Material Scientist Review

I really enjoyed my time at my placement. I always had plenty to do and the work I was doing was very interesting. my manager and colleagues always pushed me to learn more and I was trained in approx. 10 techniques in my area which was a large majority. I was also entrusted with running my own projects and dealing with the customers for the projects too which was something I enjoyed also.

My colleagues made me feel so welcome and valued from the first day I started. Although there are approx. 15 people in my office on a daily basis, I think everyone gets along really well. They always let me know how much they appreciated what I did, whether it was testing or even more menial tasks such as tidying or carrying out checks in the lab.

My manager helped and supported me quite a lot, pushing me to achieve more. Though my manager was busy most of the time, she would make time for me if required and we would have catch up meetings every fortnight to go through everything I was currently working on. When my manager wasn't available, one of my colleagues gave me plenty of support and was willing to train me in techniques and answer any questions I had which was really helpful.

I was generally quite busy on a daily basis. The first few weeks of my placement were reasonably quiet as I was getting into the job but I believe that was to be expected. Due to the nature of my placement, the amount of work varied quite a lot from week to week as it depended on how many projects our team had and how much testing there was to be done. there were odd weeks where I would struggle to find work to do but most of the time there was something to do, or other members of the team ended up needing my help.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility during my placement. I was an owner of 3 instruments in the lab which involved ensuring the equipment was in good working condition all the time and troubleshooting any issues. I was also responsible for doing airflow and balance checks when they were required. I was also trusted to run my own projects with little input from my manager and ended up running a long term group of projects which involved many discussions with the customer about testing and receiving multiple samples over the period of several months.

I think the techniques that I learnt during my placement supported some of the course material I was also learning this year. I feel like this placement will have given me an advantage for my final year also as I have learnt many analytical/physical properties tests that many of the other students in my course won't have seen so I can go back to my final year with that extra knowledge and may even help me with my final year project. I also feel like I have improved my communication and teamwork skills and different IP organised events taught us many more skills which was really helpful.

the atmosphere was really good most of the time, everyone got along really well and we would go for lunch together everyday, there were also a lot of things that were organised for outside of work including regular pub lunches and pub quizzes. we also did some sports together and other odd organised events such as trampolining. most people in the office were up for a laugh and I really loved how much was organised outside of work as some of my friends have said that their teams didn't organise much.

I feel like my placement wasn't overly organised but that was more due to the nature of the work and not knowing what projects we would be getting in to know what I could be trained in or what projects I could lead. considering this I think my placement was still well organised as my manager knew what sort of testing she would be wanting me to do - I didn't feel at any point that it was disorganised.

My manager wasn't necessarily that willing for me to go on training courses for some of the equipment, even if they were free ones which was a shame however there were lots of other training opportunities with the other IPs and many workshops were run over the course of the year for us to get involved in which was good. I think due to being employed through an agency, this did limit the training opportunities as it would be difficult to sort out the costs.

I feel that my team would be willing to have me back given that there was a place for me. we also had the opportunity to be recommended for the future leaders programme (graduate scheme) and also we could put our name down to be considered for direct entry jobs and they keep these details for 2 years to be able to give us details about upcoming jobs in the company.

All the other placement students were very social. Many of them lived within 10/20mins walk of the site which meant it was easy to organise social events such as days out, pub trips and nights out also. the wider IP community also organised social events in London for people from different GSK sites to attend also.

Due to being close to London, housing was quite expensive. I was actually paying the least out of the people I've spoken to but the area is not cheap. Pubs/restaurants are more expensive than the student areas I know and the few clubs in the area didn't have cheaper student nights but at the same time, as the placement was paid, you have more money than you would being a student so it is still affordable (as long as you're sensible and don't go on mad spending sprees just because you have money now!).

In the area I worked, there was a lot of pubs but no nightclubs. The nearest nightclubs were in the next town which was 5 mins on the train/15 min drive so not too bad. it was only 30-40mins on the train into London also where there are obviously plenty of night out opportunities. we always managed to have a good time though considering the limiting nightlife nearby with pub trips/nights out happening most weekends.

there were opportunities, but they would mostly involve someone organising them. It depends really on the people you're friends with/colleagues and how up for doing stuff people are. I did activities outside work at least 2 evenings a week.