Very recently a question was brought up on the Amgen Alumni mailing list about unemployment compensation. The summary of facts, as I understand them, follows:
1. One may apply on line at https://eapply4ui.edd.ca.gov/default.htm
2. One must disclose severance and vacation pay (that you received on your last day) to the EDD, however, for those who left in RIF even a large amount of severance won't in all likelihood adversely affect one's eligibility. See this link http://www.edd.ca.gov/uirep/uifaq12.htm#payments for reference to law on this.
3. If your severance pay is in form of a lump sum, to report it to EDD enter a single day interval, like 10/12/07 - 10/12/07 using your actual separation date.
4. The part about "payment in lieu of" does not apply to RIF people.
5. Initially I was under impression that individuals who accepted VTP may not be eligible for unemployment, because they left the company voluntarily. But according to Barbara Brown on the AluMGEN mailing list, "VTP's are eligible for unemployment benefits as well. Both RIFs and VTPs are out of work due to Amgen's reduction in force. I am a VTP and have had my unemployment application approved."
6. Income from self-employment in one's own business is considered "wages" by EDD, and will be deducted from unemployment benefits. But royalties from IP are not considered "wages". Patent holders, song writers, and entertainment personalities - this is a great benefit to you! :-)
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
AluMGEN - Amgen Alumni Network on Yahoo! Groups
I have just received this from a friend: there is an Amgen Alumni mailing list on Yahoo!Groups. Go to this URL to join:
Monday, October 15, 2007
Job in Bioinformatics in the Bay Area
This just in from LinkedIn:
"If you have a moment, I'd appreciate your help. Please take a look and forward this job on to anyone you think would be interested in the position, or anyone else who could help me find a great candidate.
Thanks for your help!
-Francisco De La Vega
Company: Applied Biosystems
Job Title: Staff Scientist, Bioinformatics
Description: We are looking for an experienced bioinformatics scientist to facilitate the development and design of our next generation molecular detection and sequencing systems, supporting the selection of sequence targets, the design of optimal oligonucleotide probes, the analysis of experimental results, and the development of probe selection tools. Working closely with bench scientists and other members of the Bioinformatics team, the candidate will be responsible for developing, maintaining, and operating pipelines for data analysis and probe design on the basis of sequence composition, thermodynamic parameters, and genomic annotations. By iterative analysis of the feasibility data obtained by the experimental scientists, the candidate will develop heuristic rules and algorithms to improve the design of instrument systems and assays. You will identify and automate repetitive tasks to enhance data retrieval, manipulation, analysis, and to ensure the quality of the assay designs. Additional responsibilities include: development of software/web tools and databases to provide access to data; development of standard operating procedures, documentation, and scripts to generate custom reports; integration of diverse bioinformatics tools; application of statistic, visualization and data mining tools; interacting with external collaborators to obtain or provide data; development of presentations depicting the results of analyzes.
This position requires the knowledge and skills normally acquired through completion of a MS/PhD in Computational Biology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Statistics, Software Engineering, Computer Science or related field, and 4-7 years of directly related experience. To qualify, the candidate must have hands-on experience with relevant sequence analysis tools (e.g. Blast, SW, Primer3, GAP4, etc.), an excellent understanding of genomic databases and their annotations (GenBank, RefSeq, ENSEMBL, dbSNP), demonstrated computer skills including proficiency with a scripting language (e.g. Perl, BioPerl, Phyton) in a UNIX /LINUX and Windows NT environment, and excellent communication and organization skills. A good understanding of the biology behind genotyping, gene expression profiling, and genetic mapping, familiarity with the basis of nucleic acid structure and folding, and an appreciation of the use of statistical methods and mathematical models in the interpretation of biological data is highly desirable. Software and algorithm development skills (e.g. in C/C++/Java), familiarity with statistical analysis tools (e.g. Matlab, R, S-Plus, SAS), database development experience (Oracle, SQL, XML), related industry experience, and a record of publications, are pluses."
I have contact information for Dr. De La Vega - please ask me if you'd like to apply. -VM
"If you have a moment, I'd appreciate your help. Please take a look and forward this job on to anyone you think would be interested in the position, or anyone else who could help me find a great candidate.
Thanks for your help!
