12 Month Industrial Placement Student: Oncology, Computational Chemistry Review
at AstraZeneca
Placement (10 Months+)
Chemistry
Cambridge
Review Submitted: July 2025
Overall Rating
4.6 /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
-
Overview of Role
4.8/5
-
Skills Development
4.5/5
-
Support and Guidance
4.8/5
-
Company Culture
5/5
-
Overall Experience
3/5
-
Future Career Prospects
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
Carrying out structure-based drug design and modelling for various projects, using AI/ML tools for molecular generation, building novel or optimising existing cheminformatics tools and workflows, pitching and presenting design/capabilities ideas, attending team and department meetings.
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
I was given as much responsibility as I felt comfortable with. Fortnightly catch-ups with managers, and weekly catch-ups with supervisors helped manage and adjust expectations and responsibilities quickly and effectively.
Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
4/5
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
Regarding new skills: ability to present technical work to stakeholders with varying degrees of knowledge in the field, understanding bottlenecks for modern, large-scale drug design, designing, building, and implementing new AI/ML capabilities into existing workflows, where reliability and accuracy matter.
Regarding skills development: greatly improved programming proficiency, gained immensely valuable experience with advanced drug design tools, improved my networking skills.
Regarding skills development: greatly improved programming proficiency, gained immensely valuable experience with advanced drug design tools, improved my networking skills.
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
4/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
5/5
Support and Guidance
How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
Day-to-day support was adequate, allowing me to work independently quite a lot. During times of higher workloads, the support decreased slightly.
For the support my line manager/supervisor weren't able to give, I was promptly placed in contact with stakeholders capable of providing it.
For the support my line manager/supervisor weren't able to give, I was promptly placed in contact with stakeholders capable of providing it.
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
4/5
How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
5/5
Company Culture
What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
The overall atmosphere was very positive and welcoming, though there were some minor challenges. With unassigned desks in the office, it could occasionally be difficult to find a free workspace later in the morning. The largely open-plan layout meant that sound levels sometimes increased during busier periods. The company culture was inclusive and accommodating, with flexible options for working from home and the ability to adjust arrival times, which made balancing work and life easier. Meetings were a strong focus and, while informative, they were sometimes broad in scope and frequent enough that it could occasionally be a challenge to devote time to day-to-day tasks.
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
5/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
5/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
4/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
5/5
Overall Experience
To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
The placement was a great experience. I learned a lot of practical skills that aren’t always covered in academic settings and got to work with a wide variety of tools and workflows, which will make starting similar roles much easier in the future. The social and networking opportunities were really valuable, and I appreciated having more freedom to explore topics I was interested in than I expected. The team was fantastic to work with and made the experience even better.
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
5/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
5/5
Future Career Prospects
Please rate the future employment prospects at AstraZeneca
3/5
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend AstraZeneca to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to AstraZeneca
There are plenty of opportunities to be mentored, try out new tools and methods, attend social events, network, and join meetings or discussion groups. With so much going on, it can get overwhelming quickly, so I’d suggest focusing on the activities that you think will benefit your future the most.
For some positions, hands-on experience appeared more important than academic credentials—though having the right qualifications will help you get in the door. That experience doesn’t always have to be formal; personal projects, exploring tool demos (often available through universities), or simply showing genuine interest and enthusiasm can make a real difference.
Lastly, have a general sense of what you'd like to explore or do if hired. Quite a lot of freedom is given, so treat this as a chance to get your skills recognised.
For some positions, hands-on experience appeared more important than academic credentials—though having the right qualifications will help you get in the door. That experience doesn’t always have to be formal; personal projects, exploring tool demos (often available through universities), or simply showing genuine interest and enthusiasm can make a real difference.
Lastly, have a general sense of what you'd like to explore or do if hired. Quite a lot of freedom is given, so treat this as a chance to get your skills recognised.
