Industrial Trainee Review

I really enjoyed the independence of my role and the opportunites to learn new skills throughout the year by enrolling on training courses and attending a conference. I didn't find the work as fast paced and deadline driven as I expected.

Because we are a relatively small team I really did feel a valued member of the team and was trusted to work independently. It was really satisfying to work on projects and know that my work had contributed in some way to the success of the project.

I had regular one to one meetings with my supervisor, more regularly at the beginning to make sure I got up to speed on my job. I always felt happy to ask for help when necessary, whilst making sure to use my initiative to try and solve the problem first. I was encouraged by my supervisor to enroll in training, which I enjoyed and found really useful. I would have like to recieve more feedback on my work so that I was continuing to improve on anything that I could have.

The work flow wasn't consistant - there would be some weeks when I would be really busy and others when I didn't have so much on. I would have like to have a full year project so that I had something that I could work on throughout the entire year so I was never bored.

I was often given tasks which involved me completeing pieces of work and feeding back the results independently to colleagues in the US. This was a really good feeling to be independent and trusted to be doing a good job. I think it was a good balance of responsibility - if I didn't feel comforatble doing something I was always given the support I needed.

I have learned a lot of specific knowledge that will relate to my degree. I have also learned how to programme in R which whilst it may be useful to my future career, I am not sure how useful it will be for the rest of my degree. I would have like to have had more tutorials on the online database I have used as I think it was more a trial and error approach that I took in learning them.

The office was generally quite quiet as many people worked from home. I would have liked it to be more busy as I think this creates a much better working environment. However everyone in the office was really nice and friendly!

It was really well organised and I felt like I settled in very quickly. We were also encouraged to socialise and organise events with the other interns which was a great experience to get to know everyone. The only thing that could be improved would be if we had been able to shadow the student from the previous year to learn from them fo a couple of weeks before starting to work by ourselves - this would have made the trasition much easier.

The budgets were very tight so in terms of participating in anything that costs the opportunities were very limitied. However any training that I could find for free I was actively encouraged to complete, I was also able to attend a free conference which was a good experience.

Althought this year has been a really great experience, I have learnt a lot and enjoyed working with all colleagues in my team, I do not think the style of work suits me. I would prefer to work somewhere a bit more fast-paced, with a better office atmosphere.

There were organised events such as a summer and christmas party (pfizer) and various science park events (not organised by pfizer) which were good to get involed in, howvere they were not very regular. As there are only around 10 students working in the research unit the social scene was not thriving, we had to put a lot of effort into organising our own things.

Cambridge - so not much cheaper than London. However as I was getting paid I didn't mind spneding a little more than I would if I was a student!

OK - again as there were not many students at my workplace it was often difficult to get a good group of people together for a night out! When we did go out I always had a great time!

There were plenty that I found myself in Cambridge so I wasn't bored living there. There wasn't much organised or advertised at work though.