Quality Assurance Microbiologist Review

Some aspects of my placement I enjoyed, however the role is definitely not something I would consider revisiting as a future career. The depth into which microbiology and science was explored was incredibly minimal which was a shame since this was one of the main selling points of the placement on the application website and one of the main driving forces that lead me to apply. The actual focus of the placement wasn't what I was expecting and it was over all quite dry and uncharasmatic, so it was a struggle to get motivated or interested in a majority of my role duties.

Unfortunately I really wasn't an integral part of my team and wasn't needed. Even before a huge recruitment of six new members entered the lab, I had very little to do. Therefore I only bonded with a few people and I don't think I'll be missed.

I was supported by my university supervisor well, but my manager or point of call within the company changed hands three times and so many of my placement goals and achievements I wanted were lost in translation, but this did lead me to self-manage and become vastly independent.

As I said before, for months and months of time, I just wasn't needed by my team. Only when disaster struck and the lab was forced into overdrive could I help out, otherwise I was just abandoned to find my own work elsewhere.

The tasks I did track down that were going on elsewhere or those that I curated and designed for myself were of fair importance, such as validation exercises. However, it was a shame that these were so few and far between.

The overarching topic of this placement wasn't what it was made out to be on the application website, which if it had been, would have been much more useful to me. However I wouldn't describe the year as a waste of time, I've developed the skills and experience associated with validation and document control, but these I admit are absolutely useless in terms of my degree studies. Though I have been put off this job role for the future, I have gathered a lot of knowledge and at least I know what to avoid when starting a long term career! Plus it looks good on my CV...

A lot of the time I had nothing to do, or was left to my own devices to find anything to do.

I was abandoned for two months when I started and my lab just didn't seem to be expecting, or even equipped for me.

I wasn't really needed, I organised and arranged all my own training however, so I ensured I went on all of the most appropriate courses, I was only an integral part of the team for about a month, before due to company developments, the role I had been doing was made redundant. After that I was on my own again finding things to get involved in.

I'm definitely not going back to a GSK GMS site, it doesn't suit me at all and they did a terrible job of selling the GSK Worthing lifestyle to me, I felt unappreciated and very bored. No one approached me about staying on or if there would be a niche for me there in the future, and I think there was this mutual understanding that my manager and colleagues weren't doing their best to support me or make me part of the team.

The other placement students and I got on well and we had a lot of fun and loads of social events, it was just a shame that we all disliked our placements so much!

Living in Brighton was very expensive but I was very stringent with savings so I managed to scrape by.

There was always loads going on outside of work in Brighton and lots of nice restaurants and cafes to explore, that part of my year I really enjoyed!

I joined the gym and running groups in Brighton.