Validation and Engineering Intern Review

The second half of my placement was far more enjoyable. Working on various projects where there was a clear benefit for the organisation. This made working here much more enjoyable, knowing you are working towards a positive outcome. At the start you must accent you are learning and it might take time before you are fully involved in project work.

No one ever says NO! This is a great trait to have within a company, this is especially beneficial to new starters that are keen to learn new things. I began to feel valued when I became a key user on a piece of kit. It meant I was the 'go to man' for various other departments. This grows your network and experience.

Support is obvious in the work place, but it may not be focused enough to what you need. This is where communication is key between your yourself and your manager, you both need to know what you want and how you want to develop. If that is made clear, support is brilliant.

At the begin it was very slow, due to the nature of the pharmaceutical industry there is a lot of formal training that must be completed before you are allowed to work in plant or be a valued part of any project work. After the six month mark my work load during the day became much heavier.

Responsibility was poor at the beginning. As it's such a regulated industry, experience is key before managers trust you. However, by the end I was given as much responsibility as other member of the team. Projects were regularly thrown at me, which made me feel valued and respected, which was great.

I rarely had to apply technical knowledge, that's what the experienced engineers are for. The things I will be taking back to university with me include, much improved time management. This had to improve to work in a professional environment. Also, teamwork skills, working with a range of ages, backgrounds and culture differences.

The overall atmosphere in the new office was great. It is a very modern space and a great environment to work in. These was no sense of hierarchy in the office as it was a 'hot desk' policy, meaning you were to sit in a different desk everyday and everyone was in the same space.

To be honest at the beginning of my placement it was very unorganised. There didn't seem like there was much work to get involved with that I would benefit from myself. The second half was much better, I was regularly approached by management with new projects that I could have a hand in.

In terms of training, they train you very good at training you to do your job in your specialised area. This is a lot of internal training and course to help make your job as easy as possible. There isn't much emphasis on other forms of development in my opinion.

There are so much opportunities to gain future employment with GSK as an internal candidate. From great apprenticeship roles to graduate roles. From talking to people, as you gain experience you have opportunities to take roles at other site in the UK as well as the potential to go abroad.

With an R&D site as well as a GMS (manufacturing) within a stones throw of each other, there is plenty of fellow students to socialise with. A sports club, including football, cricket, squash and a gym, the social scene couldn't be better. The local high street is also a 10 minute walk away.

The cost of living is on average £500/month. In my experience that includes all bills except your weekly food bill. The cost of socialising isn't to bad, plenty of pubs and bars to try if one is a bit expensive. There are plenty of support networks for finding cheaper accommodation though.