42%84%
Scikit-Learn
70%

Scikit-Learn

88/126 respondents70%
Pytorch
67%

Pytorch

85/126 respondents67%
Tensorflow
34%

Tensorflow

43/126 respondents34%
OpenAI
30%

OpenAI

38/126 respondents30%
HuggingFace
29%

HuggingFace

37/126 respondents29%

How often do you personally program web interfaces for work?

178

Respondents

0%29%58%
Never
48%

Never

86/178 respondents48%
Rarely
20%

Rarely

35/178 respondents20%
Monthly
16%

Monthly

28/178 respondents16%
Daily
10%

Daily

18/178 respondents10%
Weekly
6%

Weekly

11/178 respondents6%

Which of the following languages do you use to program web interfaces?

87

Respondents

0%33%66%
Python
55%

Python

48/87 respondents55%
JavaScript
51%

JavaScript

44/87 respondents51%
HTML / CSS
36%

HTML/CSS

31/87 respondents36%
TypeScript
32%

TypeScript

28/87 respondents32%
R
10%

R

9/87 respondents10%

Which databases have you worked with extensively?

170

Respondents

0%25%51%
PostgreSQL
42%

PostgreSQL

72/170 respondents42%
PostgreSQL
42%

PostgreSQL

72/170 respondents42%
MySQL
31%

MySQL

52/170 respondents31%
Not relevant to me - I don't work with databases
28%

Not relevant to me - I don't work with databases

48/170 respondents28%
SQLite
27%

SQLite

46/170 respondents27%

Which cloud platforms have you extensively developed with?

178

Respondents

0%39%79%
AWS
66%

AWS

117/178 respondents66%
Google Cloud Platform
36%

Google Cloud Platform

64/178 respondents36%
Not relevant to me - I don't work with cloud platforms
20%

Not relevant to me - I don't work with cloud platforms

35/178 respondents20%
Microso! Azure
15%

Microso! Azure

26/178 respondents15%
DigitalOcean
3%

DigitalOcean

6/178 respondents3%

Which of the following data sources do you use extensively?

224

Respondents

0%23%47%
Not relevant to me - I don't work with such data sources
39%

Not relevant to me - I don't work with such data sources

87/224 respondents39%
Literature
34%

Literature

76/224 respondents34%
Uniprot
32%

Uniprot

71/224 respondents32%
DDBJ / EMBL-EBI/NCBI
25%

DDBJ/EMBL-EBI/NCBI

56/224 respondents25%
RCSB / PDB
20%

RCSB / PDB

44/224 respondents20%

When you are using data from another source, what formats does it come in (input data)?

224

Respondents

0%41%81%
CSV / TSV
68%

CSV/TSV

152/224 respondents68%
FASTA
46%

FASTA

104/224 respondents46%
JSON
41%

JSON

92/224 respondents41%
Excel
40%

Excel

90/224 respondents40%
FASTQ
38%

FASTQ

86/224 respondents38%

When you are storing data for analysis or later use which formats do you use (output data)?

224

Respondents

0%38%75%
CSV / TSV
63%

CSV/TSV

140/224 respondents63%
JSON
31%

JSON

70/224 respondents31%
Not applicable to me
21%

Not applicable to me

47/224 respondents21%
Parquet
21%

Parquet

47/224 respondents21%
FASTA
19%

FASTA

43/224 respondents19%

What tools and libraries do you use to visualise data?

224

Respondents

0%29%57%
Matplotlib
48%

Matplotlib

107/224 respondents48%
Plotly
34%

Plotly

77/224 respondents34%
Excel
28%

Excel

63/224 respondents28%
Ggplot
26%

Ggplot

59/224 respondents26%
Google Sheets
23%

Google Sheets

52/224 respondents23%

Which of the following lab information management systems and electronic lab notebooks do you use?

224

Respondents

0%32%64%
Not relevant to me - I don't work with LIMS / ELN
53%

Not relevant to me - I don't work with LIMS/ELN

119/224 respondents53%
Benchling
25%

Benchling

56/224 respondents25%
CDD
5%

CDD

12/224 respondents5%
Dotmatics
4%

Dotmatics

9/224 respondents4%
LabVantage
4%

LabVantage

8/224 respondents4%
Respondent Demographics

How old are you?

