I’ve just finished a degree in Chemistry and am job/careerhunting. Ideally I’d like something that applies my scientific knowledge, but is more “applied” than academic research - I’d like to have some chance of seeing “results” of my work in some form. This doesn’t necessarily have to be as a finished product, I’d just like something more tangible than “in 10-20 years time this could be something people actually use”. It would also be nice to feel that my job did something for other people in some way. I generally get on well with other people and tend to work well as part of a team, though I can work independantly as well (this is starting to sound like a CV…)
I’ve come across the idea of being a biomedical scientist, and it seems to suit me. You can do it after a chemistry degree (with another two years training, which is fine), it applies some of my knowlege, and I think that knowing I was part of a system helping sick people would give me great job satisfaction. There seems to be plenty of opportunity to progress upwards, and it seems to me that the skills involved would carry some value if I wnated to move sideways. I think I’m most interested by the blood chemistry and histology specialisms.
So: Does anyone here have any insights on this career? What kinds of skills/attributes are important? What is it like on a day to day basis? If you do it in Britain, how do you find working for the NHS?
Any thoughts will be gratefully recieved.