Pharmaceutical Development Undergraduate Review

It provided me with a valuable opportunity to gain insight in to the working life of a large scientific company. It also allowed me to develop my analytical skills in an area of world where the knowledge base of my degree was only somewhat useful, and instead i had to develop my own knowledge and understanding largely from scratch. This allowed me to experience an entirely novel method for pharmaceutical analysis, unlike much of what i had experienced before.

This is a complex question. As an undergrad, we were at the very bottom of the pecking order. this did not mean that anyone was ever unkind, quite the opposite, however it did mean that my ability to do anything for anyone else was severely limited, as most of my colleague interactions were asking for help of similar. the most valued by colleagues i could imagine feeling would be during the social events, which were plentiful.

To a huge extent. Not to say that any support or guidance was overbearing, but if ever i required any assistance with either the theoretical or practical difficulties associated with my complex project, any and all help i required would be provided. Further more my supervisors arranged to have a colleague working on the same machine as me give me extensive one to one training due to the extreme complexity of the machine and time commitment required to use it correctly.

This is another complex question. In theory, for my entire project I have been extremely busy, i cannot recall a moment when i would not have had anything to do. However due tot the practicalities of my project, both the data collection, using the machine, and data analysis using custom coded scripts, were highly automated and time consuming, which allowed for large periods of time when nothing more could be done except wait. I used this spare time then as productively as was possible.

I was given a fairly high level responsibility. I was given a large amount of autonomy in producing reports on samples i had imaged, and also allowed to develop the process extensively. This process development included efficiency increases both through removal of unnecessary steps and by stream lining remaining steps. Further more i was able to add entirely new steps to analyse data in a novel fashion. My responsibilities included proposing, implementing, ensuring stability and then presenting results of these new steps.

The analytical skills i have developed here will prove invaluable in my degree and future. the ability to analyse issues propose solutions and then implement them will never not be a useful skill to have. More over, this placement has allowed me to become proficient in the use of programming languages which i was previously unfamiliar with, and i cannot foresee a situation where having this skill will not prove useful to my life or future.

the atmosphere of the office was extremely good. The relaxed attitude led frequent and fun small cake based events and gatherings. Furthermore being able to chat to colleagues from around the office led to a good working atmosphere and relaxed attitude. As with all offices this attitude was not shared by all and several members of the office did not enter into the overall spirit, leading to some instances of tension, however overall it was enjoyable.

Overall it was very good. There was a large amount of training and procedure to be got through initially, however it was all assigned automatically and completed very smoothly. The actual structure of the placement was less well organised due to its overall more free form nature, and this is to be expected, as such a large company can be inflexible with certain parts of this. However, this never proved a major issue, and overall was more than acceptable.

I felt very well invested in in terms of training. not only was the training i received to complete my project extensive, and included large amounts of health and safety information on subjects such as chemical safety - a subject which will be good practice to be familiar with in future. Furthermore there were multiple opportunities for development in many areas, such as programming and yellow belt development. As an undergrad student this felt extremely generous.

A full time job with Pfizer would be excellent, there are many more perks included with being a full time employee. The opportunities given by the company would multiply greatly. the only issues that may be a barrier to seeking employment are the remote location, may be off putting and lack of proximity to large cities can be a hinder to some who require better transport links or simply would prefer to live in a more metropolitan area.

There was a fairly lively social life amongst both students and colleagues.

The cost of living was fairly low, as it was situated in one of the more inexpensive areas to live in locally, however it being the south it was more expensive overall. socialising was not too expensive in general however, the major cost was travel as the area was fairly remote and so travel was often necessary to get to many of the more desirable social locations, which could contribute significantly to the overall cost.

Again, being away from a city proved to have barriers to quality nightlife, as the only nightlife in the local towns was the fairly standard array of pubs and clubs which most people who've lived in small towns will be more than familiar with. Getting to Canterbury for a night out was not too difficult and did provide an improved night out, but again the taxi home would prove to be prohibitively expensive to do too often.

There were plenty of opportunities for activities outside of work, including different departmental meals and social events, organised by the social events coordinator for each department. These occurred frequently, every week or so and were always enormous fun and a good way to unwind after work. Besides these social events there were also opportunities to get involved in charity events, such as sponsored walks, and the opportunity to get involved with stem outreach programs, encouraging science in schools.