Analyst, Industrial Placement Student Review

I have had a really lovely year this year and have learned loads of new things. I also had the opportunity to get involved in lots of other things such as STEM events (Big Bang Fair in Birmingham), site visits, science week and A-Level work experience week which I feel have all been invaluable experiences and I am very grateful to my supervisors for letting me get involved in.

I felt valued by my colleagues in the sense that I had a purpose in the department. Therefore, I felt valued as I was counted on to complete my work to support studies. Also being included in group meetings, even though my participation was limited, was great because if I did have a point to make I felt that my opinions were genuinely being considered by my department. It was also lovely to have that support there from my colleagues if I needed any help with equipment etc.

So my supervisor this year has actually mostly been at another GSK site but that wasn't her fault, it was just because she was supporting studies that were based in Stevenage. Despite this she has been really involved in my project and has supported me anywhere she can,which has been really lovely as she checks in multiple times throughout the week to see how my work is going. Apart from this my workload coordinator has also been very supportive with my other pieces of work I've had to do. She has answered all my questions regarding pre-clinical work with absolute patience and kindness and has supported me in everything I've taken part in and supported throughout the year. Both have been the absolute best this year but so have the rest of my team, each helping me out when I sought their expert guidance on a particular piece of work.

My workload was lovely and consistent and I rarely had nothing to do which was great. I have had studies to support as well as my project and I also had other responsibilities in the lab to keep the lab up to GLP standard to fill the rest of my time.

I was given a good deal as I was trusted to be able to complete study runs to a good standard and be able to trust myself when it came to data acceptance. I was also given the responsibility of helping to maintain a good standard in the labs in the department throughout the year. This was a great responsibility as through my help the lab was maintained at a high standard. The only thing I wasn't able to do was have the opportunity to help support a clinical study.

This year has given me a much better understanding of what it is like to work in the pharmaceutical industry and what to expect from a supportive team in the industry. I have developed many soft skills this year such as presentation skills as well as analytical skills following all my lab work. I have also learnt a lot about analytical chemistry, meaning that my knowledge of the theory of LC-MS/MS and all of the different instrumentation has developed a lot. I will hopefully be able to put this into practice next year at uni or in the future. My project and subsequent project report for this year has also given me a much better idea on how to write scientific reports which will help me significantly when it comes to writing my final year project report next year.

The atmosphere in my office has been lovely. The general camaraderie between my colleagues has been great as even in times of stress the office still manages to have fun and people are always smiling with a positive outlook on the workload. The other good thing is that group meeting allow for conversations with management if there is something that is getting a few people in the office down.

This has been excellent as I have a set purpose in the department with an actual workload like the rest of the team. The only qualm I have is that there wasn't many people in the office to support me and the other placement student when we started but I don't blame anyone because of course people want to go on holiday over the August bank holiday weekend and they were all very supportive when they returned.

I have been sufficiently trained and had the opportunity to do a lot of things throughout the year. This has been really lovely as I've been able to develop my instrumentation knowledge throughout the year and gradually learn how to use the equipment and fix more errors on my own. They have done their best to allow me to get the best out of this year as I've spent some time in our other groups over at Stevenage learning what they do on a general basis too. Only time constraints have prevented me being able to learn how to use one of the other systems in the lab which is a shame but not anyones fault.

I would love to come back and work with GSK as I've had a lovely year and could see myself working here in the future. Whether or not that will be in the same department I'm not sure but my team has been lovely so regardless of whether it's in their team or through another it would be great to work with them again.

The placement students this year have been a tight group so it has been great to be able to get involved in social events outside of work as well. I couldn't have asked for a better group of IPs :)

So the rent for my accommodation has actually been pretty cheap and I haven't noticed that food and drink in the area is exceptionally expensive. So in that sense the cost of living here hasn't been too bad. The only issue I have is that travelling anywhere is pretty expensive and time consuming as you have to travel into London to travel back out to go anywhere.

The night life was quite poor but there's loads of bars in town so lots of places to go for a drink. The next town over has a (pretty poor but okay for this year) night club the next town over which we could get to pretty easily. Of course London is close by but that wasn't really a viable option for regular night's out as the last train back was pretty early (at 11:45pm) and then if you didn't cut your night short you would wither have to hang around in London for 6 hours or booked somewhere to stay in London if you knew in advance you were going out as a taxi back is way too expensive.

Yes I've been involved in STEM events, site tours and other work experience events throughout the year.