Data Scientist Review
at AstraZeneca
Degree Apprenticeship
Science
Macclesfield
Review Submitted: May 2022
Overall Rating
3.9 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
4/5
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Overview of Role
4/5
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Skills Development
3.2/5
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Structure and Support
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis:
4/5
As a data scientist, my main responsibilities involve data analysis, data preparation and statistics. Working within a team means weekly or biweekly meetings to see what the rest of the team are doing as well as general administration. Day to day changes, but it normally involves having meetings with project teams and completing work as such.
To what extent do you enjoy your programme?
4/5
I highly enjoy my programme, as it was something I aspired to do throughout the whole of school. I enjoy doing data science at work as well as learning the techniques at university. Applying what I have learnt with in uni, in work is very satisfying, and cements my learning.
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills or developed existing skills?
4/5
Yes, everyday I have learnt plenty of skills. At the start of my apprenticeship the skills I learnt including basic professional skills, organizational skills, as well as basic data science/ stats skills have also been further developed throughout my apprenticeship. Now I am still learning lots at university and in work.
Structure and Support
How well organised/structured is your programme?
2/5
For the most part it is well organised, however there are definitely times when the university could have been better prepared or organised further in advance. This is often with things such as block release timetables being released the last working day before we go to the block release, other than that it is well structured
How much support do you receive from your employer?
4/5
I would say personally I receive a lot of support, especially when I ask for it. I have a good mentor and they are very experienced so that helps a lot. If I ever need more support, I can just ask for it and my employer is more than happy to help.
How much support do you receive from your training provider when working towards your qualifications?
3/5
To be honest I don't receive much help from the training provider when working towards my qualification, but I think this is because I haven't needed too much. If I was to be really struggling and I required some extra help then they would give me what was necessary
How well do you feel that your qualification (through your training provider) helps you to perform better in your role?
4/5
I feel like what I learn at university definitely helps me day to day, as what I learn in my course I can see being applied to the work I do, this helps cement my learnings and helps me understand a lot more why techniques are used and how they help
Are there extra-curricular activities to get involved in at your work? (For example, any social activities, sports teams, or even professional networking events.)
3/5
I don't believe there are that many, or any that I am aware of. We have ERG's (Employee Resource Groups) which run things, however I am not sure whether it would be classed as extra curricular. Often these meetings are to develop some skills or make us aware of a project
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend AstraZeneca to a friend?
Yes
Why?
I think AstraZeneca is a great company to work for. They respect their employees and this is shown throughout people's lengthy careers here, why else would people stay at a company for 30+ years if the employer didn't truly care about them. The benefits are also top notch
What tips or advice would you give to others applying to AstraZeneca?
I would say I recommend researching the company before hand, just to make sure you would want to work for a Pharma company, have a look at the results of some work we have done. If you be yourself throughout the application you cannot go wrong especially if you're right for the role.
