Industrial Placement student Review

My placement was a good experience, and I also learnt valuable skills I can take forward in future careers. However I didn't always particularly like it that much. Saying this, I think it depends on what sort of work and skills you enjoy doing and will vary from person to person. There were a lot of times that I had very little to do - this was partly due to the nature of the work. For example, working with cell lines, you have to wait for the cells to grow before any experiments can be run, and waiting for reagents etc to arrive. There were parts of the placement I enjoyed, for example there is a fair amount of routine in the day to day work, repeating experiments for example, in order to obtain accurate results. Whilst this can at times be tiresome, repeating similar experiments, it also means that you can improve vastly in that particular experimental skill and improve the results with each repeat. Overall, looking back, there have been times on my placement which I have enjoyed, but others less so, but it will depend on how well the work suits you.

The whole team in my department at GSK were extremely welcoming and helpful. Discussions were often held regarding experimental data for example, where your opinion and contribution to the team effort was really valued. This helped to make me feel valued, and also that the work I was doing was helping the team and project, on a wider scale rather than just for my project. GSK are really good at this aspect of placements- they ensure you feel valued by giving you a project which will hopefully be of interest to yourself, but also of value to the whole team and your colleagues, Team work is very important at GSK and the work you do often helps other people's projects and adds value to the department as a whole,

Initially, the training provided by GSK was quite thorough, covering a number of techniques that you may work on in future. And my supervisor was also very helpful on providing me with information on the project I would be working on, and the rationale behind it. However I sometimes felt that there wasn't the continued support throughout the placement year. This was partly due to the fact that supervisors are often understandably extremely busy with other roles, but I felt that this perhaps should have been considered initially, in choosing students and supervisors. On the plus side, my colleagues were always willing to help whenever possible with any queries I may have. However, sometimes project specific questions really needed the help of my supervisor, before I knew how to continue the work I had.

On a daily basis, I would say that I really was not busy at all. There were often times that I had a couple of experiments to do in a few days, and data to analyse the data, but then days with not much to do at all. This was partly due to the nature of the work- for example working with cell lines and waiting for them to grow, and waiting for materials to arrive. I would say that there weren't really many days, only a couple, that I was very busy and rushing around. I would say that I would prefer to have been slightly busier as it occupies the time nicely and makes you feel like you are providing more value to the team, however it also gave plenty of time for extra reading around the subject etc, which is useful in it's own right.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility within the department with the work I was doing. Once you know how to do a technique or certain experiment, you are trusted to do it by yourself and not have to be watched or anything. This gives a good amount of independence to the work you do and the responsibility for your own work. Some of my work was also directly of use to a certain project within the team, and I was responsible for producing the results, which would be examined and used in conjunction with other data from the team, to help make an informed decision on which direction to go next.

The skills I developed will greatly help me in the future I believe. These include report writing, presentation skills, communication, teamwork and others. The lab specific skills may come in useful if I end up working in a lab in the future (although not my first choice). It has also been extremely valuable to see how a large company (and a pharma company) operate. I have not had much experience of the world of work, and working in such a large, influential company for a year has been a great opportunity to experience this.

Good atmosphere in the offices, often with lots of cake around! However half way through the placement, it changed to 'smart working' where you no longer have an allocated desk, and can sit anywhere. In a way this works well as you get to see other people and sit in different areas, but it can also sometimes feel like less of a community as you don't sit with your department all the time.

GSK are very well set up for receiving placement students, with 100s at the Stevenage site. They also provide supervisors for every student, and plenty of training at the start of placement. Everyone is used to having students around and they make up an integral part of the department - often performing a lot of the lab work. They also provide each student with a project which is of interest to them (not simply endless pipetting with no end result for example) but also will help the team.

There was plenty of training to ensure we were all up to the same standard, for example in terms of the maths required. We were also treated like the rest of our permanent GSK colleagues, and invested in just as much. There was also opportunity to visit other people and talk with various departments if you were interested in the work done in other departments.

Personally I am not sure I would work for a large pharma company, or in a lab. However this depends on you and the type of work you enjoy. There are opportunities to apply for permanent jobs when they come out, and if you performed well on placemen, you have a good chance. Many previous IP students have returned to GSK to work full time, however it is not something I am necessarily considering.

Really good social scene amongst placement students - both in Stevenage and at GSK sites across the country. 'IP unite' is organised and run by students and organises events such as the Christmas ball in London, and a boat party in May. There is also a good social scene amongst departments, as there are often a large number of students in each department which meet up eg dinner/cinema.

Stevenage is not too expensive, close to London (20 mins on the train) but not London prices. Relatively cheap food, and plenty of chain restaurants etc. Train to London also not too expensive, £11 for all day travel card at the weekends.

Shocking!! There is 1 club in Stevenage, which shut half way through the year for renovation, and is meant to be not great - still haven't been! However, there are a few nice pubs etc - Mulberry Tree in old town for example. Other than that, for a good night out, London is not far away -although the last train back is about 1am.

There are a number of things to do around Stevenage - gyms and sports centres for example, and a theatre in town. The benefit of working is that there is no work in the evenings or weekends, leaving plenty of time to get involved in things outside of work.