Technician Scientist Apprentice Review

I am an in vivo research scientist within the oncology department. This means I work with live animals to research cancer cell lines, and potential cancer therapies. My day to day roles include growing cell lines, formulating potential compounds, animal welfare, and dosing of animals. I have varying hours based on the jobs required to do in the day, as each job has specific times they have to be completed within.

I have learnt so many new skills. Before this I had only completed scientific activities within school, and so everything I have done so far and have planned in the future is completely new. Each day I learn so many new things, and it feels incredibly rewarding. There is no way of quantifying what I have learnt as it is so much.

I love my programme. It is exciting, enjoyable and varied. Each day I come in and there is something new and different. This keeps things new and stops my days becoming tedious or boring. I am also encouraged to go between departments to gain an understanding of other roles, which adds to the excitement of my role.

Very well organised. I have both a line manager and mentor for my job role. I also have an apprenticeship advisor team within AstraZeneca who are always at the end of a call or email for help. I have regular targets to go for, and meetings to make sure everything is on-track and if anything needs to be adjusted.

A lot. I have numerous contacts if I ever need support, and a network of colleagues I can reach out to. In my experience, AstraZeneca put their employees and customers before anything else, to ensure everyone is happy and supported. I am assigned a mentor for any problems, minor or major, and if they can't help I have a manager who can find me someone who can.

I have an assigned apprenticeship advisor at the University of Kent who is supposed to put in regular meetings to discuss my apprenticeship. Due to COVID this hasn't been going directly to plan, but it looks like these issues will be sorted within the near future. My lectures for the courses are always giving regular feedback on exams and essays I have completed, and provide thorough feedback.

It provides me knowledge around what I actually do. Despite me understanding the work we do, and why we target certain areas of cancer with certain therapies, the cell level of biology I do in my uni work gives that deeper level of understanding that will only increase my development as a scientist.

Yes. At work we have numerous networking meetings to meet people from other departments and teams. We also have a social team I am part of, that helps with team bonding and also a bit of down time from our work. We are also starting a 5-a-side football league in June 2021.

Yes

The experiences I have had within my first 6 months at AstraZeneca are just incredible. I believe it isn't possible to do so anywhere else, and certainly not in further education. I could not recommend AstraZeneca more highly. I wouldn't choose or want to be at any other company or doing anything else.

AstraZeneca always put the patients first, and the standard of care is incredibly high. Also team work is incredibly important, as nothing is achievable on your own. It is also important to speak out if something is wrong or not working properly. Attention to detail is incredibly important. Before an interview, read over AstraZeneca's core values, they are part of everything we do.