Placement Student DMPK Review

I definitely enjoyed my placement, working at AstraZeneca was great because I was surrounded by a company that was thriving and I really liked the environment. The project side of my work I enjoyed less so, it was the day to day working in a lab that I really enjoyed.

I felt like my colleagues valued my work, I was an important part of the team and undertook important tasks that other employees would have had to do otherwise. For the rating between 'A Stranger' and 'Like family' though, in terms of how well i got on with my team, I have given a much lower score. It sounded like most other students got on with their teams much better.

I was given a fairly low amount of support and guidance, but I found this to be a positive. It meant I could plan how my project went myself, as well as do the weekly tasks in my own time. I really enjoyed being able to work in the lab on my own, lots of other students had to always be supervised which sounded bad.

This changed a lot throughout the year. I was never too busy, I sometimes had a lot to do, but it wasn't too much. In some periods though I did get bored because I didn't have that much to do - as I started to get more and more involved in my project this stopped though.

I was in charge of analysing samples on a weekly basis, so doing the lab work, formatting the data and sending the data out to project leaders which would all take a few days. This was my most enjoyable part of the placement, and as it was only me doing it, I was responsible for carrying the work out.

The skills will definitely be helpful in the future, my lab skills have improved immensely, I have also needed to interact with my colleagues which has improved my people skills as well.

In my first office it was very quiet, everyone was friendly, but I was sitting with mainly project leaders who were all quite busy. While I liked being in the lab, sometimes the office was very serious and silent. It was also freezing! In my second office due to a department move it was much nicer (and warmer). There were many more people chatting and the atmosphere was much more relaxed.

On most occasions it would of been well set up, but as the team was split between sites in Manchester and Cambridge, it wasnt the best set up. I only met the two people who specialised in what my project was about once, which I found a bit difficult.

I was trained in how to carry out my work in the lab which took a few weeks which I think was very important for me, and I really appreciated it. Without this training I wouldn't of been able to carry out any of the weekly work, or be able to do any of my project work.

I could apply for the graduate programme but it sounds like you basically need to do a PhD to get a good job here, which is something lots of my friends are interested in, but I'm not. As the company is moving sites, it is very hard to know if there are any job opportunities.

This is excellent, there is an organisation within the company that it set up by graduates, which organises lots of socials, both work related and for fun. As there are so many placement students it is perfect for making friends. I lived with my friends from uni so I didn't get involved as much but still had a great time. People who lived in Macclesfield would of had an even better time together - especially as because they had all moved away from uni, they all had each other as new friends.

I stayed living in Manchester so it was probably a bit more expensive than the majority of my colleagues in Macclesfield, but really it came down to what kind of house/room was being rented.

For me I stayed with my uni friends in Manchester so the night life was great. A few times people from work came up and to have a night out in Manchester. Most of the time people went out in Macclesfield. The nightlife was awful compared to most university cities, but everyone still had a good time, and it was free.

I continued with my university hobbies - I know someone joined the orchestra in Macclesfield and other people joined various sporting clubs, so if you looked around, you would find opportunities.