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Bastard Tetris posted:I drink beer with a guy who was king poo poo at the USDA a few years back, PM me if you like. Thanks for your help, I sent you a PM! seacat posted:Soo how many people here use something like LIMS and who still pushes piles of paper around? Which is most prevalent, but I am getting so sick of signing, filing, rewriting when something gets lost. Handwritten lab notebooks are a must but is there an ISO protocol for electronic documents? Are we the only ones stuck in the middle ages? We have a LIMS for samples, but not for our paperwork. Nothing like working for a skinflint! Are you looking for ISO 15489:2001 perhaps?
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Mar 27, 2011 01:15
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Hah, LIMS, I work for one of the top three LIMS companies in the world. Like I said before, I'll try to sell you guys LIMS in the future. Recently I've seen a lot of discussion around Electronic Lab Notebooks (ELNs) vs LIMS. I guess I didn't realize but a lot of ELN systems almost function as LIMS on their own. Your company might be more interested in an ELN rather than a full on LIMS system if you're talking about work flow/experiment paper work. We have a customizable lab notebook that integrates with our system, basically we'll take any paper form you currently use and reproduce it on an ELN. The notebook then updates the LIMS. We've also just recently made our system available through iPads and soon I think we're going to smart phones. We're also on the cusp of releasing the first MAJOR cloud based LIMS. If you guys have any specific questions about LIMS I can answer them or I can certainly find out very easily. The big regulatory issue I see a lot is 21 CFR 11 which is the regulation for electronic records in pharma. I see a lot of ISO #'s thrown around, but am not super familiar with those, where as 21 CFR 11 was drummed into my head when I first got hired. Lyon fucked around with this message at 15:31 on Mar 27, 2011 |
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Mar 27, 2011 15:22
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Solkanar512 posted:Thanks for your help, I sent you a PM! I'll bring it to his attention. I'd love to see that LIMS as a final product, our custom LIMS is a little long in the tooth and I think we're going to go OTS for the next system.
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Mar 28, 2011 18:24
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We use a Citrix ELN system now instead of handwritten lab notebooks. ...except that there's no networking in our labs, so instead everything gets handwritten and then transcribed to ELN once I get back to my office. ...and the first half of my current projects are all in handwritten notebooks due to the surprise implementation of ELN. Those notebooks were confiscated to make sure we all switched over to the new system. I'm missing half of my data now as a result. 
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Mar 28, 2011 18:31
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Bastard Tetris posted:I'll bring it to his attention. From what I've seen custom in-house LIMS are great, until the developers leave and you need major changes. That's the primary advantage of purchasing a system from one of the major/established players. My company has also managed to stay pretty industry friendly, we have a pharma system that we'll have IQ, OQ, and PQ done in 90 days, same thing for QM labs and Bio Banking labs. Pittcon promo video from my company. I might edit this out later if I start feeling uncomfortable. Sundae posted:We use a Citrix ELN system now instead of handwritten lab notebooks. Your posts are my favorite in this thread. Your company sounds so awesomely inefficient based on your posts, it makes me chuckle every time.
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Mar 28, 2011 18:50
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quote:Your posts are my favorite in this thread. Your company sounds so awesomely inefficient based on your posts, it makes me chuckle every time. Inefficient doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm at PFE.
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Mar 28, 2011 20:02
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Lyon posted:Your posts are my favorite in this thread. Your company sounds so awesomely inefficient based on your posts, it makes me chuckle every time.  half of the reports I fill out magically vanish into thin air. Forms get revised with no rhyme or reason, nobody tells anybody this and I get stuck re-writing a stack of 30 papers on a fairly regular basis; I also constantly remind the lab manager that I can't sign off on stuff she is rewriting (ie blatantly faking data) because I wasn't yet working for the company in 2008. I only now got a GLP lab notebook, after begging for one for about a year. Important data is often written on post-it notes and scraps of paper. Expensive pieces of equipment sit gathering dust while technicians do the work manually at 10% of the speed because the lab manager is afraid of trying anything new (then why buy the drat extraction manifold in the first place?!). We haven't seen anyone from QM for over 3 weeks. All of the documentation is perpetually anywhere from 2-6 months behind and I am still getting documents to file for early 2010... The actual lab work is pretty interesting for this type of job, though.
