TheCradle BioX
BiB logo
Bits in Bio
presented together with

Nitro Bio

The Cradle x Bits in Bio 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.

Survey Results are grouped into 5 sections:

  1. Bits in Bio
  2. Education, Work, and Career
  3. Goals & Objectives for protein engineers
  4. Software Technologies & Methods
  5. Basic Information & Final Questions

Read the results summary, survey methodology, and download the public data.

Acknowledgments

A huge thank you to all BioDevelopers who participated in this inaugural survey. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.

Feedback

As we plan to make this an annual survey, we welcome feedback on the first edition. We've already learned to shorten it for next year to make it easier to contribute.

Please share your thoughts on the following:

  • Is "BioDeveloper Survey" the right name, or does it bias too much towards in silico work?
  • Where should we share the survey to increase participation?
  • What other improvements should we consider?

Please email survey@cradle.bio with your suggestions! For any technical issues or feedback concerning this website, please reach out to stateoftechbio@nitro.bio.

Survey Data

Download Data

Bits In Bio

How did you hear about Bits in Bio?

154

Respondents

0%24%48%
Twitter
40%

Twitter

62/154 respondents40%
Word of mouth (a colleague or friend)
33%

Word of mouth (a colleague or friend)

51/154 respondents33%
LinkedIn
12%

LinkedIn

18/154 respondents12%
I hadn't heard about Bits in Bio before
8%

I hadn't heard about Bits in Bio before

12/154 respondents8%
Bits in Bio Meetup
4%

Bits in Bio Meetup

6/154 respondents4%

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

143

Respondents

0%18%37%
Never
31%

Never

44/143 respondents31%
A few times per week
22%

A few times per week

31/143 respondents22%
A few times per month or weekly
20%

A few times per month or weekly

28/143 respondents20%
Less than once per month or monthly
13%

Less than once per month or monthly

18/143 respondents13%
Daily or almost daily
11%

Daily or almost daily

16/143 respondents11%

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

140

Respondents

0%26%51%
Slack community
43%

Slack community

60/140 respondents43%
Meetup
10%

Meetup

14/140 respondents10%
Q&As
10%

Q&As

14/140 respondents10%
Job Board / channel
9%

Job Board/channel

12/140 respondents9%
Hackathons
4%

Hackathons

6/140 respondents4%

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

144

Respondents

0%23%46%
Yes, definitely
15%

Yes, definitely

21/144 respondents15%
Yes, somewhat
38%

Yes, somewhat

55/144 respondents38%
No, not really
22%

No, not really

31/144 respondents22%
No, not at all
22%

No, not at all

32/144 respondents22%
Not sure
3%

Not sure

5/144 respondents3%
Education, Work, and Career

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

155

Respondents

0%44%88%
Twitter
74%

Twitter

114/155 respondents74%
Biorxiv
60%

Biorxiv

93/155 respondents60%
Journals
55%

Journals

85/155 respondents55%
Conferences
51%

Conferences

79/155 respondents51%
Google scholar
50%

Google scholar

77/155 respondents50%

Which of the following best describes your current employment status?

156

Respondents

0%45%91%
Employed Full time
76%

Employed Full time

118/156 respondents76%
PhD-student or post-doc
15%

PhD-student or post-doc

24/156 respondents15%
Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed
8%

Independent contractor, freelancer, or self-employed

13/156 respondents8%
Student, full-time
4%

Student, full-time

7/156 respondents4%
Not employed, but looking for work
4%

Not employed, but looking for work

6/156 respondents4%

What is the main focus in your current role? Select all that apply

144

Respondents

0%25%51%
Computational Biologist / Bio-informatician
42%

Computational Biologist / Bio-informatician

61/144 respondents42%
Software Engineer
31%

Software Engineer

44/144 respondents31%
Data Scientist
30%

Data Scientist

43/144 respondents30%
Management
19%

Management

28/144 respondents19%
ML Engineer / Researcher
18%

ML Engineer/Researcher

26/144 respondents18%

Do you use machine learning in your work?

