Oncology Bioinformatics Industrial Placement Student Review

I enjoyed my twelve month placement at AstraZeneca as it gave me the opportunity to learn more about an area I was interested in pursuing a career in and to gain practical skills related to this career. As AstraZeneca has a large number of placement students and apprentices there is a really great atmosphere both in and outside of work.

My colleagues really made me feel like the work I was doing had a real benefit to the wider projects of the department and the overall work of the company. I worked in a fairly small department so it gave me the opportunity to jump right in and get really involved.

As I worked in a rather small department I relied completely on one manager to give me support and guidance, which was fine most of the time. I think AZ would benefit from having an overall placement supervisor who helped with more personal development issues surrounding work experience and who was another point of contact if your manager is unavailable.

At the start of my project I was very busy on a daily basis as I had a lot of training to do related to my project. I finished my main project within 8 months of the start of my placement, which meant I was much less busy during the last few weeks.

I was given a fair amount of responsibility during my placement year. I worked on two different projects, both of which were quite high priority and I was tasked with handling large amounts of data related to these projects. I was closely supervised during the first few weeks of my placement and then this eased off.

The skills I learned during my placement will greatly help me in the rest of my studies and after I graduate university. I learnt a lot of new bioinformatics and data analysis skills that have already helped with my university work, and which will greatly benefit me in future careers, especially if I pursure bioinformatics.

I worked in a very large open office comprised of many different departments. This created a really nice friendly atmosphere in the office as there was already plenty of people to talk to, but it sometimes meant it was quite noisy. Most placement students are given desks close to each other as well which means its a nice relaxed environment.

Because the specific placement projects are designed by one manager it means there is a real range of how well organised projects are. For example, my project was not overly well organised in the beginning as my manager had recently moved department so had a limited amount of projects when I first started. This meant there was a little bit of a slow start to my project but it eventually got going.

The company really invests in personal development and training. There are multiple training events throughout the year that are specifically designed for placement students that you are encouraged to attend. There's also a large number of online training resources you are given complete access to so can sign up to anything you find interesting.

They have been a great company to work for during my placement, it has a great atmosphere and they really encourage you to make the most of your time there. They have great graduate programmes, but to get a permanent job with the company it's expected that you will have a PhD.

There is an excellent social scene between placement students as there are so many employed by the company. In my office there were nearly 20 placement students. We met on an orientation day prior to the start of our placement so already got to know each other before we started in the office, and it mean many people could plan on living together.

The company is based in Cambridge which is very expensive to live in. Average rent for a room in a shared house is around £600 per month, and for a one bedroom flat it is around £1000 a month. You are paid very well for a placement student so rent is fine, but depending on how much you like to socialise this might be limited as eating out and drinking in Cambridge is quite highly priced.

Even with Cambridge being a university city there is quite a limited nightlife. There are really good amount of pubs in town, but very few nightclubs. The students made use of other aspects of Cambridge, like the cinema, bowling alley and outdoor areas. We got around the lack of nightlife by planning BBQs in the summer and parties at each others houses.

It depends on what department you work in as many out of work activities are organised by specific departments. Most departments plan social events such as cinema trips, and meals around Christmas time. There are also many opportunities to get involved with volunteering through work, such as for local school science fairs.