Lets say I want to get in this field. I have a BBA in Econ -- but no upper level math -- would I be better off getting a BA in Math and then going off to grad school (in CS or Bio, or both..)? Or would it be a better use of time to take certain maths and then just head into a masters program?
My co-workers have very diverse backgrounds - PhDs in bioinformatics all the way to folks with a BA in history.
They all seem to be hackers. So I would say, if you're already a hacker, you can probably find a way in somewhere given enough time regardless of your current degree level.
If you know you are going to head off to grad school, don't do another undergrad before. Many CS programs take on students who need a little remediation in math or CS background. I would guess that would be much more difficult for a MS program in biology.
You might even find that a MS in bioinformatics is the appropriate choice. There seem to be several of these programs floating around, they are multi-disciplinary to begin with, and if you can crank out a good GRE score, you can probably get in one without too much effort.
You will probably find it easier to break into the academic research world with at least a MS. But, I hear lots of buzz about commercial companies wanting to get into the sequencing business. Maybe you could just give yourself a crash course in python or ruby and a little biostatistics and sneak into one of those? Especially if you can find someone in your network already working in the field.
I recruited a friend to work with me who had a BS in history and a MBA (I teased him). But he was working in the software field already and I knew he would pick up the simple tech we were using to get work done.