106

Respondents

0%44%87%
Yes
73%

Yes

77/106 respondents73%
No
27%

No

29/106 respondents27%

Would you be interested in using machine learning in your work?

28

Respondents

0%49%99%
Yes
82%

Yes

23/28 respondents82%
No
18%

No

5/28 respondents18%

Do you consider yourself to be working in industry or academia?

144

Respondents

0%44%88%
Industry
73%

Industry

105/144 respondents73%
Academia
26%

Academia

37/144 respondents26%
Other
1%

Other

2/144 respondents1%

What industry does your organisation operate in?

102

Respondents

0%42%84%
Pharma
70%

Pharma

71/102 respondents70%
Basic / Fundamental research
25%

Basic / Fundamental research

26/102 respondents25%
Food & Nutrition
13%

Food & Nutrition

13/102 respondents13%
Agriculture
9%

Agriculture

9/102 respondents9%
Chemicals
7%

Chemicals

7/102 respondents7%

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

105

Respondents

0%17%34%
Just me - I am a freelancer, sole proprietor, etc.
4%

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

4/105 respondents4%
2 - 19 employees
29%

2 - 19 employees

30/105 respondents29%
20-99 employees
17%

20-99 employees

18/105 respondents17%
100-499 employees
21%

100-499 employees

22/105 respondents21%
500- 4,999 employees
12%

500- 4,999 employees

13/105 respondents12%
5,000 or more employees
17%

5,000 or more employees

18/105 respondents17%
Goals & Objectives for protein engineers

Has your work involved protein engineering?

154

Respondents

0%25%50%
Yes
29%

Yes

44/154 respondents29%
Not yet - but I'm curious to explore protein engineering in the future
42%

Not yet - but I'm curious to explore protein engineering in the future

64/154 respondents42%
No
30%

No

46/154 respondents30%

What types of proteins have you worked with over the past 12 months?

44

Respondents

0%37%74%
Enzymes
61%

Enzymes

27/44 respondents61%
Antibodies
30%

Antibodies

13/44 respondents30%
Short peptides
30%

Short peptides

13/44 respondents30%
Gene regulatory proteins
25%

Gene regulatory proteins

11/44 respondents25%
Structural proteins
16%

Structural proteins

7/44 respondents16%

What types of proteins do you want to work on over the next 12 months?

90

Respondents

0%32%64%
Enzymes
53%

Enzymes

48/90 respondents53%
Gene regulatory proteins
44%

Gene regulatory proteins

40/90 respondents44%
Antibodies
42%

Antibodies

38/90 respondents42%
Short peptides
27%

Short peptides

24/90 respondents27%
Structural proteins
23%

Structural proteins

21/90 respondents23%

Which of the following design objectives have you done extensive work on over the past 12 months?

37

Respondents

0%23%45%
Improve binding affinity
38%

Improve binding affinity

14/37 respondents38%
Discover & Find novel activity / function
35%

Discover & Find novel activity / function

13/37 respondents35%
Improve codon usage
30%

Improve codon usage

11/37 respondents30%
Stability optimization
30%

Stability optimization

11/37 respondents30%
Improve (heterologous) expression
27%

Improve (heterologous) expression

10/37 respondents27%

Which of the following design objectives do you plan to work on over the next 12 months?

70

Respondents

0%27%53%
Stability optimization
44%

Stability optimization

31/70 respondents44%
Discover & Find novel activity / function
43%

Discover & Find novel activity / function

30/70 respondents43%
Improve binding affinity
34%

Improve binding affinity

24/70 respondents34%
Improve (heterologous) expression
27%

Improve (heterologous) expression

19/70 respondents27%
Improve codon usage
26%

Improve codon usage

18/70 respondents26%

How many candidates do you typically assay each round?

29

Respondents

0%19%37%
24
31%

24

9/29 respondents31%
96
21%

96

6/29 respondents21%
384
10%

384

3/29 respondents10%
384-1536
14%

384-1536

4/29 respondents14%
1.5k-10k
7%

1.5k-10k

2/29 respondents7%

How do you determine whether the tested variant performs better?

