industrial placement student Review

I thourougly enjoyed my work placement, I found the work very interesting and there was always alot to and learn. Working in the labs here was something I'd never experienced before, they are much better equipped than any of the labs I've been in before and I had access to a wide varety of machines. The lab work was the most enjoyable and valuable part of my placement.

Although I was only a student my opinion was always listened to and any decions we made were made as part of a team involving me. I had full control of my own work to an extent and was able to present my findings regularly for my colleagues and I to discuss. I felt the work I did was part of a big push to help benefit the patients, and everyones work mattered.

Throughout my placement there was always a lot of support available to me, I was part of a team and each memeber of that team was always happy to help and offer advice. Often my direct supervisor would be too busy to help me straight away, and they were not based in the lab so I did rely on other team members quite a bit, but I had regular meetings with my supervisor where I could discuss any issues I was having.

It varied from week to week, depending on how big my experiment was and what else I had going on but I never had an overwhelming amount of work. I learnt how to manage my time well and plan my weeks so that all my dealines were met without any problems, some weeks when I had little to do I was able to learn another experiment or shadow someone in the lab to keep expanding my knowledge of lab work.

I was given the tissue/cells to work with and told what the team needed to know, and then I was left to plan the work myself. I had to schedule what would be done when to meet dealines I was given and had to organise and plan my experiments on my own. At the start of the placement I had a lot more help with all of this so it wasn't too daunting but once I learnt the ropes I was left to my own devices which I really enjoyed.

I learned extremely valuable skills whilst on my placement, my time management and organisation improved throughly alongside other valuable life skills. I was able to develop my studying skills as I read and analysed a lot of papers during my placement. I learnt how to write-up experiements properly, a skill that will be greatly useful in the workplace and when I go back to uni next year. But the main skill I will take away with me is the improvement in my labwork, this has been such a valuable time to improve on such a vital skill needed for both work and uni, and doing this placement has given me lab experienece that I would never of had access to just at uni.

The offices were often quiet and sometimes daunting, but there would often be cake and coffee around which brought people together. There were a few other students in my office so there was always someone to chat to and everyone was always happy to help should you need it.

The placement was very well set up, they have students working there every year so they knew what they were doing and I never had any issues.

Any training that I required was given to me and I was given plenty of opportunities to expand my knowledge, there were regular seminars and lectures which we were invited to attend on a variety of topics and we were encouraged to go to them.

There are graduate schemes offered within the company for not lab-based roles, however for lab-based roles further qualifications are probably needed before you could apply for a job here.

There were plenty of students on site and within departments, there was always something to do and new friends to make.

Being a commuter town for london house prices were a quite a bit more expensive than what I was used to for uni, however as there were so many students it was possible to get house shares to help keep costs down and there was always a little bit leftover for socialising.

There were a few pubs in the area but that is it. However a 30min train ride and you were in London and could use the nightlife there so that was often done, or sometimes we would all hire a coach and go into london so we didnt have to rush for the last train.

There was a few sports clubs offered at the gym on site, but other than that there werent much activities.