My experience with Indian Biopharma - Part II

First Stint:
It was an eye-opener to me as I did everything other than biotechnology.I worked in a group of 3, under the guidance of a senior manager who had an experience of over 10 years while working for Singapore and US based bio-pharmaceuticals. Apart from the rich experience, he had very different style of working with his subordinates which was critical in driving along individual's and team's efforts. My colleague was working on technology implementation by understanding how different pieces in an IT industry works to build a software which serves bio-pharmaceuticals. I was working on a layer which would then integrate this software with the machine to produce real-time trends/charts to consolidate business-decision making ability. My job responsibilities involved interaction with process-automation vendors (for e.g. Siemens, Rockwell, GE etc), interaction with process engineerings to understand the Human Machine Interface. I use to interact with other stakeholders of the company to know their views on the project and how they could get the best out of it. At the end of 2 months, I learned a lot starting from ground ZERO.

TAKE HOME:
1. Identify people in company with whom you can grow both personally and professionally.
2. Your initial days in company define how you are going to move ahead in the system. Either you work hard on conventional/ routine problems and try to make a niche for yourself or innovate and implement keeping in mind the existing corporate culture.

My second and third stints were more of laboratory projects, which were critical in their own way. In-fact, anything and everything which is done in a company has to be critical and that's how companies run. right!!
I worked on analyzing excipients in a given protein samples. Basically a protein has its own shelf-life and stability in a given environment. In order to make it more sustainable some other stabilizing molecules are added to the solution. I had to make sure that the excipient's quantity added to the solution remains there until the final drug is manufactured.
My last stint was focused on optimization of filter for purification of drug solution while moved along different downstream stages so that the final sample contains our protein of interest.
These stints served the purpose of exposing me to the bioprocess followed in industries. I worked with young managers who were not well directed in their approach and lacked long term clarity but were somehow managing the system with the guidance of senior management.

TAKE HOME:
1. If you find that the research work in industries is not very appealing then try to understand the high-level process in order to have a feel of how your work will benefit the organization in long run.
2. Do listen to your managers even if they are wrong. But do what you feel is right. You will always get/ make chance to explain 'why you did what you did'.

I completed my stints in Feb'09 and then had 40 days of time to decide on area which I wanted to grow along in the company.
Mind you!! 40 days is a lots of time in a company and so I utilized this time by understanding the 'Hydro dynamics of fermentation technology'. It was not an official project but helped me personally in fulfilling my future endeavors.
Later I chose to continue working on my first project which was focused on implementing technology in the manufacturing facility. During rest of the days, my group changed from 'Production' to 'Business & Strategy' then on to 'Business Systems' and culminated in 'IT Systems'.

It was a total joy ride with stomach aches once in a while.

My 22 months in Biopharma ended on 10th May'10 on the positive note when I decided to pursue PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering at SUNY Buffalo. Well, when you leave any organization it got to be on a positive note.

My experience with Indian Biopharma - Part I

My experience with Biopharma doesn't go beyond couple of years. After completing my under-graduation in Biological Sciences & Bioengineering I chose to work for the 'Business Unit' of an Indian Pharmaceutical firm which focuses on manufacturing 'Biologic' products. I was then completely unaware of the term 'Biologics' which is popular amongst corporate sectors and is widely understood as 'vaccines, recombinant products which are produced by Bioprocesses including recombinant DNA technology, Upstream, Downstream etc.'

My journey in the corporate sector started on 14th July 2008 with 2 weeks of induction post which I was transferred to my Business Unit. A new concept of lab rotation was initiated in the unit to familiarize freshers with their work place. It was company's view at the new recruitments who wanted them to identify their area of interests by working in different domains for couple of months. It also served as a way for us to decide how we wanted to move along corporate ladders in long run.

I chose my stints keeping in mind the unique challenges which they may offer and at the same time provide comprehensive view of the company. I was partially successful with my attempt as:
(1) It took me some time to adjust with the corporate dynamics.
(2) There were certain domains such as finance, marketing, strategy which required more focus and attention

It was an interesting time when I started working on these stints as I came to know lot of people and understood their thoughts/ motivation behind working in the unit.

Getting through F1 Visa

Congratulations!!! By now you must be all geared up for your US visit. One of the first thing which poses an issue before moving to US is procurement of F1 visa. I went through the same issues when I heard that one of my seniors had to wait for 3 months to get his visa.

Here is what happened during my visa interview which was held at Delhi consulate:

Interviewer: Sir, how are you?
Me: Good. How are you?
Interviewer: I am good. Thank you.
Interviewer: So what is your purpose of visit?
Me: I am going for higher studies.
Interviewer: < there was a smile on his face. >
Interviewer: So which program are you joining?
Me: I am going for MS/ PhD integrated in Chemical Engineering at SUNY Buffalo.
Interviewer: Good. You are going to State University of New York. Its very cold there.
Me: < Pause. I didn't say a thing > ...I think he was expecting some response.
Interviewer: Ohh...so you are getting an assistantship and that too TA. Good.
Me: < Pause > ...I think he was expecting some courtesy here.
Interviewer: So from which university you completed your under-graduation.
Me: Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Interviewer: Sir your paperwork looks good but we need some more time to process your visa. Please move to the last counter.
Interviewer2 (Indian Guy): Sir,we need some details on your research background. Do you have your CV and university offer letter.
Me: < I handed over my CV and university offer letter to them.>
Interviewer2: Sir, you are through. Please check your status using this case no. written on pink slip. As soon as it says 'Visa Processed', collect your visa from the embassy.

TAKE HOME MESSAGE:

1)Show courtesy to your interviewer.
2)Don't even speak a little about your research work. Not a single technical word.
3)Even if you get pink slip or visa delay under 221(g), don't panic. Contact embassy after 2 weeks from the date of your interview and check status from them.
4)Don't rely solely on the case no. mentioned on the pink slip.

RESULT:
My visa was processed in 25 days and I never came to know about it unless and until I contacted them. There are no updates on the website hence relying on it makes little sense.

Signal to Noise

When did you realize your decisions were being modulated by the system around you? My intention behind writing this post is to explain rights, of the system, to the people which they are part of and whose role in turn defines the structure of the system. Most of the Indian organizations, public and private, are very less transparent and follow crude working methodologies. Only few sitting at the top level decide the fate of the middle layer and seldom bother about the lower strata of the system. Such org-design discourage individuals from putting their best further causing frustration amongst them. Most of the time individuals don't ask questions because of the fear of being treated as 'rebel' amongst their superiors who in turn decide the fate of their livelihood.

Below are defined some thumb rules which could make people work efficiently and be reasonably happy in a less efficient organizational setting:

(1) Frequent interaction with senior managers who are service oriented and possess long term role clarity.
(2) Knowledge of privileges (both personal and professional) which may be seen in terms of monetary benefits, job relaxation, party, hangouts etc.
(3) Spend time with friends who don't crib about the system but analyze each and every aspect of it, whether good or bad.
(4) Identify individual(s) who can provide emotional support at the work station as and when required.

Someone rightly said: Where there is SIGNAL; there got to be NOISE. Our duty is to amplify those signals for them to overhaul the system.

Initiating the uncommon

Recently most of my batch mates started throwing ideas on implementation of a scholarship. The selection criteria ,for the scholarship, knowingly or unknowingly induced digression in our discussion and today we have bunch of ideas which are worth considering and could actually help build a sense of responsibility and develop a culture of innovation amongst new generation.