29 Learning how to code
Anonymous, Postgraduate Research Student, Computer Science and Biology, United Kingdom
Over the course of my PhD, I have transitioned from being a purely wet lab scientist to a computational biologist. This was a transition of circumstance, and before it I avoided coding like the plague. GenAI has been a personal tutor for me to get to grips with all things Python, bash scripting, and had helped me to understand the theories behind my new discipline, molecular dynamics simulations.
I use GenAI as a learning tool. Often I have a general idea of what I want to code, but I lack the basic skills to produce the high level of coding that my work demands. By working with GenAI I have been able to write many Python data analysis and plotting scripts; I have learned how to use several Python packages and I have gained familiarity with the functionality and purpose of Linux commands. I have used it to test my understanding of molecular dynamics concepts, and I’ve also used it to help me write SLURM submission scripts. Something I have never done before!
GenAI can open so many possibilities which before were unachievable
I really wouldn’t be able to finish my PhD if it wasn’t for GenAI. As I said earlier, I was a purely wet lab trained scientist and had no coding skills whatsoever – and suddenly my PhD was changed for reasons beyond my control from lab biology to computational biology. It would have taken years to build the skills I need to carry out my research and the time pressure around developing these skills was very stressful. However, having GenAI has dramatically reduced the stress I was experiencing as a result of the transition and I now feel equipped to go forward, whereas before I simply felt terribly overwhelmed. To me GenAI is like a personalised Google, and when used critically it can open so many possibilities which were unachievable before.