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Mar 28, 2011 20:05
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Sundae posted:Inefficient doesn't even begin to describe it. I'm at PFE. Hah. I have yet to touch PFE because I'm brand new, not very technical, and a small time player in our company. I'm sure you've at least seen some people from my company as you're our largest customer. Do you actively use our system or know anyone from my company? I'm not using any names because that way I can just edit out that link later if I want. seacat posted:This guy's got nothing on me I guess there's no reason labs should be any better than any other segment of the business world... that does sound pretty terrible though.
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Mar 28, 2011 20:19
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Lyon posted:Hah. I have yet to touch PFE because I'm brand new, not very technical, and a small time player in our company. I'm sure you've at least seen some people from my company as you're our largest customer. Do you actively use our system or know anyone from my company? I'm not using any names because that way I can just edit out that link later if I want. Seriously, I figured that I'd be joining the ranks of those rugged explorers searching for new knowledge and hope for humanity and all that poo poo. No wonder so many went on to become quants on Wall Street.
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Mar 28, 2011 20:32
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Lyon posted:Hah. I have yet to touch PFE because I'm brand new, not very technical, and a small time player in our company. I'm sure you've at least seen some people from my company as you're our largest customer. Do you actively use our system or know anyone from my company? I'm not using any names because that way I can just edit out that link later if I want. I've definitely seen stuff from your company floating around in the analytical labs, and I've seen your name pop up in our purchasing system before. My department doesn't really use a lot of the standard equipment / supplies, though, so we tend to have rather odd suppliers. (I'm in late-stage development, so I'm typically involved with sourcing from Mallinckrodt, J&M, Colorcon, or equipment manufacturers these days, especially since we have an internal supply chain to handle most of the ordering process.) Typically any procurement stuff I have to do is abnormal stuff where our regular networks can't handle it. (Custom orders, etc.) I have to give this place credit: PFE has some really phenomenal scientists and engineers. Some of these people are absolutely astounding. And yet, they're hamstrung beyond belief by the corporate offices / local management. It's incredible.
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Mar 28, 2011 20:34
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Solkanar512 posted:Seriously, I figured that I'd be joining the ranks of those rugged explorers searching for new knowledge and hope for humanity and all that poo poo. What's your CS experience like? Are you good with Oracle, SQL Server, PL\SQL, Java, JSP, Scripting, HTML? Sundae posted:I've definitely seen stuff from your company floating around in the analytical labs, and I've seen your name pop up in our purchasing system before. My department doesn't really use a lot of the standard equipment / supplies, though, so we tend to have rather odd suppliers. (I'm in late-stage development, so I'm typically involved with sourcing from Mallinckrodt, J&M, Colorcon, or equipment manufacturers these days, especially since we have an internal supply chain to handle most of the ordering process.) Typically any procurement stuff I have to do is abnormal stuff where our regular networks can't handle it. (Custom orders, etc.) Yeah you guys our are largest customer by far for SQL*LIMS, I think you have 26 sites with our LIMS deployed. I think mostly for QM/QC testing but I'm sure we're in some of the other random labs just due to volume of licenses you own. Sorry to clutter up this thread with all the LIMS non-sense, I find my industry and labs in general really interesting. Makes me want to go back and take some chemistry or biology so I can have a better understanding, but then I figure I won't be in this business forever and it would be a waste of money.
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Mar 28, 2011 20:47
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Ahhh, gotcha. Sorry, I was interpreting you as one of the equipment suppliers like VWR, etc. In that case, I probably am confusing your company with someone else because there's no reason I would have seen software packages in our procurement system. 
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Mar 28, 2011 20:51
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It would have been Applied Biosystems SQL*LIMS previously and then LabVantage bought SQL*LIMS from AB/Life Technologies last year. So the software is SQL*LIMS and the company would be LabVantage these days. I think we have someone on-site at PFE and we're constantly sending our PSO and other technical people your way. Mostly NJ and NY but all over the country too.
