Applied Sciences, Student Review

This job has been really fun. I am sat in an office with 3 full time members of staff who have been become good friends of mine, they were supportive and have helped me grow as a scientist. Out side of this I have made many other friends, there is a great deal of opportunity for me in many innovative areas of science. There is loads of opportunity for sport and social stuff, I was made a student member of the commitee and was able to organise a white water rafting trip which was great fun.

I have made loads of friends and I am approached directly by senior research staff with very interesting work. I have been treated excellently.

It was great, my supervisor has grown to be a role model of mine. I know it must sound like i'm blowing smoke, but I have been given great guidance and have really developed.

Initally I was placed in routine work whilst I proved my capabilities, I was pleased with quick progression into more challenging work. Periods were majorly busy and sometimes we had a bit of space. I was overall very pleased with the balance.

I was left on a number of occasionas as my supervisor was out of office or on holiday and allowed to manage myself. I managed my own work. My supervisor was very hands on in helping me learn to prioritise work with out forcing me into decisions.

I have a significantly improved my time management and report writing skills. Here I learnt to present my work as a story rather than being a simple step by step process which I was taught to do at university. I have inadvertantly learned to become expert in excel and I have become a skilled user of powerpoint and photoshop for the purposes of presenting and office banter.

Excellent, I am fortunate to be in an office with friends, over lunch we play magnetic darts and do quizzes. We all play fantasy football together and discuss it in depth, I also designed a putter and a hole so that we could play office golf. Really fun.

Other than a lack of training from the HS&E departmet in the early months it has been excelllent. My department manager, HR and supervisor have been excellent. This was both during the application process and during the year. There was some difficulty initially with my banking, as I am with an offshore bank, but this was resolved quickly and effectively with HR.

In the lab everything I needed to use I was extensively and proffessionally trained in. Out side of this I feel there was a distinct lack of urgency with operationally safety and such.

My contract was extended, I have been given contact details for the possibility of future employment and PhDs. I am considering my position as I have another year of university to complete yet.

A great bunch of students. We were directed to a number of houses so that we could live together. I have been out regularly with my office and collegues for drinks, golf, sports and general fun.

Derby is cheap and everything internally is subsidised.

Derby nightlife is not great. Nottingham and Manchester are fairly close and are really good. Lots of nice pubs, cinemas, bowling and shopping. Derby is alright. Nothing to shout about.

There is a constant stream of stuff from sports and social, including paintball, go karting, monroe bagging etc as well as football on Monday and Thursday, volleyball on Tuesday and badminton on Mondays regularly. Pretty sweet.