2. When you should use local persons to do your bioinformatics work: Part 2

If you worry about your own ability to lead and direct young people when they dive into bioinformatics problems, I suggest that you sit back and watch for a while. It is amazing how the way people learn things has changed in the information age: these days, young people are relying more on the internet than on their mentors and senior colleagues to learn "technical stuff" - something those of us who went to graduate school in the 1990s need to adapt to. I tend to think that today's training of graduate students and postdoc trainees should focus more on helping them organize ideas and develop insights towards solving scientific problems, rather than offering hands-on experience in carrying out detailed tasks - they can find their own way on the detailed matters. But this is a separate topic - maybe I will write another article about it…

Of course, each student and trainee is different, and not all of them are the "bioinformatics type". You will want to see how enthusiastic your student or trainee is about the idea of diving into bioinformatics with limited guidance from you, evaluate the likelihood that it will work with the individual, and be ready to pull the plug if it does not.