34

Respondents

0%42%85%
Directly, via assaying the property of interest directly (in vitro)
71%

Directly, via assaying the property of interest directly (in vitro)

24/34 respondents71%
Indirectly, via measuring a proxy for improved behavior (in vivo, using e.g. a screening / reporter host)
62%

Indirectly, via measuring a proxy for improved behavior (in vivo, using e.g. a screening/reporter host)

21/34 respondents62%
Other
3%

Other

1/34 respondents3%
Software Technologies & Methods

Do you code?

154

Respondents

0%50%100%
Yes - I am comfortable writing code
84%

Yes - I am comfortable writing code

130/154 respondents84%
No - I don't write code
10%

No - I don't write code

15/154 respondents10%
Some - I modify other people's code, but rarely start from scratch.
6%

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

9/154 respondents6%

How did you learn to code?

138

Respondents

0%44%89%
Just by doing it
74%

Just by doing it

102/138 respondents74%
School or formal education
63%

School or formal education

87/138 respondents63%
Other online resources (example: videos, blogs)
45%

Other online resources (example: videos, blogs)

62/138 respondents45%
Books / physical media
29%

Books / physical media

40/138 respondents29%
Online course or certification
25%

Online course or certification

35/138 respondents25%

How often do you personally do data analysis for work?

138

Respondents

0%45%90%
Weekly
75%

Weekly

103/138 respondents75%
Monthly
11%

Monthly

15/138 respondents11%
Every 3 months
3%

Every 3 months

4/138 respondents3%
Rarely
9%

Rarely

13/138 respondents9%
Never
2%

Never

3/138 respondents2%

How often do you personally write scripts to automate workflows for work?

138

Respondents

0%33%66%
Weekly
55%

Weekly

76/138 respondents55%
Monthly
22%

Monthly

31/138 respondents22%
Every 3 months
8%

Every 3 months

11/138 respondents8%
Rarely
10%

Rarely

14/138 respondents10%
Never
4%

Never

6/138 respondents4%

Which of the following languages have you used in the past 12 months for data analysis?

135

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
97%

Python

131/135 respondents97%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
62%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

84/135 respondents62%
R
53%

R

72/135 respondents53%
SQL
41%

SQL

56/135 respondents41%
HTML / CSS
13%

HTML/CSS

17/135 respondents13%

Which of the following languages have you used in the past 12 months to write scripts to automate workflows?

130

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
91%

Python

118/130 respondents91%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
62%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

81/130 respondents62%
R
21%

R

27/130 respondents21%
SQL
11%

SQL

14/130 respondents11%
JavaScript
5%

JavaScript

7/130 respondents5%

Which of the following languages do you plan to work in over the next 12 months?

137

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
98%

Python

134/137 respondents98%
R
43%

R

59/137 respondents43%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
60%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

82/137 respondents60%
SQL
46%

SQL

63/137 respondents46%
JavaScript
22%

JavaScript

30/137 respondents22%

How often do you personally develop new tools and libraries for work?

129

Respondents

0%21%43%
Weekly
36%

Weekly

46/129 respondents36%
Monthly
16%

Monthly

21/129 respondents16%
Every 3 months
19%

Every 3 months

25/129 respondents19%
Rarely
20%

Rarely

26/129 respondents20%
Never
8%

Never

10/129 respondents8%
Other
1%

Other

1/129 respondents1%

Which of the following languages have you used in the past 12 months to develop new tools and libraries?

117

Respondents

0%50%100%
Python
92%

Python

108/117 respondents92%
Shell (Bash / Powershell/etc)
32%

Shell (Bash/Powershell/etc)

38/117 respondents32%
R
21%

R

25/117 respondents21%
C++
11%

C++

13/117 respondents11%
SQL
11%

SQL

13/117 respondents11%

How often do you personally program data engineering / pipelines for work?