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Mar 28, 2011 20:58
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Lyon posted:What's your CS experience like? Are you good with Oracle, SQL Server, PL\SQL, Java, JSP, Scripting, HTML? It's not that great, but I'm trying to learn SQL/mySQL on the side.
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Mar 28, 2011 22:31
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Lyon posted:From what I've seen custom in-house LIMS are great, until the developers leave and you need major changes. That's the primary advantage of purchasing a system from one of the major/established players. My company has also managed to stay pretty industry friendly, we have a pharma system that we'll have IQ, OQ, and PQ done in 90 days, same thing for QM labs and Bio Banking labs. Hey, I've heard of that. Our custom LIMS is nearly 11 years old, and one person knows it inside and out. We've been burned before pretty badly with unsupportable custom work, so OTS is my new practice going forward. So my lab will still run when I fly the coop for a 50% raise in a few years.
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Mar 29, 2011 07:12
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I realize that this thread is not terribly active, and that my question is quite off-topic-- but I was wondering if anyone in this thread would please allow me to interview them over email for a paper I must write about the "discourse community" about the job I want to eventually have, and to analyze its aspects. First what I must do is interview someone who is working as a lab rat so that I may ask questions such as what kind of writing skills are used in your kid along with what skills and qualifications are required. Other questions will be a bit more personal, such as what sets this profession apart from others that are similar, and what kind of expectations and surprises you have when entering your job. I figured that while I could always open a Craigslist call out for lab rats, getting answers from goons would potentially be a lot more interesting and a bit less creepy.
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Apr 7, 2011 07:05
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chienism posted:I realize that this thread is not terribly active, and that my question is quite off-topic-- but I was wondering if anyone in this thread would please allow me to interview them over email for a paper I must write about the "discourse community" about the job I want to eventually have, and to analyze its aspects. What may I ask drives you to take such interest in the lives of us poor slaves of science? Also I love SA but I do find funny that you think you'd get LESS creepy results from goons than the craigslist crowd... especially science goons
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Apr 7, 2011 08:37
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I'm in academia in the UK and I don't mind helping.
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Apr 7, 2011 09:46
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Man, the weirdest thing happened at work this week. We had a government agency come do an audit and in preparation, we did all of our work by the book! Like, no shortcuts, no faked documentation, no hiding poo poo. It's crazy, but I feel like for once good work will actually be done! Of course, we'll see what happens in a few weeks. But still, it's weird to be actually following the Quality Manual for once!
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Apr 7, 2011 14:12
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Whoa, proper documentation and prep, and after it you weren't written up for anything? You are the first. Ever. In history. Some of the DEA's rules are impossible for me to follow. I don't have the project resources or the facilities to actually obey them. 
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Apr 7, 2011 15:29
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So I'm graduating with a BSc in Biochemistry in a month, and I'm on the hunt for jobs here in Canada. For the past 4 years I've maintained a GPA around 3.8/3.9, have 1 published paper on nanopore technology, another that we're trying to get published (though it got turned down once ), and a third on Alzheimer's peptide misfolding that will be written by the end of summer. I'm lead authors on two of those. I want to work for BIG PHARMA, but so far haven't heard anything back yet. I think Canada's a bit poo poo for that, but I have no problem relocating to England, the US, Germany, whatever. What are the odds of getting in as I now stand? Killed a Girl in 96 fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Apr 7, 2011 |
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Apr 7, 2011 22:41
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Sundae posted:Whoa, proper documentation and prep, and after it you weren't written up for anything? We were squeaky clean, like I would actually trust the results coming out of that lab! To his credit, my boss is actually quite good at regulatory work. When the owner doesn't get in his way, it really shows. Also, his auditing experience allows him to get out of speeding tickets too. It turns out that in this area the calibration of radar guns take an hour to do, and some guy was able to sign off on 32 of them on the same day!
