placement student Review

I have definitely enjoyed my role at AstraZeneca. My department has been able to expose me to various parts of R&D and have been very supportive. The atmosphere at work was always very welcoming and then when COVID19 came around and we had to work from home, my team and department ensured lots of socialising coffee video chats throughout the months to keep up the spirit. The positivity is what made me enjoy coming into work every day and doing my best.

It depends on the person in question. Most colleagues were really supportive, welcoming and valued me as much as they would other full time employees. However unfortunately I did come across certain colleagues that clearly saw me as a student, and made me feel like an imposter in the company. Although, I will stress this was a very minor proportion of employees.

Since my primary supervisor did not work in a lab setting, I felt like I lacked some support and guidance for the practical side of the placement, especially at the beginning. However, I did address this and was assigned extra help from another colleague, but since I was not their responsibility, I sometimes felt like I was bothering them. In terms of office and project work however, I was definitely supported by management with frequent communication.

At the beginning of the placement I was not busy at all, as I was waiting around to get started with my project and get into the lab. As a student entering such a big company for the first time, this was quite daunting. However, as my project started to take off, so did my workload and ever since, I have been busy but in a manageable way. It is just a shame it took so long to get going. furthermore, with COVID19 and working from home, I have not been able to do as much as I would have if I was in the office, but nevertheless, my team have managed to help me gain extra work to fill up the time I would have otherwise utilised in the lab.

I was given quite a lot of responsibility during the placement. Although I planned experiments with my supervisors, I was responsible to go away and produce all the appropriate data and get back to my team with my findings. I was responsible for my project and my supervisor pushed me to provide input for the next steps instead of setting me tasks to complete.

I have developed various lab skills which should really help me in my final year at university and will inevitably benefit me if I decide to apply for a PhD. However more importantly, I have been exposed to the true complicated process of drug development, and what it is like to work in pharmaceutical industry. I have developed soft skills, such as presentation skills, where I now feel confident in communicating my work, which I really struggled with before.

Office atmosphere was great. Hot desking ensures that you can sit next to people you haven't sat next to before and that way get to know different people from the business, outside of your team. The office is quiet enough to work in but also allows for chat, which makes you feel at ease.

The placement could have been organised better in that I believe I should have been given more guidance right at the beginning, where I felt a little lost and overwhelmed. However, once things got moving, the freedom of the placement provided me with many opportunities to explore things that I may not have been able to do so in a strictly organised placement project.

The company did not necessarily invest a huge amount in me personally in terms of training and development, however there were always opportunities from employee resource groups that I joined in to, to gain personal development skills. It was not part of my placement however.

AstraZeneca is a great company to work for as a young scientist. You are exposed to the most current scientific techniques and technologies and various people who have common passion for your field. Company benefits also seem attractive and there are opportunities to grow in the company. However getting your foot in as a full time employee in the first place seems to be the more difficult hurdle to jump.

Yes but you had to ensure to actively participate and show interest. I was part of the AZinspire early careers employee resource group, which helped me join in on the fun activities planned, and get to know other placement students. Frequently we would go on pub trips, have bbq at the park, go climbing or bowling. During COVID lockdown, we maintained connected via zoom calls.

Cambridge is very expensive - one of the most expensive places in England outside of London, if I am not mistaken. And that goes for living and socialising unfortunately.

Nightlife is not amazing in Cambridge. Coming from a northern city university, I did miss good clubs, however there are pretty of places to go if you really want to. I preferred going on pub crawls and nice bars than clubbing in Cambridge because the pub scene is brilliant however.

Yes because there was always time after work to get together with other students and do something. Cambridge is a beautiful city with lots of nice cafes, restaurants, bars and parks especially by the river so opportunities to come together and hang out was always there.