127

Respondents

0%24%47%
Weekly
39%

Weekly

50/127 respondents39%
Monthly
17%

Monthly

22/127 respondents17%
Every 3 months
9%

Every 3 months

12/127 respondents9%
Rarely
24%

Rarely

31/127 respondents24%
Never
9%

Never

12/127 respondents9%

How often do you personally do machine learning for work?

129

Respondents

0%15%31%
Weekly
26%

Weekly

33/129 respondents26%
Monthly
20%

Monthly

26/129 respondents20%
Every 3 months
14%

Every 3 months

18/129 respondents14%
Rarely
22%

Rarely

28/129 respondents22%
Never
19%

Never

24/129 respondents19%

How often do you personally program web interfaces for work?

129

Respondents

0%21%42%
Weekly
19%

Weekly

24/129 respondents19%
Monthly
8%

Monthly

10/129 respondents8%
Every 3 months
13%

Every 3 months

17/129 respondents13%
Rarely
26%

Rarely

33/129 respondents26%
Never
35%

Never

45/129 respondents35%

Which of the following languages have you used in the past 12 months to do program web interfaces?

80

Respondents

0%40%80%
Python
66%

Python

53/80 respondents66%
HTML / CSS
45%

HTML/CSS

36/80 respondents45%
JavaScript
43%

JavaScript

34/80 respondents43%
TypeScript
25%

TypeScript

20/80 respondents25%
R
16%

R

13/80 respondents16%

Which of the following databases have you done extensive work in over the past 12 months?

123

Respondents

0%21%43%
PostgreSQL
36%

PostgreSQL

44/123 respondents36%
MySQL
22%

MySQL

27/123 respondents22%
SQLite
20%

SQLite

24/123 respondents20%
BigQuery
12%

BigQuery

15/123 respondents12%
MongoDB
11%

MongoDB

14/123 respondents11%

Which of the following databases do you want to work in over the next 12 months?

117

Respondents

0%21%42%
PostgreSQL
35%

PostgreSQL

41/117 respondents35%
SQLite
22%

SQLite

26/117 respondents22%
BigQuery
18%

BigQuery

21/117 respondents18%
MongoDB
17%

MongoDB

20/117 respondents17%
MySQL
15%

MySQL

18/117 respondents15%

Which cloud platforms have you done extensive development work in over the past 12 months?

128

Respondents

0%35%70%
AWS
59%

AWS

75/128 respondents59%
Google Cloud Platform
25%

Google Cloud Platform

32/128 respondents25%
Microsoft Azure
4%

Microsoft Azure

5/128 respondents4%
Heroku
2%

Heroku

3/128 respondents2%
DigitalOcean
2%

DigitalOcean

2/128 respondents2%

Which cloud platforms do you want to work with over the next 12 months?

95

Respondents

0%47%95%
AWS
79%

AWS

75/95 respondents79%
Google Cloud Platform
35%

Google Cloud Platform

33/95 respondents35%
Microsoft Azure
15%

Microsoft Azure

14/95 respondents15%
Heroku
5%

Heroku

5/95 respondents5%
IBM Cloud or Watson
5%

IBM Cloud or Watson

5/95 respondents5%

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

145

Respondents

0%50%100%
CSV / TSV
88%

CSV/TSV

128/145 respondents88%
JSON
63%

JSON

92/145 respondents63%
FASTA
62%

FASTA

90/145 respondents62%
FASTQ
59%

FASTQ

86/145 respondents59%
BAM / SAM
41%

BAM/SAM

60/145 respondents41%

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

144

Respondents

0%49%98%
CSV / TSV
82%

CSV/TSV

118/144 respondents82%
JSON
41%

JSON

59/144 respondents41%
FASTA
33%

FASTA

47/144 respondents33%
BAM / SAM
30%

BAM/SAM

43/144 respondents30%
FASTQ
24%

FASTQ

34/144 respondents24%

Which of the following data sources have you used extensively over the past 12 months?

