Last summer, I mentioned that I had the opportunity to work as an intern at a pharmaceutical company doing statistical programming and analysis. It was a 10-week, full-time, paid position that included mentorship and other programming such as social events. Unfortunately, not all internships are paid internships so I was very fortunate to have this opportunity. We covered a lot of material and I quickly learned about myself as an early career professional.
What We Did
The program was split into two phases. The first was essentially a training phase where our entire cohort was given the same data set and assignments to work through. While we were split into teams, everyone had the same goal. At the end of the week, each team presented our progress and what we learned. Since the pace was very fast we did not always meet our goals, but the point was actually to understand the process and learn new functions and processes. Throughout the week training and Q&A sessions were held.
During phase two, we were placed into existing teams to assist on projects. This was a less guided portion of the internship that mimicked what working in the industry would be like. I worked on a statistical app in R that would help researchers determine whether they needed to make changes to their study. We had more freedom during this phase with less scheduled training sessions and webinars. So I was able to participate in a challenge held for all interns throughout the company. It was really great to interact with those doing other work and just seeing all the different perspectives we all had.
More freedom and different projects came with its own challenges. Our projects were unique to the teams we were working on which made it harder to ask our mentors and buddies certain questions. We were also working in RShiny which was not the company – or industry – standard. So outside of asking our project leads and those with R experience for help, we relied on asking each other for help. I found one of my team members especially gracious, as well as some of interns I’d become friendly with. Those with more statistical experience sent me resources including some of their statistics lectures that were very helpful. We all checked in on each other, supported one another, and vented. It was really nice.
Over the course of the internship we focused on SAS which is a statistical analysis software I already learned to use in grad school. However, I learned many new procedures and functions that I had not been familiar with before. Later I got to get some practice with R a free software I had used in the past but hadn’t used in a while. I was also introduced to Linux and CDARS very briefly through tutorial assignments.
Schedule and Adjusting
Each week we needed to work for a total of 40 hours Monday through Friday. The typical schedule everyone followed was working from 8 am to 5 pm with a one hour lunch break. Our “core hours”, aka time when most meetings and sessions were held, were from 9 am to 3 pm. Even so, we had a lot of flexibility around our schedules as long as we met our weekly target of hours, and were at most meetings.
Adjusting to the hours proved difficult. I found that when I was really struggling with something I would go over hours to keep working, and I wasn’t the only one. I also had to take time to review material and practice outside of work. This doesn’t seem like a lot but on top of everything else going on I was pretty beat. A major resource I used to help me was Codecademy which has free R lessons and open course lectures for SAS and R.
It didn’t take long to realize that I needed to take personal time, and my mentors/buddy did not hesitate to remind me either. During the work day I ate snacks, took breaks, went on walks, and sat outside. Basically anything to get me off of a screen and as far from my desk as possible. Being remote meant I didn’t have to commute, but it also meant that I wasn’t getting outside during daylight hours as much. If I didn’t actively make these breaks I’d just go to my room after a long day and not leave the house. My buddy reminded me to do things on the weekends other than errands and instilled the importance of having a life outside of work, which seriously helped me out.
Biggest Takeway From My Internship
What I really wanted out of this internship was to have the ability to transfer my statistical skills from an academic setting into real-world application. I did gain a lot of insight into the industry, working for a big company, and how the programming side of studies work. The biggest takeaway I had from the first half of my internship was understanding how data is transformed during a study. We worked on mini projects that transitioned raw data into organized datasets, analytical datasets, and then finally tables. From the second half, I learned about other projects that can help researchers and getting help from both your team and other colleagues.
I also learned about how I work best on a team. We’ve all heard about how important our group projects were in school. But it was not until this experience that I realized how helpful that exercise is with coordinating and dealing with other people. Some people you just won’t mesh with but you have to find a way to get the job done. I mean I certainly learned this in other experiences like at my research lab and previous jobs. But here we had to complete projects together from start to finish, and everything we did during that time was judged together like at school. Also it was glaringly obvious who was a team player and who saw this as a competition, which I hadn’t experienced before outside of school. When working together you also need to figure out how to account for other people’s differences and strengths. If one person was good at presenting while another had strong written communication skills then that should be their focus when prepping the presentations. Some team members are very helpful and forthcoming whereas others are not. It really comes down to working with what you all have to meet your goal.
Wrap Up
Altogether, this was a considerably impactful experience for me. In addition to the lessons I learned and connections I made, I feel better prepared for job hunting and interviewing. Moving forward I know what positions I am or am not looking for in terms of position responsibilities.
Until next time!
-Tatyana x
Have you had an experience that really gave you insight on an area of your life such as you career, hobby, etc.?
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