-Francisco De La Vega
Company: Applied Biosystems
Job Title: Staff Scientist, Bioinformatics
Description: We are looking for an experienced bioinformatics scientist to facilitate the development and design of our next generation molecular detection and sequencing systems, supporting the selection of sequence targets, the design of optimal oligonucleotide probes, the analysis of experimental results, and the development of probe selection tools. Working closely with bench scientists and other members of the Bioinformatics team, the candidate will be responsible for developing, maintaining, and operating pipelines for data analysis and probe design on the basis of sequence composition, thermodynamic parameters, and genomic annotations. By iterative analysis of the feasibility data obtained by the experimental scientists, the candidate will develop heuristic rules and algorithms to improve the design of instrument systems and assays. You will identify and automate repetitive tasks to enhance data retrieval, manipulation, analysis, and to ensure the quality of the assay designs. Additional responsibilities include: development of software/web tools and databases to provide access to data; development of standard operating procedures, documentation, and scripts to generate custom reports; integration of diverse bioinformatics tools; application of statistic, visualization and data mining tools; interacting with external collaborators to obtain or provide data; development of presentations depicting the results of analyzes.
This position requires the knowledge and skills normally acquired through completion of a MS/PhD in Computational Biology, Molecular Biology, Genetics, Statistics, Software Engineering, Computer Science or related field, and 4-7 years of directly related experience. To qualify, the candidate must have hands-on experience with relevant sequence analysis tools (e.g. Blast, SW, Primer3, GAP4, etc.), an excellent understanding of genomic databases and their annotations (GenBank, RefSeq, ENSEMBL, dbSNP), demonstrated computer skills including proficiency with a scripting language (e.g. Perl, BioPerl, Phyton) in a UNIX /LINUX and Windows NT environment, and excellent communication and organization skills. A good understanding of the biology behind genotyping, gene expression profiling, and genetic mapping, familiarity with the basis of nucleic acid structure and folding, and an appreciation of the use of statistical methods and mathematical models in the interpretation of biological data is highly desirable. Software and algorithm development skills (e.g. in C/C++/Java), familiarity with statistical analysis tools (e.g. Matlab, R, S-Plus, SAS), database development experience (Oracle, SQL, XML), related industry experience, and a record of publications, are pluses."
I have contact information for Dr. De La Vega - please ask me if you'd like to apply. -VM
Recruiters
I propose a special thread to post information about recruiters. Let me start by listing a few with who I had positive experiences in the past:
Laurie Irwin
Fortune Personnel Consultants of Boston
lirwin@fpcnbt.com
Mostly East Coast jobs, but recruits in biotechnology nationwide; contingency
May have jobs in biological and chemical informatics if these fields are of interest to you
Mostly East Coast jobs, but recruits in biotechnology nationwide; contingency
May have jobs in biological and chemical informatics if these fields are of interest to you
Dan Kausch
Director of Biotechnology
Director of Biotechnology
National Search Associates
dank@nsasearch.com
Located in NYC, but works nationwide; contingency
I will add more to this list as I gain permissions from recruiters to post their contact information.
Located in NYC, but works nationwide; contingency
I will add more to this list as I gain permissions from recruiters to post their contact information.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Opening message
Dear friends and colleagues:
This blog was created in the aftermath of the Amgen layoffs of October 2007. As the company is bleeding, it is important that the individuals who left Amgen keep in touch. So, feel free to post your thoughts, job leads, business ideas, networking suggestions, or anything else that you may think will help your fellow Amgen alumni on these pages. For your information, a LinkedIn.com group is being initiated right now as I write this. It has not been approved by LinkedIn management yet, but I expect it to be up shortly. Please consider joining, and look for the logo below on the LinkedIn pages of your Amgen friends.
Good luck to all.
Sincerely,
This blog was created in the aftermath of the Amgen layoffs of October 2007. As the company is bleeding, it is important that the individuals who left Amgen keep in touch. So, feel free to post your thoughts, job leads, business ideas, networking suggestions, or anything else that you may think will help your fellow Amgen alumni on these pages. For your information, a LinkedIn.com group is being initiated right now as I write this. It has not been approved by LinkedIn management yet, but I expect it to be up shortly. Please consider joining, and look for the logo below on the LinkedIn pages of your Amgen friends.
Good luck to all.
Sincerely,
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