Bioanalyst Review

My placement gave me the opportunity to spend a year working in the company and discover the industrial world. However, I was not well-adjusted in my job. I felt a little bit alone sometimes. Even if I enjoyed my project it was not enough to enjoy all my placement year.

Apart from the others students who working with me I did not really have real colleagues. And with the only colleagues I had, I did not interact a lot with them except sometimes when we did an experiment together. I expected to interact more with GSK employees. I miss team work and team discussions.

My supervisor was not daily present. He could spend a day without talking to me. Sometimes he didn’t tell me “hello”. Then he didn’t tell me when he was working at home and was not present at GSK. A part from that, he gave me good support throughout my project that he gave me at the beginning of my placement.

It depended on the day but generally I was not fully busy. During my placement, I had an academic project. I tried to fill my days with it but I expected to be busier with GSK programs related work that would involve me more in the company. I really enjoyed to be busy with routine lab work but it was rarely.

I integrated GSK as a bio analyst. With the routine analysis, the responsibilities were correct as I generated data and treated them to support programs. Then, my project gave me also a lot of responsibilities as I did it on my own. My supervisor was just here to guide me generally but most of the time I was alone to carry out my project.

I developed many skills in analytical chemistry in LC/MS more precisely. I learnt a lot about pharmaceutical and drug development process. I learnt what I like and what I don't like at work.

Everyone was seated at his desk and worked. There was not a lot of interaction in the office. Even sometimes I felt alone. I miss a lot the team spirit and working. Moreover, they refurbished working space so many different people were working in the area and I had no idea of who they were.

They gave me a project and that's all. I had to determine what I will do every day. It was good to have responsibilities and independence but I didn't felt guided daily. I expected to have guidance every day on the work I had to do, as the others student. And then, I expected to have more routine work, to be more integrated in GSK programs.

We had complete training at the beginning of the year to learn more about the work and the research line of our department. But it would be great to have continued training all over the year. However, lectures organised every week for GSK employees were great to learn about scientific points related with medicinal research and to learn about the others research areas within GSK.

Working at GSK is very appealing. People look to be very happy to work there. They look to enjoy their job. Working in such a big company brings many advantages as well as opportunities. However, my experience within the company during one year shows me that it was not what I expected for my future.

Probably it was but I did not really socialise at work. I miss a daily tea break for example. They were nothing organise. Sometime I tried to discuss with people when I made a break but it was not every day and it was a shame. However I had lunch every day with the others students.

The cost of living was a little bit high as rent was almost the half of my wage.

There were pubs and only one club. I did not go out a lot.

Not a lot apart from sport