OnceIWasAnOstrich posted:Everything that isn't cloning and doesn't rely on hyper-accuracy? I mean it's Taq polymerase and it is dirt cheap, why would I use something that costs way more when all I want to do is amplify a piece of DNA and see if I get a band. I can get 1000u of it from Genscript for $60 without any volume discount, roughly 5-7% of the cost of something like Phusion, Q5, or Kapa HiFi. I've used Waters and Hewlett-Packard models in separate labs and both seemed to hold up great and be pretty solid instruments overall. The HP model was old and didn't have many options. The Waters was a very new system and all of the detectors on it worked great except for a refractive index detector that would just never seem to stay stable.
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Jul 1, 2015 22:30
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That Works posted:I've used Waters and Hewlett-Packard models in separate labs and both seemed to hold up great and be pretty solid instruments overall. The HP model was old and didn't have many options. The Waters was a very new system and all of the detectors on it worked great except for a refractive index detector that would just never seem to stay stable. We use Waters and they've always worked well. Up until someone downloaded a virus.
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Jul 1, 2015 22:57
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Waters is complete garbage and their customer service is crap these days. Get an Agilent 1100 (HP1100 is the exact same thing) and tear your hair out trying to set up the bootp server for it. Once you get it set up though, it'll run for the rest of your life. Just don't try to put it on a network.
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Jul 1, 2015 23:58
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Dik Hz posted:Waters is complete garbage and their customer service is crap these days. Get an Agilent 1100 (HP1100 is the exact same thing) and tear your hair out trying to set up the bootp server for it. Once you get it set up though, it'll run for the rest of your life. Just don't try to put it on a network. Agreed, Agilent 1100s are pretty durable for an HPLC. Just don't get one with the autosampler because the AS is prone to fail. Jasco pumps are reliable too, but I don't know how common they are. My current PI loves them but haven't seen them anywhere else.
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Jul 2, 2015 00:27
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Had two phone interviews for positions over the last few days. In both cases, when they asked me what i was looking for and I mentioned (eventually) leadership and advancement, they replied "uh yes, we really don't do that / we run a flat management structure / work on projects alone / join us as a bioinformatician and that's exactly the job you'll be doing until you die ..."
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Jul 2, 2015 05:45
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Dik Hz posted:Waters is complete garbage and their customer service is crap these days. Get an Agilent 1100 (HP1100 is the exact same thing) and tear your hair out trying to set up the bootp server for it. Once you get it set up though, it'll run for the rest of your life. Just don't try to put it on a network. I think it depends on who you get. Our waters rep is awesome and would explain things to me to help me understand the machine better. He's a seriously cool dude. On the other hand, I've used Agilent with Chromeleon and have more comfort with Chromeleon. I like the peak editing in it.
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Jul 2, 2015 14:47
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It's burgin' time! 
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outlier posted:Had two phone interviews for positions over the last few days. In both cases, when they asked me what i was looking for and I mentioned (eventually) leadership and advancement, they replied "uh yes, we really don't do that / we run a flat management structure / work on projects alone / join us as a bioinformatician and that's exactly the job you'll be doing until you die ..." Better than spending 100% of your time in conference rooms in my opinion.
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Jul 2, 2015 15:19
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Appachai posted:Better than spending 100% of your time in conference rooms in my opinion. I absolutely agree with this. Not that I had much say in the matter, but moving from laboratory roles into "expert consultant" roles where I'm stuck in phone conferences and writing reports/project plans/updates all day was a terrible satisfaction decision even if the monetary gains were nifty. I don't think it was worth it.
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Jul 2, 2015 17:04
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Sundae posted:I absolutely agree with this. Not that I had much say in the matter, but moving from laboratory roles into "expert consultant" roles where I'm stuck in phone conferences and writing reports/project plans/updates all day was a terrible satisfaction decision even if the monetary gains were nifty. I don't think it was worth it. My experience in a social science field is that who you're stuck in the conference room with makes all the difference in the world.
