Medicinal Chemist Review

I really did enjoy it. Invaluable experience, a great opportunity to develop yourself, get networking, and decide whether this kind of thing would be something you would want to do in the future.

I feel like the whole year I was there I was treated like a member of the team. I was supported through and through and also happy to help anybody else who needed a hand. I had a chance to attend all the important meetings full time employees were attending, and was always asked for my opinion on various matters. Moreover, we spent some time socialising and I made amazing friends over the course of the year.

I was lucky enough to have two industrial supervisors, however even if I had either one of them, the amount of guidance and support would be immense. My every question was answered immediately and every problem I had was resolved in a matter of minutes. I am also very grateful to the rest of my team for being so helpful when my direct supervisors were not there. I was very fortunate to have been allocated to a very small research group where we were all very supportive of each other.

I was quite busy, and I think one should be, this is a rare opportunity to experience the real environment you would work in if you chose industry over academia. I was never bored. Sometimes I had too much to do, but all of us did, we were a team of very dedicated and hard working people. My colleagues would not normally leave work before 6pm, some even stayed longer. I would say that from this I only learned to prioritise tasks and be more efficient. You would not sit around and do nothing if you got an actual job, this is just how it goes.

I was given quite a bit of responsibility, especially towards the end of my placement. I was allowed to plan my syntheses and make decisions about my work. I would also normally be included in group discussions concerning the project, and asked for an opinion on how my part should progress. I was never treated like a temp who knows nothing and has no thoughts on anything.

My project was quite niche and I might not use the specific skills I learned doing it in a while yet, however the general practical lab skills I will take through to my final year project. I have also learned a lot of theoretical chemistry though the problem sessions and seminars we had. The most valuable, however, are the transferrable skills that I have developed while on placement, such as presentation, team working and planning and time management skills. I will be using those for the rest of my degree and beyond, there is no doubt.

I was very lucky to have been a part of such a small, tight-knit research group, and the atmosphere at our office was very relaxed. I could speak to my supervisor at any time and nobody would mind or feel distracted by it. We would sometimes even hold group meetings in the office, in a nice and informal atmosphere.

It was well organised from the GSK side, unfortunately I cannot say the same for the agency who employed us (SRG). Any problem I had with my payslip or holidays just took way too long to resolve.

The training you get at GSK is excellent. The very first week they send you to Bristol to brush up on your lab skills before you start. There are numerous seminars and talks held in the auditorium from both internal and external speakers , some of them top of their field, and everyone is free to attend. We had problems sessions, and even an opportunity to attend a conference in London.

It depends on the year and how the company is doing, but from what I understood it is very competitive.

I would say it was very good within our group, we all seemed to like each other and went out together several times over the course of the year. Other placement students also got together quite often from what I gathered, but I was not very involved with that.

Stevenage is not the best place for a night out. There were a couple of nice pubs in old town, and reasonably priced, too. A lot of people went out in London, which is way more exciting but also becomes very expensive especially with the train/taxi fare. I personally spent most weekends exploring London, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Practically abysmal, I am not going to lie. One dodgy nightclub, and that was about it. But again, London is 20 minutes away.

I guess there were, I was just never really interested. I picked up running towards the end of my placement, and I knew there was a couple of groups who ran at lunchtime I could have joined, I just preferred doing it on my own. But if you're willing, there are things you can do.