224

Respondents

0%27%54%
25-35
45%

25-35

100/224 respondents45%
35-45
33%

35-45

75/224 respondents33%
45-60
14%

45-60

32/224 respondents14%
18-25
7%

18-25

15/224 respondents7%
60+
0%

60+

1/224 respondents0%
Prefer to not answer
0%

Prefer to not answer

1/224 respondents0%

Which of the following, if at all, best describes you?

224

Respondents

0%43%85%
Man
71%

Man

159/224 respondents71%
Woman
23%

Woman

51/224 respondents23%
Prefer not to say
4%

Prefer not to say

9/224 respondents4%
Genderqueer, or gender non-conforming
2%

Genderqueer, or gender non-conforming

5/224 respondents2%
Non-binary
2%

Non-binary

4/224 respondents2%

What country do you live in?

224

Respondents

0%40%81%
United States
67%

United States

151/224 respondents67%
United Kingdom
6%

United Kingdom

13/224 respondents6%
Canada
4%

Canada

9/224 respondents4%
Denmark
3%

Denmark

7/224 respondents3%
Germany
3%

Germany

7/224 respondents3%

What state do you live in?

151

Respondents

0%29%58%
California
48%

California

73/151 respondents48%
Massachusetts
17%

Massachusetts

26/151 respondents17%
New York
6%

New York

9/151 respondents6%
North Carolina
5%

North Carolina

8/151 respondents5%
Washington
4%

Washington

6/151 respondents4%

Which of the following, if at all, best describes you?

224

Respondents

0%20%41%
White
34%

White

76/224 respondents34%
North American
28%

North American

62/224 respondents28%
European
25%

European

56/224 respondents25%
Indian
7%

Indian

15/224 respondents7%
Prefer not to say
6%

Prefer not to say

14/224 respondents6%

Which of the following best describes the highest level of formal education that you’ve completed?

224

Respondents

0%28%55%
Other doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D., etc.)
46%

Other doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D., etc.)

103/224 respondents46%
Master’s degree (M.A., M.S., M.Eng., MBA, etc.)
32%

Master’s degree (M.A., M.S., M.Eng., MBA, etc.)

72/224 respondents32%
Bachelor’s degree (B.A., B.S., B.Eng., etc.)
19%

Bachelor’s degree (B.A., B.S., B.Eng., etc.)

43/224 respondents19%
Some college / university study without earning a degree
1%

Some college/university study without earning a degree

3/224 respondents1%
Associate degree (A.A., A.S., etc.)
0%

Associate degree (A.A., A.S., etc.)

1/224 respondents0%

How do you feel about the broader biotech market in the near future?

224

Respondents

0%21%41%
Somewhat bullish
34%

Somewhat bullish

77/224 respondents34%
Neutral
27%

Neutral

60/224 respondents27%
Very bullish
20%

Very bullish

45/224 respondents20%
Somewhat bearish
15%

Somewhat bearish

34/224 respondents15%
Very bearish
4%

Very bearish

8/224 respondents4%

How do you feel about the length of this survey?

224

Respondents

0%42%84%
Appropriate in length
70%

Appropriate in length

157/224 respondents70%
Too long
30%

Too long

67/224 respondents30%

Are you curious to learn more about biology or the biotech space, and if so, what are the questions you have?

202

Respondents

0%37%73%
What are the big problems worth tackling in the field?
61%

What are the big problems worth tackling in the field?

123/202 respondents61%
What is the landscape of each of these problem space?
49%

What is the landscape of each of these problem space?

99/202 respondents49%
Who can I talk to when I have questions in this field?
42%

Who can I talk to when I have questions in this field?

84/202 respondents42%
What are the helpful resources I can leverage to start learning about this field?
35%

What are the helpful resources I can leverage to start learning about this field?

71/202 respondents35%
How can I gain the skills required?
31%

How can I gain the skills required?

62/202 respondents31%