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Apr 8, 2011 00:40
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seacat posted:I'd gladly answer any questions you have as long as I don't have have to identify myself or the company I work for by name - if so I can't do that as I am in private industry although I'm sure the academia folks will be more willing to do so since they generally enjoy more freedom. My professor said that it's completely understandable if you don't want to reveal your real name and company, and that you may make up names if you want to make it easier. Or be referred to by job title, I guess! I can contact you either via email or even an instant messenger if you prefer. I want to eventually do research or lab work somewhere at some point in my life, and I know far less about working in this kind of industry than the other career I also want to pursue. I'm majoring in Biology and minoring in Chemistry right now, and am considering either a Masters or PhD-- it's too early for me to know 100% yet. I don't graduate for another year, but I'm preparing for it all just in case. I can't tell if being a poor slave of science is awesome yet or not-- but it's something I'm interested in! Not to mention, I've been told that doing research at academic institutes is ridiculously high stress so I'm looking at my options. As someone who is a science goon, I feel more comfortable with "my people" than say the Craigslist crowd-- which will truly be like shooting in the dark. Hey, kind of like some research! Scientastic posted:I'm in academia in the UK and I don't mind helping. I'd love to interview you too, but I can only use one person for my paper in the end. So I can definitely interview you both, but I can not say for sure who I will use for my paper. Thank you for volunteering your time! As for who I am: I'm an undergrad working in an extremely cushy Biochemistry lab doing research on the effects of metalloproteins on reducing oxidative stress from free radicals. I know the labwork I do is extremely easy, but it's really interesting to me and the procedures are fun to do (except I've had a centrifuge accident). It's made me want to do labwork as a career, possibly. Feel free to tell me the truth on what it's really like if you think I'm making a big mistake!
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Apr 8, 2011 02:21
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Killed a Girl in 96 posted:So I'm graduating with a BSc in Biochemistry in a month, and I'm on the hunt for jobs here in Canada. For the past 4 years I've maintained a GPA around 3.8/3.9, have 1 published paper on nanopore technology, another that we're trying to get published (though it got turned down once Are you okay with medium pharma, or do you want the specific "big pharma" pharma? If you're dead set on "big pharma" pharma, you're in for some problems. They're all basically imploding right now under the weight of the collective poo poo that has accumulated at the top of their management structures. Boner pills only go so far, and most of them forgot that you need to actually make drugs to sustain your company. Stay the hell away from Merck and Pfizer right now, and probably Vertex as well. J&J is too fragmented for me to comment on, given they're basically a conglomerate of a bazillion smaller companies. Some are stable, some aren't. Roche is bad with the exception of Genentech. I'm told that even after being bought out, Genentech is still basically bio-Mecca. Novartis is hit or miss, but more stable than most. Lily is hiring as well. Based on some people I talked to at a conference last year, stay away from Teva for a bit. No idea on BMS, and stay away from Amgen like it has the plague. Despite so much of big pharma being in the United States, I'd actually suggest checking elsewhere first. The USA has a boatload of social and political problems right now, and on top of that, big pharma's implosion over here has swamped the market with experienced scientists who are out of work. For example, my company's fired about 40,000 scientists so far, and another 30,000 or so to go in the coming two years. Most of the other big companies are doing similar things, though probably not at quite the scale of my place. We're hosed in a very special sort of way. Great resume / grades coming out of school or not, you can't compete with someone who has been in the field for 15 years. If you're open to medium pharma, Cubist in Massachusetts, USA is a very nice company to work for. A lot of former PFE employees all ended up there, and I hear wonderful things about the place from them. They love it. Sundae fucked around with this message at 04:10 on Apr 8, 2011 |
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Apr 8, 2011 04:08
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chienism posted:I'd love to interview you too, but I can only use one person for my paper in the end. So I can definitely interview you both, but I can not say for sure who I will use for my paper. Thank you for volunteering your time! Send me an email (ScientasticSA@gmail.com). If you can get the questions to me over the weekend, I can probably have them answered by Monday.
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Apr 8, 2011 15:03
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Anyhow, does anyone have any experience from certifications from the American Society of Quality (ASQ)? I'm looking for a way to boost my knowledge/credibility/epeen in the QC/QA or Calibration world, and I have enough work experience to start tackling a few of these certs. So are they valuable to employers, or not? Should I look at different organizations? Or are these just A+ certs that everyone ignores?
