Transcript About my job as an Applications Engineer

Applications
Engineer/Scientist/Chemist
Lori Sandford
Agilent Technologies, Inc.
My Background
• I was always interested in science and math
• Grades
• I was not a straight A student!
• Life got in the way
• I never gave up
• Get a degree
• Get into College
• First choice is a college strong in your field of interest
• Second choice is a college you can afford
• Third a college you can get into
• Premed
• Biochemistry
• Chemistry-what now???
A Degree is not a Magic Carpet
• Leverage your college experience
• Do research while in school/teaching assistant
• My resume showed some college research that got me a job before
graduation!
• I taught chemistry labs and learned a lot more about chemistry
• Work in your potential field
• Join professional organizations (Alpha Chi Sigma)
• My involvement in a chemistry fraternity gave me a network of college
professors and fellow students who have been beneficial both
professionally and in my personal life
• Work hard, grades matter
• Internships are great ways test careers and get jobs and are plentiful
Getting to Work
• My Career
• Job #1 Searle/Pharmacia/Pfizer
• I was hired before graduation!
• I was given a good starting salary
• They paid to move all my belongings from Florida to Illinois
• My Title: Associate Chemist
• I was trained (you quickly realize that you don’t know much)
• Grunt work-you have to learn from the bottom to move up
• Supported the pharmaceutical discovery and development
process
• Analyzed drug compounds and the other compounds that
were mixtures to provide analytical information for testing etc.
• Learned very specialized analytical techniques in analytical
chemistry that have made me marketable
• Worked in a lab every day with specific duties
When Life Gives you Lemons, Make Lemonade (in San Diego)
• Job #1 ½ Pfizer-La Jolla
• My Site was closing in Skokie
• I was offered a job in California
• No cost of living raise, 2 year commitment
• Job #2 Grace Davison/Alltech (a block down the road)
• My Title: Global Technology Manager, Preparative and Process
Chromatography
• Big title, more responsibility, pay increase
• Completely new type of job out of the lab (mostly)
• Using a different skill set (finally felt more “right”)
• Worked on teams to help develop products
• Talked to customers
• Went to scientific meetings
• Learned about office politics the hard way (Lemonade)
What do I do Now?
• Job #3 Varian-Wood Dale (near the airport)
• Hired with barely an interview!
• Big raise, company car, free gas, free insurance-wow!
• Travel, work in the office or at home!
• Never bored, learn new things constantly
• Respected for technical expertise
• Dream job!!!
• My company was purchased-here we go again
• Job #4 Agilent Technologies, Inc-Wood Dale/Schaumburg
• My job got even better!
• I work for a premier company that is a leader in technology
• People want me to come tell them about my products
What do I do Now?
• What does an HPLC Applications Engineer/Scientist do?
• I use my chemistry background to help other chemists with their problems in
their labs
• I do research on many types of compounds and in many types of fields to help
chemists separate chemicals
• Purity-a pure sample can be used to measure future drugs etc
• Identify impurities-are the other things in your medicine or beverage
harmful?
• Train people on our equipment and/or software used to run our machines
• Give seminars at technical conferences or at companies
• Demonstrate the use of our equipment to chemists looking for new equipment
• Go to training at our centers of excellence in Germany, California and
Delaware
• Run hands-on laboratory sessions for potential customers
What do I like about my job?
• I am never bored
• My job is constantly changing and I deal with new customers all the time
• I help people solve problems which are always different and often interesting
(scientists love solving problems and proving hypothesis)
• I am always learning new things (you quickly learn that what you know is a
drop in the bucket!)
• I travel, which is never boring unless you are sitting in an airport for hours
• I am well paid
• I have a company car, company gas card, company insurance
• I work for a highly respected company in my field
• Did I mention that I am always learning?!
• I work with amazing and brilliant people
• I know that my company makes quality products and is constantly innovating and
cares about customers