John Shearin

In college, I studied biomedical engineering. However, a BioE undergrad degree is best suited as a bootloader to med-school and other graduate schools. I originally thought about going to med-school and scored in the 91st percentile on the MCAT. However, after some soul searching and every doctor telling me not to, I started on a different career path.

Success in a BioE undergrad program provides a solid background in engineering and the hard sciences, but a very basic background that does not provide the deep knowledge to "hit the ground running" in a biotech company without other hands-on experience. It is a good degree to start off in research and other entry-level positions that one can get with a biology degree. My program focused on biomaterials, and in addition to the biology, chemistry, and physics of biomaterials, it also introduced me to materials manufacturing processes and the importance of scale.

My favorite part of my undergraduate studies was my senior design project. This course was a lesson and hand-on experience in the Product Development Lifecycle.

My team developed a temperature sensing orthotic insole for diabetic patients. I completed the development of the smartphone application. Starting the project, my only coding experience was some basic Matlab three years prior. I learned JavaScript and coded a semi-functional application using React Native. I completed patent and market research, which was tedious: but that enjoyable kind of tedious, that I went at with fervor because I was learning of so many cool technologies.

Over the last couple of years, I have become interested in the entrepreneurial process, which was mimicked in my senior design project. I started looking into MBA programs during my first year of employment and found The Personal MBA, which led me to The Lean Startup and Blue Ocean Strategy. I had also started learning Python after doing research and finding that it was THE programming language for Machine Learning. I took a few online courses and was able to apply some data processing skills in my job. I also became interested in Product Management and took a course in product management on edX, offered by Boston University.

I am using this blog to detail my knowledge acquisition and my search for a job and career that will let me expand my skill set and create products, or enable others to do so, that will improve access to healthcare and education.