Laboratory Technician Review

My role is general house keeping duties. I clean glassware, empty bins, restock lab items and general house keeping tasks.

As I have never worked in a lab environment before being employed in this role I have learnt how a laboratory is run and the day to day activities of a laboratory environment.

To be honest I am not enjoying it. At first I did enjoy learning how a lab is run and the interesting tasks that are conducted within them. But I do not enjoy the job I do as it is not for filing enough to just clean the labs.

Not very. It might just be me but I feel there is a divide between those who have a degree and those who study an apprenticeship. There are times when I have felt stupid as I feel like I am a glorified cleaner posing as an apprentice.

Even though I feel the way I do about the job, it is well organised. The instructors travel to the site once per month and set tasks for us to do for the next month and they are there to help via email should we so wish when they are not on site.

I receive a lot of help from the training provider. They are there to answer any questions via email and offer to do extra visits should we need it. Lovely training staff.

The support I get from my employer is good. I have been allowed to allocate time each week to study the tasks which have been set by the training staff. If I have any questions they are there to answer them. I know they're busy but they don't seem to show that much interest when the training staff visit the site.

It doesn't. This is why I feel like a glorified cleaner, not just the fact that I only do cleaning roles, yes I understand these jobs need doing but I would like to be challenged once in a while, but they wage is poor. It as if funding has dropped and a technician was needed but hired as an apprentice to pay them less. I honestly feel like a cleaner, but cleaners aren't allowed in the lab so I do the job and nothing else of interest. Had I not receive an extra income each month I would not be able to come to work as I pay childcare to be here plus the costs of a car to get to work, it seems that's all I can afford.

I haven't looked for many opportunities outside of work but DSTL does have a lot of other opportunities in other fields. They also have processes for progression and help promotion.

Yes

The flexibility working at DSTL is very good if you have a family to care for. It is a lovely place to work and people seem happy. I will be looking at other areas to progress too.

There are a number of opportunities at DSTL. If I had waited just a bit longer I could have applied for a different apprenticeship. I have recommended others to DSTL in the form of younger people coming out of A levels and not knowing what to do. I have told them about the various apprenticeship schemes.