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Jul 2, 2015 19:01
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Oh, um... guys? I blew up my company again today. Guess who discovered that our validated LIMS system is incorrectly calculating Acceptance Values, potentially across the entire mothership network?  
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Jul 2, 2015 20:20
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Sundae posted:Oh, um... guys? I blew up my company again today. You're really gunning for that promotion to the board of directors, aren't you?
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Jul 2, 2015 20:24
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Discendo Vox posted:You're really gunning for that promotion to the board of directors, aren't you? I'm leaning toward them calling it my fault on Monday.
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Jul 2, 2015 20:25
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If the system is validated, was it certified by an outside entity that might have liability?(I don't know this area, sorry) Have you identified the source of the error so you have someone to point a finger at? ...Do you still have that contact info I gave you?
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Jul 2, 2015 21:03
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Discendo Vox posted:If the system is validated, was it certified by an outside entity that might have liability?(I don't know this area, sorry) We validated it ourselves. The source of the error is someone else, but that won't stop me from being blamed. 
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Jul 2, 2015 23:37
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Discendo Vox posted:If the system is validated, was it certified by an outside entity that might have liability?(I don't know this area, sorry) The ability to validate is certified by an outside entity, that's how it worked when I was doing this in food safety.
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Jul 3, 2015 00:07
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OK, now I'm more confused. But identifying another guilty party would help a lot, I would think.
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Jul 3, 2015 00:38
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Discendo Vox posted:OK, now I'm more confused. But framing another guilty party would help a lot, I would think.
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Jul 3, 2015 01:55
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Whoever signed the validation documentation should be liable no? Essentially it is just a series of IQ, OQ, and PQ scripts that need to be written and executed. Typically the vendor can provide the installation qualification and operational qualification scripts (though I think IQ may have been replaced with installation verification in most cases). This sounds like it would fall under PQ (performance qualification) which is based on the performance requirements in the URS. Sounds like someone at Sundae's place either wrote bad PQ scripts or didn't actually execute them properly. So there should be someone who this failure can be traced back to but depends on if they are still with the company, if they are untouchable execs now, or just generally how corporate reacts to the news. Hope it works out okay for you but if I remember correctly you're not liable for any repayment if they fire you and you're almost out anyway right?
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Jul 3, 2015 02:18
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Discendo Vox posted:OK, now I'm more confused. But identifying another guilty party would help a lot, I would think. What are you confused about here? I did in house calibration (ISO 17025) for several years so can answer questions about this.
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Jul 3, 2015 05:27
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Solkanar512 posted:What are you confused about here? I did in house calibration (ISO 17025) for several years so can answer questions about this. ISO 17025 certification is different from being required to validate your computer systems. 17025 certification typically requires a data management system and proof that you're competent. A lot of contract testing laboratories are 17025 certified but don't have validated computer system requirements. The FDA requires validated systems within certain industries (e.g. pharmaceutical manufacturing); though if I remember you came from Food and Beverage which often falls under the same basic validation requirements as pharma. Validated systems require running the validation scripts (let's focus on PQ scripts) that prove a system is outputting the correct results as defined by the user requirement specification. We might write a script to validate an addition function by saying we expect 2 + 2 = 4 and then testing it. If we enter 2 and 2 to the addition function and get back 4 then we can sign off on that functionality. Someone at Sundae's place either messed up writing the validation script or messed up executing the script (or knowing pharma there is a more nefarious explanation).
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Jul 3, 2015 06:29
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Lyon posted:ISO 17025 certification is different from being required to validate your computer systems. 17025 certification typically requires a data management system and proof that you're competent. A lot of contract testing laboratories are 17025 certified but don't have validated computer system requirements. The FDA requires validated systems within certain industries (e.g. pharmaceutical manufacturing); though if I remember you came from Food and Beverage which often falls under the same basic validation requirements as pharma. Sure, but the philosophy behind them is really similar. Where you have validation scripts, we had reference weights. Once we could show to a third party that our internal processes worked, we were allowed to sign off on our own calibrations and so on.
