Mass Spectrometry Imaging Analyst Review

I enjoyed my placement at GSK. The work was both challenging and rewarding. I got to attend conferences to both listen and present, an opportunity not offered at university. I believe my placement allowed me to experience what it would be like to work in a scientific lab and helped me develop skills which will benefit my future careers and studies.

Overall I felt highly valued by my colleagues. I was treated as equal for most of my work but was still able to ask for their help at any point. I was often asked for my opinion on matters and asked to help with others work in busier times. The only time I felt unequal was when I wasn't permitted to attend certain meetings or training sessions but this is no fault of my colleagues.

Providing I approached my supervisors I was given support and guidance. However I wasn't approached by them to see how I was getting on so if it was difficult to approach them e.g. personal matters or they were very busy, I was often left to figure things out as best I could.

How busy I was varied massively from day to day. Some days I would work hours overtime well into the evening. Other days would be much less busy allowing me to catch up on some university work or attend a lecture given at GSK. Overall I believe this department is very busy, sometimes too busy, but once you get used to managing your time and the long hours its not so bad.

I was given lots of responsibility over my work. I was still helped and supported when I asked for it and I had to inform my supervisor of any ideas or developments to my project. Despite this, getting my work done to the desired standard and by the deadline was my own responsibility.

The skills and training I received on my years placement will be hugely beneficial to my studies. My 12 month placement at GSK was for my masters degree. The skills I developed and work I carried out were highly valuable for receiving the offer for my PhD which I will be starting once my placement year has ended. The skills developed will be crucial for any future career in science in addition to my future studies.

My office had a very positive atmosphere. It was only a small office for 10-12 people so it was never too busy or loud. My colleagues would often have a laugh or joke and morale was often high. It was a very enjoyable place to work. The only downside was when you needed to focus on your work sometimes there were a few distractions.

The placement was set up relatively well. Due to doing a masters and the large amount of coursework this masters included it meant I was sometimes swamped with work and GSK was not aware of how much working time they would have to allow me to do university work. Better communication between GSK and university could have overcome this.

I believe the company invested a lot in their students. They gave us opportunities to attend multiple training sessions, lectures and conferences. They also allowed us to experience days in other departments and visit other collaborators. The only criteria was these conferences or visits could not be abroad which meant we did not get exposure to any international work.

GSK is a good place to work. However my placement year has made me realise I do not want to work in a pharmaceutical company as this is not what I am passionate about. For this reason it is unlikely I will work for GSK in the future. In addition to this other pharmaceutical companies offer a better pay rate and better rewards for working with them so if I did decide to work in pharmaceuticals in the future I would explore other options first.

My department went out for lunch a few times in the year and had a couple of events at the weekends. GSK held a Christmas and a summer ball for students which were very enjoyable. However despite having a team to organise events for students on a regular basis only 3 socials were held during the year. I believe the social scene could be greatly improved at GSK.

The living cost was higher than it is at university but still affordable. The socialising was also reasonable depending on what you wanted to do. Often you could spend as much or as little as you wish and still have a fun night. If I ever went out for lunch with my colleagues the company would pay.

There was only one club nearby and it wasn't particularly big or popular. There were a few more pubs or cocktail bars so often we went to these instead. London is nearby however this significantly increases the cost so we did not often go out to London. The nightlife is definitely better back at university.

There were not many activities organised by GSK. We had a Christmas and summer ball but aside from this there were not many activities offered. There is a company gym with sports teams if you were sporty. Most activities outside of work were organised by ourselves and not GSK. I believe the social scene could be improved.