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Apr 8, 2011 19:30
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Sundae posted:Are you okay with medium pharma, or do you want the specific "big pharma" pharma? If you're dead set on "big pharma" pharma, you're in for some problems. They're all basically imploding right now under the weight of the collective poo poo that has accumulated at the top of their management structures. Boner pills only go so far, and most of them forgot that you need to actually make drugs to sustain your company. Wow, you probably saved me 3 months worth of research into the field. Thanks a bunch for the info. I know you mentioned earlier how a lot of drug companies are imploding, but I had no idea it was that bad right now. 70,000 scientists in just a few years being laid off? I'll never be able to compete with that, Master's or no. Maybe what I'll do is go back to school and get my bioinformatics degree. I know a few people who have graduated with that so far, and entry level positions seem to be around 65k or so. That's a nice chunk of change for a brand-new graduate.
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Apr 9, 2011 21:22
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Solkanar512 posted:Why is that a problem when you've been asked to buy illegal generics because they're cheaper anyway? :p I used to raise milk goats and yep, handled the milk raw and drank it raw. Never a problem because we had a CLOSED herd, did the necessary sanitary checks and always promptly took care that the milk was properly chilled. Closed herd and sanitary inspection/vaccinations of does/proper sterilization of utensils and milking containers, proper sanitation of udders and milk strip tests made for a clean dairy. Raised three kids on goat's milk..(kept no billy's) and all survived to go on and drain my bank account for college. lol.. but not all are so careful..so do as you say and not as I do..still..
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Apr 9, 2011 23:22
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Anniepoo posted:I used to raise milk goats and yep, handled the milk raw and drank it raw. Never a problem because we had a CLOSED herd, did the necessary sanitary checks and always promptly took care that the milk was properly chilled. Closed herd and sanitary inspection/vaccinations of does/proper sterilization of utensils and milking containers, proper sanitation of udders and milk strip tests made for a clean dairy. Raised three kids on goat's milk..(kept no billy's) and all survived to go on and drain my bank account for college. lol.. Well that's the key though - you did all the poo poo you're supposed to and your kids aren't going to be pregnant, so they're generally ok. I just don't understand why these small farms don't do the same thing.
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Apr 10, 2011 00:24
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chienism posted:I'd love to interview you too, but I can only use one person for my paper in the end. So I can definitely interview you both, but I can not say for sure who I will use for my paper. Thank you for volunteering your time! Just to reiterate I'm a "lab rat"/lab drone/QC slave/analytical chemist/QC chemist, early in my career (3 years post graduation) working in the cosmetics manufacturing industry.
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Apr 10, 2011 03:09
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I guess I'll ask this here because it seems like the most appropriate place. I'm graduating in May with a BS in Biochemistry and have been putting out applications all over the place and a got a call yesterday from a local hospital to interview for a Medical Lab Scientist position. I didn't even know poo poo about this job when I applied but reading up on it I apparently need to be accredited and stuff, so how would all that work if I somehow managed to get this job? What's the interview likely going to be like? It all sounds really interesting/good but I have absolutely no clue what I am getting into or even how I managed to stumble into this. Honestly wondering if this is all some big mistake and they meant to call some other guy.
