Laboratory Scientist Review

I work to express and purify proteins trying different combinations of ways to purify to ensure only one product is present. I also do a lot of biophysical analysis. Day to day I design experiments and perform the experiments. I also perform presentations to inform other scientists on the work I do.

Yes I have developed my presentation skills and my confidence in public speaking. I had never really presented on a professional level and this gave me the opportunity to do so before even finishing my degree. I also developed problem solving skills, as everyday I have to tackle a different issue of what isn't working in an experiment.

I enjoy it a lot, everyday is different and there is always something new to learn. My team is amazing and completely understand the level of knowledge I have. They also appreciate the fresh take I bring to thing. The job is not what I expected as I have full control of what I do and have been given a lot more responsibility than expected.

There can a lot more improvements in the structure of the programme. The university course certainly need a be looked over by the university as the course is full of holes. The company side of the programme is good but a couple of things like rotations to around the industry to better understand the field could help a lot.

The programme lead is very good at supporting the apprentices. When ever there is an issue we have someone who understands what an apprentice does and the kind of support we need. And if any action needs to be taken then it is done as soon as possible if it is urgent.

Not a lot it need a lot of improvement there is not much they do. The training provider is University of Kent. We have reviews that informs the university on our progress. And they say that we can feedback to them to help them improve the programme but to my knowledge hardly any feed back has every had an action taken.

A lot of the content seems to be extremely irrelevant to the job role. The course provides very little detail and there are many mistakes within the content. This is not good as we are learning this stuff so most of us have no idea if what we are reading is correct.

No, not a lot to get into which is especially not good when you re-locate from a long distance. If there was more extra-curricular activities it would give us more exposure to other people. We also don't have access to company benefits like the gym which would be more useful for the students.

Yes

The apprenticeship programme is extremely useful in starting a career off in a scientific company like AstraZeneca, as it is a huge company that will give us an advance on out career. It is also awesome working for a scientific company as everyday something new happens in the world of science.

Express your curiosity and research the company before your interview. Try an research the role as scientist want to be impressed. Also be a team player as they will mostly base interviews on personality as the knowledge will all normally be similar at a-levels and they wont expect you to know advanced science.