Sandwich Student Oncology Review

It was overall a wonderfully enjoyable experience. I learned a lot and have come away feeling accomplished and ready to get back to work! My self-confidence has vastly improved having proven to myself that I can handle working with people far more qualified than myself and can deal with, what was at times, a demanding work-load in a professional manner. The work itself, carrying out research on the leading edge of our understanding of my particular disease area was wonderful.

I would say I felt very valued there, people were always willing to help out with technical issues in the labs, eager to give feedback on presentations or experimental protocols. There was always someone with a friendly smile and a reassuring word if anything got on top of you. The company is in the process of moving the majority of their research scientists to Cambridge from the site where I was working in Cheshire and at times this put a strain on people. It is understandable therefore that the atmosphere in the office was sometimes a little demoralised, however this was not the fault of the wonderful people with whom I was working.

My supervisor was absolutely fabulous. He was very understanding and aware of my inexperience of many techniques and equipment in the lab, but was also good at stepping back for the things I did have experience with. He was supportive and was constantly on hand for feedback or sorting out any minor issues I found on a day-to-day basis. I had great support on the direction with which to take my project and we had weekly meetings throughout the placement, even when he was relocated to Cambridge in July about seven weeks before my placement ended. The coordinator of the placement scheme at the company was also a constant support throughout the year. He was brilliant to go to for discussing personal issues in particular and I felt thoroughly looked after during both a move of office from one building to another and when my department moved to Cambridge (needless to say, without me!).

I was given the freedom to design my week, as it were, so whilst some days I was in the lab for almost the entire day others I spent primarily at the desk. I was able to adjust my work load to my life outside of work which meant I had a great work-life balance. Being trusted enough by my supervisor to meet the goals set at my weekly meeting meant that I could afford to plan the occasional 'lazy' day when I would catch up on lab notes, paperwork and planning experiments, in the office.

I was allowed to plan my experiments and my 'timetable' so I would say that I was given a lot of responsibility when it came to my project. I designed and gave presentations at meetings, also.

The skills I've developed over this year, both in the lab and with specialist computer software are going to be invaluable to my degree (I am studying Biochemistry) and for the career in research which I am hoping to go in to.

Unfortunately the atmosphere could at times be a little down and sometimes it was down-right depressing but as the company was relocating and people were leaving, this was not a reflection of the people or the working environment of the company itself. It is just a bi-product of a group of people going their separate ways after many years of working together.

[This section of the comment has been removed by a member of the RateMyPlacement Team because it did not meet our site terms and conditions] Overall, it was really well organised. The 'layout' of the year has been tried and tested as this is a well established scheme in AZ. There were several elements throughout the year which were well organised and worked well to ensure each of us finished the placement better off than we had been, in a professional sense, at the beginning of the year.

We had a few skills workshops during the year which were funded by the company but set up by graduate scheme members for the young AZ employees such as Grads and Industrial placement students, etc. The company also invests a lot of money in to a placement student by allowing us to work in a lab. Reagents and equipment which we use cost thousands of pounds to maintain. The skills I developed in the lab and the personal gains because of that, like confidence, time management etc, were innumerable, so I would say I was hugely invested in.

The company was wonderful to work for and the people are well looked after and seemed to love it. Some of my colleagues had worked there for over two decades so that would suggest that it's a great place to work.

Yeah there is an initiative at AZ called AZinspire which is for the young'uns at the company to get to know each other from all different parts of the company. Some of the people I met through the scheme were fellow placement students but were working in the Manufacturing part of the company at another site, so without that, we may not have met. We had weekly presentations which were either journal clubs or opportunities to talk about your department/project and how you 'fit' within the company.

The area I lived, Macclesfield, was very affordable. Macc (as the locals know it) had lots of independent restaurants covering many cuisines which were great to meet up with friends for 'pay day meals'. There are also several bars and copious pubs, great for chatting casually with friends or catching the footie. The area which work is in, Alderley Edge, is much less reasonable but is very pretty and a good deal can still be found at the various establishments.

There are several bars and copious pubs, great for chatting casually with friends or catching the footie. There are also two clubs which are not as bad as one might imagine, but I would say it would be worth extra organisation to make the trip to Manchester if you wanted a really big night. Manchester is only 25 minutes north of Macclesfield on the train.

I am not one for team exercise but my housemate really was and she was never short of something to do. There was a choir and a walking group, among many other activities I'm sure, with colleagues. There was also a leisure centre in the town which had a pool and gym facilities as well as a football and a cricket ground.