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Apr 10, 2011 08:56
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Killed a Girl in 96 posted:Wow, you probably saved me 3 months worth of research into the field. Thanks a bunch for the info. Honestly, you do have *one* area where you can compete, and that is that you are way, way cheaper than experienced scientists. For comparison's sake: I started with a master of engineering degree for between $65K and $70K. This is a fantastic salary for someone starting out, in my opinion. I know many experienced scientists in the $90-150K range, and some of the highly-ranked ones who came in with PhDs and then worked many years can be in the $120-200K range, though very few get to the $200K range unless they're both godly and lucky. Those people will, of course, get snapped up in a heartbeat (if they get let go at all), but all the $120-150K people are just long-time scientists who are expensive and probably not particularly special compared to the newer, less-expensive, and more recently educated young guys. Get apps in before the next huge round coming this year (there are several companies which are going to slaughter their workforces later this year) and you might be able to get in. Of course, you also can't possibly compete with India, but that's another issue entirely. I'd like to offer a few more suggestions for prospective big- / middle-pharma job-searchers. #1: Cafe Pharma and BioFind http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/forumdisplay.php?f=4 http://biofind.com/rumor ^^^ Repeat after me: You are NOT going to these sites for news or to really read the posts. You are NOT going to these for news or to really read the posts. You are going to them to see how many people are bitching about companies, and to count the rumors / see the people whining. Cafe Pharma tends to be where sales / biz-side people congregate to whine (they're mostly losers, but even losers can give you ideas on how bad a company is), while Biofind draws a mix of sales and scientists. The scientist boards at CafePharma are pretty much empty. Count the rumors for your company. Don't bother reading them, but see how many people are worried about their jobs. No one rumor is likely to be right, but if there's 50 of them, something's hosed up. #2: Check the dates on those job postings and how oddly specific they are. A lot of the companies aren't actually hiring right now except for absolutely vital or temporary positions. We also tend to dump piles of job openings onto sites (including our own career websites) and never, ever clean them up even if the positions don't exist anymore. Don't apply for anything older than 6 months unless it's a broad-brush thing like "Multiple Entry Level positions", or things of that sort. Don't apply for anything ultra, ultra specific unless you know you can hit almost every single thing they ask for in a way that is easily searched by an HR dipshit who has no idea what you do. #3: If you do something that is an awful lot like something that is being asked for in a job listing, but it isn't called exactly the same thing, I am personally of the opinion that you should call it what the listing calls it. To pick a really lovely example, if a listing asks for 3+ years of experience with UPLC and you have 5 years of HPLC experience, call it UPLC anyway. The HR rep who checks your resume has no idea what either of them are, and will just see that you didn't list UPLC experience. Get to the technical interviews and THEN explain to the tech guy if you need to. You know you can do both because you know one is just a variant of the other, but HR doesn't know you can do it because they don't know what the gently caress HPLC is in the first place. This is a common problem for us when we try to bring in interns, because HR will gently caress EVERYTHING up. Why the gently caress did HR list my department's last intern request as wanting 5+ years of academic laboratory experience? We have no idea. They're in Costa Rica and never answer the phone. Edit: Clarification -- Most of the people on cafepharma are losers. I wasn't saying most sales employees are losers. (They are, but that wasn't what I meant. )
Sundae fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Apr 11, 2011 |
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Apr 11, 2011 01:55
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Man, I heard PFE was a bad place to work, but my god. I also work for a large pharma based out of NJ (not merck), and can give a slightly less jaded view of the industry from a company that is actually trying to develop drugs instead of just acquisitions. I work in API scale-up as a process engineer, but work directly with the organic chemists, analytical scientists, and forumlation groups, so I have a pretty broad range of exposure if people want any ideas. I'm also a university recruiter, so I can answer questions about getting your foot in the door - it's tough, we just laid off ~10% of the dept, so no open reqs, but even in a good year we were hiring 10 people between the enginers and chemists. I do agree that the industry is in a terrible shape, and the future isn't really clear. But, given the rate of totally gently caress ups from companies in India and China, and basically any outsourced vendor, I should have a job for a few more years. I just can't see us filing anything based solely on outsourced development work.
