QA Scientist Review

As a whole I have enjoyed my time here working at GSK. I am an analytical chemist working at a manufacturing site for GlaxoSmithKline where I use analytical techniques such as HPLC, IR and Gas Chromatography. However, due to the circumstances of a manufacturing site it is a very controlled environment and therefore I wasn't able to expand my chemistry techniques as much as I would have liked to. Business wise- I feel like I have benefited a lot from working at GlaxoSmithKline as I have managed to witness and understand all aspects and areas to make Penicillin and I have also managed to work and be apart of these areas.

I feel extremely lucky to have had such caring and supportive colleagues in my team. Understandably I was very nervous upon starting my placement as it was something completely new to me, however as soon as my first day I was welcomed by the team and had a "buddy" that I could ask any questions to and would guide me through the first couple of weeks. From then, I have been treated with so much kindness from my colleagues and from other staff that work in other departments. Whenever I need help or don't know an answer to a question, my colleagues will go above and beyond to try and assist and help me.

My manager set up meetings every Monday morning to ask questions on how I was getting on with my placement and how I was managing with my project that GlaxoSmithKline had given me for my University project. However, I work in a "technical" team that is responsible for supporting all manufacturing areas and due to this my manager is very busy being involved with projects etc. Although, as mentioned before I have a very supportive team that help give me guidance as much as possible if my manager is not around to ask.

As I was apart of a technical team we were a supporting role to the manufacturing areas like tablets and suspensions. Because of this, any issues that escalated within these areas we were involved in; giving critical QA feedback from data that we had run on HPLC's to help ensure that there was no interruption in the supply chain and that customers were receiving their medication on time. When there were "quiet periods" I worked on my project which was ensuring penicillin was being contained within the factory and was not being dispersed anywhere else.

I believe I was given a lot of responsibility within my job as like mentioned before I was involved with supporting the manufacturing areas for the sits. All data I collected to support these issues and escalations meant that I had to contact the management from each area and make sure I give them correct precise results in order for them to make a quick concise decision .

I believe that working at a manufacturing site has helped me to develop basic use of analytical techniques as before I had only learnt the theory behind things such as HPLC, GC and IR and from this I will be able to apply the techniques I have learnt into my dissertation for final year. However, like mentioned before due to the structure of a manufacturing site I was only able to learn limited things and therefore it may only help me a little bit within my degree studies as my degree is so broad for chemistry.

I felt that my office had a very good atmosphere. Even though there were not that many people in my office, we still had fun and enjoyed ourselves as working 8 hours can always be quite draining! However, when it came down to doing work and meeting deadlines, everyone respected that and left you to concentrate on your own work in a peaceful environment with little to no interruptions.

I believe that GSK as a whole has a well-structured set up for Industrial placements. We all undertook a week long induction which helped us understand GSK's core values and what we should understand about the co-operation and what ourselves can bring to the company. When we started, we also went through IT courses and standardised training to make sure we were competent and compliant with understanding everything that was happening on site (Safety etc). When I started my year in industry, I had a training pack to follow making sure that I had read all SOPs associated with the site and making sure that I had suitable training so that I could work in the labs in a safe manner. However, I feel that the content of my work has been the same as many other IP's before me and I feel that maybe the IP's scope in my area should be evaluated again so that the next IP can help in other areas or increase their knowledge of analytical techniques.

I feel like from having to communicate to areas all over the site it has increased my confidence 10-fold therefore helping me in my future years in education and jobs. GSK has also helped me to get involved with an organisation called STEM. I am a Stem ambassador for my GSK site where we go to science events/fairs for secondary schools and colleges and represent GSK. We partake in "DIY" science experiments for the children in hopes that we aspire them to take a science route when they're older.

From working in a pharmaceutical company , it has increased my interests greatly and I most definitely am going to look for jobs in the Pharmaceutical field once I graduate. I am very interested in the R&D aspects of pharmaceutical companies and would like to return to that area if possible. I would 100% want to come back to GSK as it is a brilliant organisation to work for there are so many opportunities within the organisation to move around to different areas and move up the career ladder.

I am lucky to have worked on a site with many other IP students that I get along with so well. We all try to do something collectively every week and try out the pubs of brighton most weekends. There is also an IPUnite group which organises events for all GSK IP students over England for example things like Christmas events and boat parties. However, these events are normally based in London and can be a pain to get to if you're placement year is not based in and around London.

My site was based in Worthing which is a relatively cheap area to live, however there wasn't much to do in Worthing so myself and a few IP's are living in Brighton. Brighton is definitely a lot more expensive to live than I first thought but I feel like the socialising and Brighton's amazing city life outweighs the cost of living.

The nightlife in Worthing isn't that bad it has many pubs and loads of really nice places to eat, however if you want to have a night out I'd advise going to Brighton which is around half an hour away from Brighton. There is a night bus running to and from Worthing throughout the night so don't worry about being stranded in Brighton at 3am!

As mentioned before I am apart of STEM for GSK and that included many activities that we do during work time and outside of work (social events etc). I also joined the netball team in Worthing and play matches every week which I will be very sad to leave. Furthermore, I live in Brighton so when I get back from work there are endless things to do whatever day in the week it is.