Clinical Data Scientist Review

I have enjoyed my placement with GSK. I have been given the opportunity to gain in skills and confidence throughout my year.

I have felt some what valued by my colleagues. I feel valued by those colleagues who I work closely with but at times I have felt un-valued by the wider team,

I have been given alot of support and guidance by my manager. She has produced a training plan which has helped me to develop new skills and gain a good insight into the organisation as a whole and the wider industry. She has also put me in touch with other colleagues who have been able to help me further.

This varied throughout my placement. Some weeks I was very busy, with many deadlines and projects nearing. Other times I was less busy, with less work.

Initially I was not given much responsibility, due to my lack of experience. However as the year has progressed I have been given increasing amounts of responsibility by my team and my manager.

The skills that I have developed in this placement year will benefit me for my final year of my degree and beyond. I now have experience of working within the pharmaceutical industry and of the working environment. It has helped me to better understand what I would like to do in my future career as well preparing me for my final year at university.

The general atmosphere in the office was a positive one. People are very friendly and have been very welcoming. There is a mixture of work and chat which helps to create a more relaxed atmosphere.

Overall the work placement was well organised. There were problems initially due to the movement of departments and I was subsequently moved to another department. However once this was sorted, my new department was well organised and well prepared for my arrival. There were a few IT problems but once fixed I was able to settle in.

I believe that GSK has invested greatly in my placement year. They provided me with a full training schedule at the beginning of the year, allowing me to be better prepared for my job.

The future employment prospects within the organisation are reasonable. The organisation is currently undergoing a period of change which makes future employment prospects difficult to gage. However there are graduate schemes which would provide a great employment prospect.

There was a good social element amongst the other students. GSK facilitated the meeting of the students, which allowed me to find other students to live with whilst on placement.

The cost of living was fairly high but this was to be expected as my placement was in London.

The nightlife in my area was not very good and to go to a good bar/club we had to travel quite far.

There were not many opportunities to get involved with activities outside of work.