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Apr 11, 2011 02:53
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I'm glad you added "not Merck" to your post. The horror stories my ex-girlfriend gives me from Merck are on par with PFE.  If you get a company that cares about doing research, it's great. If you get one of the acquisition-nutty companies or the companies that are directly reliant on them (sadly, a fuckton fall into that category), you're in for a hard time. quote:I do agree that the industry is in a terrible shape, and the future isn't really clear. But, given the rate of totally gently caress ups from companies in India and China, and basically any outsourced vendor, I should have a job for a few more years. I just can't see us filing anything based solely on outsourced development work. I paraphrase an executive's e-mail to my boss: "A 90% failure rate from emerging-market collaboration projects is more cost-effective than internal development." India can gently caress up 90% of the time and still get priority over internal development at my company. Edit: Also, beware Emcure and Aurobindo. They're getting pretty good at development work. We used to work with Emcure a lot, but after our QA department tried to make them change the way they ran the company to match our "standards", they told us to go gently caress ourselves and canceled all future contracts. They must have a lot of people using them if they're willing to totally close out PFE. Sundae fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Apr 11, 2011 |
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Apr 11, 2011 03:09
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ol moon in the sky posted:I guess I'll ask this here because it seems like the most appropriate place. I'm graduating in May with a BS in Biochemistry and have been putting out applications all over the place and a got a call yesterday from a local hospital to interview for a Medical Lab Scientist position. I didn't even know poo poo about this job when I applied but reading up on it I apparently need to be accredited and stuff, so how would all that work if I somehow managed to get this job? What's the interview likely going to be like? It all sounds really interesting/good but I have absolutely no clue what I am getting into or even how I managed to stumble into this. Honestly wondering if this is all some big mistake and they meant to call some other guy. I think some states require certification, but not many. The rest is by hospital, sometimes you get paid like a dollar an hour more if you're certified. I don't believe you're eligbile to sit for the certification exam unless you've completed the year long clinical internship though. But you can still do the job, all MLS jobs require on the job training because every lab uses different analyzers and has their own SOPs. Usually though people who don't have an MLS degree work in either microbiology or molecular biology. If they want you to be a generalist, you're probably not going to get the job if they require certification. So based on your degree and I'm just guessing, they want you to work in the molecular lab. If so, you're qualified so go for it. Edit: states that require their own state certification are California and Flordia. There are others but Texas doesn't have its own so I just have the national certification. Merou fucked around with this message at 06:36 on Apr 11, 2011 |
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Apr 11, 2011 06:34
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Sundae posted:If you get a company that cares about doing research, it's great. If you get one of the acquisition-nutty companies or the companies that are directly reliant on them (sadly, a fuckton fall into that category), you're in for a hard time. Best PFE quote I heard at a conference: "I hope they talk to the Wyeth guys before they lay them off". I count my self luck that I'm at my company. It's great to actually do research. We'll see what happens long term. In 5-10 years, as these companies in India and China get better, it'll really become a problem. Especially considering many of these laid off scientists are going back home to work for these companies at a huge pay increase and reduced cost of living.
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Apr 11, 2011 12:48
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Lab Rat here. My qualifications are sub par but I had to teach myself lab work from the ground up (it was a tiny lab in a plant of a major company). The guy that was supposed to train me was constantly high/drunk so it basically forced me to learn everything I could about everything related to that lab/tests/etc. I basically test the quality of what is produced (think Protien/moisture/fat/etc) and have merchandisers sell it from my results and also inform production on quality/trends/holy poo poo something is wrong. Fast forward 3 years. My boss got promoted to a plant and they are building a new lab, he wants me to manage it (4+ people). This is an agricultural job and the tests are pretty routine (there are dozens of plants that do similar tests around NA). Two Questions: 1) I have technically been the supervisor for this tiny lab(under a lab tech title). The thought of more working under me who could be more academically qualified scares me. Should I really be nervous or is this just the standard jitters at a promotion/more responsibility? 2) Before I accept anything and move hundreds of miles away, I want them to make an offer. I can't find anywhere online that gives a general range of a salary. All I can find are medical labs which I have to assume pays a lot more (more risk/responsibility). So, any ideas of a salary range?