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Jul 3, 2015 13:37
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Discendo Vox posted:OK, now I'm more confused. But identifying another guilty party would help a lot, I would think. You're confusing being responsible and being blamed. Two totally different things. Lyon posted:Someone at Sundae's place either messed up writing the validation script or messed up executing the script (or knowing pharma there is a more nefarious explanation). When it's a large scale pharma informatics thing I'll put my money on incompetence every time. There's a reason I told a consultant the biggest barrier they were going to encounter rolling out a new software platform was trying to overcome people's innate hostility to new software due to a history of poorly conceived and improperly implement IT solutions.
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Jul 3, 2015 14:11
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gninjagnome posted:You're confusing being responsible and being blamed. Two totally different things. I can imagine this statement being roundly dismissed because it is too sensible to possibly be considered.
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Jul 3, 2015 14:16
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Oh, they definitely thought I was being hyperbolic, so they asked for some examples. The other people in the meeting jumped in and we had a list of a good dozen projects in less than 30 seconds. Not sure if it helped or anything, but it was pretty funny.
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Jul 3, 2015 14:48
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gninjagnome posted:You're confusing being responsible and being blamed. Two totally different things. It's almost certainly incompetence here. To explain the validation more clearly: LIMS systems are often either a full-service or a self-service application. We had a mixed bag for this system, in that the IQ was performed under supervision of the third party provider, and then OQ/PQ were performed by us. Judging by the results and my quick-and-dirty investigation, our PQ group wrote system test cases that didn't take into account all the necessary testing brackets identified in the associated USP compendium. There are three brackets depending on what value you are entering, to adjust for result centering (Content Uniformity in USP 905, for those familiar with pharma). They only included the center bracket in their code and only tested with "perfect" product in their test cases. End result: Nobody even looked to see if other brackets worked, and they didn't. Then because the system passed validation, nobody bothered to check it because "Why would we? It's validated!" I double-checked the numbers because I trust our systems about as far as I can throw myself, and as usual, we suck at everything.
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Jul 3, 2015 15:02
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gninjagnome posted:You're confusing being responsible and being blamed. Two totally different things. Nah, I'm very familiar with that distinction- it was that I got two responses that contradicted each other on how the validation was structured. Sundae's post cleared things up.
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Jul 3, 2015 16:32
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quote:Guess who discovered that our validated LIMS system is incorrectly calculating Acceptance Values, potentially across the entire mothership network? Looks like the issue was specific to our site. The mothership remains intact, and our site again looks like a bunch of idiots. Woohoo? Our site apparently didn't bother using any of the core functions included in the LIMS package, but instead created all their own sub-routines for each individual API and each individual test, and then didn't test them correctly. As a result, one API was missed and failed to get adequately tested, and its subroutine was totally wrong. End learning: Somewhere in our LIMS department, there is a man who has never coded in anything other than QBasic and who has no idea what an object oriented approach even means. (No, the QBasic thing is not what literally happened; I'm being facetious and mocking our department. Holy crap, my place is so bad that I had to come back and edit this into the paragraph just in case someone took it seriously. I need a new career. )So yeah, just more incompetence by our idiotic site.
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Jul 6, 2015 16:07
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So I have an opportunity to get out of my lovely food QA lab and into a Pharma chem QA lab. Everyone seems to like the company, but they're being acquired by Sundae's Pformer company. Upside is the base pay will be a 35% raise and I'd get to move somewhere I'd rather live. Sundae, how completely lovely is this opportunity? 