143

Respondents

0%24%48%
Literature
40%

Literature

57/143 respondents40%
Uniprot
37%

Uniprot

53/143 respondents37%
DDBJ / EMBL-EBI/NCBI
22%

DDBJ/EMBL-EBI/NCBI

32/143 respondents22%
KEGG
22%

KEGG

32/143 respondents22%
RCSB / PDB
22%

RCSB / PDB

32/143 respondents22%

Which of the following data sources do you want to work with over the next 12 months?

128

Respondents

0%22%44%
Uniprot
35%

Uniprot

45/128 respondents35%
Literature
32%

Literature

41/128 respondents32%
RCSB / PDB
25%

RCSB / PDB

32/128 respondents25%
DDBJ / EMBL-EBI/NCBI
22%

DDBJ/EMBL-EBI/NCBI

28/128 respondents22%
KEGG
22%

KEGG

28/128 respondents22%

What tools and libraries have you used to visualize data over the last 12 months?

150

Respondents

0%38%76%
Matplotlib
63%

Matplotlib

95/150 respondents63%
Plotly
45%

Plotly

67/150 respondents45%
Excel
37%

Excel

55/150 respondents37%
Ggplot
36%

Ggplot

54/150 respondents36%
Google Sheets
31%

Google Sheets

46/150 respondents31%

What tools and libraries do you plan to use to visualize data over the next 12 months?

139

Respondents

0%37%73%
Matplotlib
61%

Matplotlib

85/139 respondents61%
Plotly
45%

Plotly

63/139 respondents45%
Ggplot
34%

Ggplot

47/139 respondents34%
Excel
27%

Excel

38/139 respondents27%
Google Sheets
23%

Google Sheets

32/139 respondents23%

Which of the following lab information management systems and electronic lab notebooks have you done extensive work in over the past 12 months?

135

Respondents

0%28%56%
Benchling
36%

Benchling

48/135 respondents36%
BaseSpace
7%

BaseSpace

10/135 respondents7%
LabVantage
5%

LabVantage

7/135 respondents5%
Thermo Scientific SampleManager
3%

Thermo Scientific SampleManager

4/135 respondents3%
Labguru
2%

Labguru

3/135 respondents2%

Which of the following LIMS and ELN do you want to work in over the next 12 months?

127

Respondents

0%30%60%
Benchling
34%

Benchling

43/127 respondents34%
LabVantage
6%

LabVantage

8/127 respondents6%
BaseSpace
6%

BaseSpace

7/127 respondents6%
SciSpot
3%

SciSpot

4/127 respondents3%
Thermo Scientific SampleManager
3%

Thermo Scientific SampleManager

4/127 respondents3%
Basic Information & Final Questions

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

142

Respondents

0%48%95%
Man
80%

Man

113/142 respondents80%
Woman
13%

Woman

19/142 respondents13%
Prefer not to say
6%

Prefer not to say

9/142 respondents6%
Non-binary
1%

Non-binary

1/142 respondents1%

Which of the following best describes the highest level of formal education that youʼve completed?

154

Respondents

0%27%55%
Other doctoral degree (Ph.D., Ed.D., etc.)
45%

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

70/154 respondents45%
Master's degree (M.A., M.S., M.Eng., MBA, etc.)
29%

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

44/154 respondents29%
Bachelor's degree (B.A., B.S., B.Eng., etc.)
22%

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

34/154 respondents22%
Professional degree (JD, MD, etc.)
2%

Professional degree (JD, MD, etc.)

3/154 respondents2%
Some college / university study without earning a degree
1%

Some college/university study without earning a degree

2/154 respondents1%

How do you feel about the length of this survey?

150

Respondents

0%35%70%
Appropriate in length
58%

Appropriate in length

87/150 respondents58%
Too long
42%

Too long

63/150 respondents42%

How easy or difficult was this survey to complete?

149

Respondents

0%36%72%
Easy
60%

Easy

90/149 respondents60%
Neither easy nor difficult
38%

Neither easy nor difficult

57/149 respondents38%
Difficult
1%

Difficult

2/149 respondents1%