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Apr 14, 2011 05:54
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Favorabilis Solitud posted:1) I have technically been the supervisor for this tiny lab(under a lab tech title). The thought of more working under me who could be more academically qualified scares me. Should I really be nervous or is this just the standard jitters at a promotion/more responsibility? If you're only used to basic wet analysis and your new job requires instrumental skills, good luck. But I do also think your old boss knows enough about your current position not to interview you if the tests are much more advanced than what you currently do. It's not clear -- did he get promoted to a different plant within the same company, or to a new company? If the latter, be extremely careful. Even practices within the same industry can vary sharply between labs in different companies. Our lab has quite a few people who "never needed no book learnin'". These people are typically incompetent at chemistry. My boss, although nice enough if you can deal with her crazy moods, has no idea how to solve any problems or fix anything, and her story reminds me of yours (no formal education, just kind of worked way up from a tiny lab when the company was small). In a mid-size chemistry lab of 11 people, precisely 3 have any idea how to troubleshoot any instrumental or chemical problem, explain basic chemical principles and operate instruments, and those 3 (that includes me) are respected and enjoy job security, but are also swamped ALL THE TIME. Not surprisingly, these 3 have a BS (and one has an MS) in chemistry. This situation also leads to constant clashes between the people that know science and the people (like my boss) who don't. Expect very high turnover (training new people every 3-6 months) if your employees are on a higher level than you. And if you do learn to trust their judgment, your boss will probably be concerned that your employees know much more than you. Be careful. The only reason my boss is still my boss is because she's been there for 14 years and nobody has the heart to let her go. They even hired a competent chemist (another one of the 3) at a very decent salary to handle all of the science problems, since my boss doesn't know anything. At 3 years you will be replaceable if one of your underlings is ambitious enough and demonstrates enough knowhow. If this is something you're going to turn your life upside down for, think long and hard and ask difficult questions at your interview. This is all hypothetical though. I (and generally any employer) am a fan of experience over education any day. But a good education in science is invaluable for learning the principles. If a person has both, or can at least prove themselves over a couple of years be an excellent & ambitious scientist and a talented problem solver... watch out. 2) It is extremely dependent on where you live. Pay for a QC lab supervisor can range anywhere from 35-75K depending on where you live and your experience. Cost of living, and hence, salary, is much different in Bumfuck, Alabama and Boston, Mass. You don't have to specify the company or even the city (I wouldn't), but what region of the country are you considering relocating to and will they pay for your relocation?
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Apr 14, 2011 06:56
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I am very fond of book learning. I love science and I am paying my own way through school. I like bouncing ideas off my lab techs and consider their opinions valuable. I don't have a degree but I wouldn't consider myself exactly uneducated. But I will admit you are using things I don't understand "AA/HPLC/GC/MS". However, thats what I want, because once you learn it, you have it. But as for the "I don't need no book learnin" guy, thats not me, nor am I the "Im the boss, so do it!" I wouldn't consider myself a fun boss but anyone can pretty much do whatever as long as the testing gets done correctly and on time. I am also a bad rear end reference for when they move on to bigger and better things. If anything, I think starting at the bottom has given me the benefit of perspective and earning trust. If they don't get something, I failed at training them. Firing is not an option. If someone botches the results because of an off day or life is kicking their rear end, they will not have to worry about it, I have their back. As far as instruments, there is combustion for nitrogen/protein (elementar), handwash for fiber etc. There is only 1 accepted test in this crop for Protein, Fiber, and fat/oil. So you can either do it or not. My understanding is that there are these guidelines for everything else we will be doing. There is a main corporate lab that oversees all the other labs to an extent. So rest assured, a cure for cancer will not be up to me. It is more a job where the techs just have to repeat the processes and do a clean and accurate job. I have troubleshooted my fair share of problems with interesting results and instruments. I rather enjoy it. It is rather specialized. There won't be much innovation and you can't alter tests per strict industry guidelines. I think (hope) you are referring to lab work that is like painting a picture where this is more paint-by-numbers. (but I can stay in the lines) I am already used to training people, ordering supplies, communicating with production on what the trends are/areas of concern and the merchandisers sell the product on the lab's results. The situation is, my boss got promoted within the company. He is pretty much being groomed for another promotion in three years. He is aware of my education and I have told him the things you told me. I spelled this all out to him on the spot. He has been awesome in the confidence he has shown me. He has a lot riding on me too. Edit: I live in the middle of the US, the nearest city with over a million people is hundreds of miles away, the cost of living is cheap here. The place I would move to is cheaper but much closer large cities/civilization. I make 35k and it is a comfortable life. Thanks for the feedback Favorabilis Solitud fucked around with this message at 07:51 on Apr 14, 2011 |
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Apr 14, 2011 07:39
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john ashpool fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Mar 13, 2016 |
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Apr 21, 2011 07:05
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