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Jul 6, 2015 21:52
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Miss Ginger posted:So I have an opportunity to get out of my lovely food QA lab and into a Pharma chem QA lab. Everyone seems to like the company, but they're being acquired by Sundae's Pformer company. Upside is the base pay will be a 35% raise and I'd get to move somewhere I'd rather live. I dunno man, working in a food lab really, really sucks.
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Jul 6, 2015 22:41
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Solkanar512 posted:I dunno man, working in a food lab really, really sucks. Especially a food lab with 3 managers for 5 analysts that pays enough for a loaf of bread once a month. Also I hate Chicago and would love to move back to my hometown in the south, where this job would be. But Pfizer. Miss Ginger fucked around with this message at 23:39 on Jul 6, 2015 |
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Jul 6, 2015 23:30
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Are they paying you to relocate and are you OK with potentially being laid off after the acquisition? If so, I'd say go for it.
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Jul 6, 2015 23:41
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No relo package but they said they might be able to throw some money at me to help with moving expenses. Haven't gotten an offer yet (interviewed a few days ago), but it was heavily implied. I'm worried that I'll move back, work for a few months, get laid off, then have fewer options after leaving two jobs in less than a year. Also worried that they don't lay me off and I hate it. But anything's better than food QA, right?
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Jul 6, 2015 23:52
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Well, if you look for another job in Pharma, a lot of places won't hold "laid off by Pfizer" against you. I know it's come up with candidates I've interviewed.
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Jul 7, 2015 00:07
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For a 35% raise and family to fall back on if you are laid off, gently caress yes you take it. Food QA is super dull and pharma experience opens a lot of doors, at least according to my fiancee who has pharma buddies. I actually just left food QA in the Chicago area so I've probably heard of your former employer  You should buy PMs so we can poo poo on our common friends/enemies in secret.E: The only knock of moving for a new job would be cost of living adjustments, I'm making $15k/year more in base pay than I did at my last job but I'm probably shelling out at least half of that for increased rent and other living expenses. If you're moving from Bumblefuck to BigCityville like I did and then get laid off, that might be an issue. C-Euro fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Jul 7, 2015 |
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Jul 7, 2015 00:08
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Miss Ginger posted:So I have an opportunity to get out of my lovely food QA lab and into a Pharma chem QA lab. Everyone seems to like the company, but they're being acquired by Sundae's Pformer company. Upside is the base pay will be a 35% raise and I'd get to move somewhere I'd rather live. You take the job if it's a reasonable location and if they're paying you enough for the location. PFE is always laying people off, but the industry as a whole understands that. Layoffs are near constant in pharma no matter where you work. I'm not guaranteeing that your new job won't suck, of course, but if your current one is poo poo, why not take the extra cash and better location anyway?  Truthfully, the lab work portion of my job at PFE was wonderful. It was when poo poo started to get super corporate and I started being shunted into meetings and away from my happy lab place that things went downhill. quote:Well, if you look for another job in Pharma, a lot of places won't hold "laid off by Pfizer" against you. I know it's come up with candidates I've interviewed. Exactly this. PFE is/was one of the largest pharma companies on earth with a long history of acquisitions/slashings. Everyone knows someone who got laid off by Pfizer.
