Work placement diary: Camery Ma Yii Earn – post 4
Student experience 7 February 2020
Hi there!
Time flies and I can’t believe I can’t believe my placement is halfway through, that’s crazy! I have just completed my semester 1 organic exam in Manchester last week and it went well. Despite having a shorter Christmas/New Year break, I still found this exam period less stressful than the previous two years. Keeping up with lectures weekly/biweekly really helped (ahem, hint, hint!).
As I got nearer to the exam, my supervisor allocated some of my work hours for revision. This is something not to be taken for granted and I was very grateful for it. As for finance, post-tax placement salary is still pretty decent and with a bit of management it’s not a concern. I am slightly worried about second semester though, it will be more hectic because the exam season clashes with placement report writing and presentation preparation, on top of the actual placement work… but it is what it is. **peace sign**
The first Project Development Trial discussion that my supervisor and I attended in Wales last November went down smoothly. Travel and accommodation were comfortable, and all expenses were covered by the company. My supervisor and I toured the manufacturing plant, got introduced to different specialised machinery and had a meeting with the director of the research centre, which included an introductory presentation and many detailed Q&As. Being able to participate in the discussion was truly a humbling but motivating experience. In the end, both sides felt positive about this collaboration and keep in contact via emails to draft a proper trial plan proposal. We will be visiting the research centre again in February to conduct the trial, I am so looking forward to that!
Meanwhile, back at work, I continue to do some R&D tasks, which are scoped based on a few suggestions from the discussion with the research centre. These are likely to change again based on the results of the coming trial. Being able to carry out a wide variety of tasks as well as to freely plan my time and experimental design (with guidance) are what I really love about my work. It is not very physically-demanding either – which suits me – and has a nice balance between lab work and Excel work. The hard part, as mentioned in my first post, is still learning to be patient and fully enjoy the entire R&D process… including failed experiments and weird results. **sob**
Phew, a lengthy blog post this time eh so I better stop now. Below is a picture of my past Christmas trip to Paris, hustle a bit more, and soon enough I will be taking two weeks off work this summer for a USA trip!
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