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Jul 7, 2015 00:21
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Feel like laying down some of my job-hunting experiences here. Some times, I think I should write a book about the stuff that I've seen: A few years ago, I applied for a job as a staff member at the University of Second Tier Colleges. A friend has encouraged me, said it thought it was an okay place to work, so I prepped my application, sent it in, and got invited to interview. Day of the interview was the first warning sign. I showed up and was dumped in a waiting room with 4 other candidates. We eyed each other warily, but gradually thawed and started chatting: "Uh, what's happening here? Do we have a schedule?" "Beats me. Haven't been told anything." We were there for hours, uncomfortably slouching around in suits as the departmental secretary fetched each of us to give a seminar to a room full of bored graduates students checking their phones. "... and thus I have shown that the current metrics used have significant shortcomings. Any questions?" [students stare out the window, resentful their day has been stolen away from them] In the middle of this, we were taken to lunch, i.e. dumped in the cafe and told we could order the daily dish. Grasping our trays, all us candidates end up sitting on a table, by ourselves, while over the other side of the cafe, we could see the interview committee laughing with some guy in a tshirt and jeans. "Who's he?" "That's the internal candidate." OH Back to the waiting room. By this point we're a bit stir-crazy, complaining about the process, about poor job prospects about the poo poo of working in science. One candidate got twitchy and confessional. "Actually, my last job finished three months ago ... you won't tell them? Please don't tell them. I just haven't been able to get anything. I really need this job." He stared mournfully into the air. "I have a wife and child. I've let them down. I've let them down." Then they fetched me for the panel interview. It was about what you'd expect - a bunch of nondescript white dudes firing questions at me for an hour and looking unhappy with my answers. Finally the panel chairman said, "Now, do you have any questions?" "Yes I do ..." The panel was already on it's feet, ready to head out of room. The chairman stared daggers at me and reluctantly sat down. I asked some question about teaching load. Then I asked what plans for expansion or development the department had in the immediate future, a "where are you going" type of question. This prompted a flurry of activity amongst the panel. They looked at each other, uttering half-sentences: "What about the ...?" "Is that going ahead ...?" "I thought it was cancelled by the school ..." "What about ...?" Finally the chairman looked at me. "Yes, we have plans for expansion and development in the future." He nodded thoughtfully. I ask a question about staff development and drag an answer out of them. The chairman looked at me and glared. "DO. YOU. HAVE. ANYMORE. QUESTIONS?" I shook my head and was ushered out of the room. At that point I realised I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Was there a next stage? Did I have to report to anyone? I pondered for a moment and decided the best use of my time would be leaving the campus and finding a nearby pub. Needless to say, I didn't get that job.
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Jul 8, 2015 10:56
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My experience interviewing with not-yet-Pfizer: Arrive, greeted by an unamused security guard. Park, meet security guard inside building. Building seems very much like a refurbished prison. Wait 10 minutes to be collected by HR and taken for a drug screen. Then wait 40 minutes for interviewers to show up. Watch half of HR leave in that time frame (~3:00 on a Thursday). Panel is 5 women. 3 CQ managers, an HR manager, and some random lab girl. One CQ manager does most of the talking, but when I answer her questions, she texts her friend. Get through weird interview, getting up to leave for plant tour. Standing to shake hands, same texting lady starts asking for signatures on some unrelated document. I stand for 5 minutes waiting for her to stop talking about signatures. Finally go on tour. QC manager showing me the facility expresses concern that I can't work if not micromanaged, as my current lab has 3 managers for 7 analysts.  On the bright side, some seriously rotten meat came in to my current lab 10 minutes after receiving the offer in works email.
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Jul 8, 2015 19:41
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Congrats on the offer in works! That's a seriously unprofessional interview you had, it sounds like. Different sites / functions and all, but mine was nothing like that when I started seven years ago. I had three individual interviews with managers, one group interview with other employees in my department, and then a lunch discussion with the hiring manager and an HR rep. Half a day and then gone. Oh, and yeah - office job employees disappearing at 3PM on a Thursday. I totally saw that too.
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Jul 8, 2015 23:01
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A wild Offer appeared! It used Pay Employees. It is highly effective. 47% raise (and the checks might come on time), better benefits, 3k "signing bonus" of indentured servitude and starting in mid-August.
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Jul 9, 2015 16:01
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Miss Ginger posted:A wild Offer appeared! It used Pay Employees. It is highly effective. 47% raise (and the checks might come on time), better benefits, 3k "signing bonus" of indentured servitude and starting in mid-August. Congratulations! If they opffer relocation, remember that the value they report will be highly inpflated. Get used to a lot of pfuckery with the letter PF in e-mails and HR releases.
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Jul 9, 2015 16:40
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