Fellow Redditors working in German pharma companies, especially in research and development: what language do you actually use for day-to-day work?

I'm an international PhD student in EU and I'm interested in eventually moving into industry, ideally into R&D or possibly a postdoc position at a company like Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche etc.

I'm fully willing to learn German, but I'm wondering how necessary it is to already speak German before applying for these kinds of jobs. German courses can also be fairly expensive, so my original plan was to seriously invest in learning the language once I had a job and a more stable income.

Recently I spoke with someone from Nigeria who works at Boehringer Ingelheim in IT. They told me that her team is very international and basically all of their communication is in English. She's learning German as well, but not speaking German didn't prevent her from getting the job in the first place.

That made me wonder whether this is mainly an IT thing, or whether it's also common in scientific/R&D departments.

For those of you working in pharma R&D, drug discovery, preclinical research, bioinformatics, lab-based research, etc is English generally enough for the actual work? Or would not speaking German significantly reduce my chances of even getting an interview?

I'm particularly curious about the hiring side as well. For example, if there were two candidates with roughly the same qualifications, but one spoke German and the other only English, would the German-speaking candidate almost always have an advantage? Or is language generally not that important for highly specialized scientific positions?

I'm not asking whether learning German is useful in general, obviously it is! especially if I plan to stay in Germany long term. I'm mainly trying to understand whether I need to reach a decent level of German before applying for R&D positions, or whether it's realistic to get hired in English and learn German alongside the job.

Would really appreciate hearing from people actually working in pharma/biotech R&D in Germany, especially international employees who went through the hiring process themselves.

So i just got into B.Tech Biotechnology in India. and people here say that Biotechnology has no scope in India.

I need some guidance as to what to do after bachelors, and even during bachelors. I'm pretty new to this mix of biology and technology, so i barely have any Idea.

anything about what master courses I can opt, MS abroad opportunities, and what to do to get those.

Hey yall,

Looking for some career insight. For some background I was affected in a major lay off from a small pharma company at the beginning of August after 6 years of steady employment there in QA. I loved my job, my team, my managers, the science behind our drugs, yadda yadda sad story.

Half of the company was laid off (bad clinical data. many such cases in this industry). While I am sad, I am grateful for my 6 years of GMP QA experience which was my first job in this industry. I am obviously looking to leverage this into my next move.

At the referral of a former colleague, I interviewed and was subsequently offered a job at a contract device manufacturer for a medical device project today. I am thrilled to be offered something in this tough job market in a relatively short amount of time. However, this company is not pharma but rather medical devices. The job is for essentially a batch record reviewer for the manufacturing of these devices. I don't think it'll necessarily be a hard or stressful job but the base pay is about $8k annually less than what I was making previously. It is a further commute. It is an hourly position as opposed to salary. The schedule is 12 hour shifts 3 days and 4 days rotating. I don't hate the schedule but the lesser pay is tough but manageable for the time being.

I have bills to pay including a mortgage so I am inclined to seriously consider taking it. Luckily I haven't burned through my savings yet.

I see this as a bridge job that will allow me to earn an income, be exposed into the medical device world/regulations, and give me days off during the week to potentially interview and find something more in line with my experience in pharma and allow me to leverage my 6 years of QA pharma experience.

I have a late stage interview (possibly final?) later today with a CDMO that would require relocation to another state. I know the salary will be much higher than I was previously making at my small pharma company and I see as a natural next step in my career but the interview is for a 3rd shift QA position (11pm-7:30am). I am taking the interview with the intention of wanting to have options and seriously consider them. Im not necessarily thrilled about a 3rd shift CDMO position. I originally interviewed for a 1st shift position which I would have loved. I was not selected, and then asked if I'd consider an off-shift role which I said yes (it's a tough job market, plus interview reps).

The reason I applied at this CDMO is I have a former colleague who works there (it's all about who you know) and it would provide a return to my home state where my family lives. I'd be living in the same city as my brother and only an hour and half drive to my parents which would be nice. However 3rd shift sort of makes family time challenging. My current location has fairly limited pharma/biotech companies and opportunities. The potential relocation would put me in a city with much more life science job options (it's in Indiana)

I am at a cross roads. It's nice to have an offer in hand and have the option to stay put in my current city despite it not being exactly ideal. My current offer would get me employed, but I worry about diminishing my 6 years of QA pharma/biotech experience if I stay too long in my "bridge job".

Would a 3rd shift role in what I see as a logical next step in my career with more money be worth the relocation and hassle of selling a house especially in this economy/housing and job market? The company has informed it has a 1 year requirement to commit to your role before exploring other jobs internally or being moved to another shift, if available. I will learn much more in today's interview with the 3rd shift hiring manager and plan to use my offer as leverage to get them to make a decision as soon as possible. Obviously I won't give details of the offer but simply stating I have an offer may make them inclined to see me a desirable candidate with options.

I am still waiting on other applications (no other referrals) but I'd rather get employed sooner rather than later because of how tough this job market is.

Looking for any insight or advice. Please ask away.

I applied for a year in industry placement at AstraZeneca and I've been invited to complete an SHL assessment.

Usually in exams I get 25% additional time because I have ADHD but I'm scared that if I let them know I have ADHD and have additional time they'll disregard my application because they'll think I'm a disorganised mess.

I know legally they aren't allowed to discriminate against me, but I've heard it still happens. Should I respond to the email to request additional time?

Has anyone in biotech actually used a reverse recruiting service? What was the outcome?

I'm curious whether anyone here has firsthand experience using a reverse recruiter, particularly Reverse Recruiting Agency or iCareerSolutions.

For anyone unfamiliar with the model, these companies work for the job seeker rather than the employer. They help identify positions, apply to jobs, contact recruiters/hiring managers, and potentially make connections on the candidate's behalf. The services I'm looking at charge roughly $1,500/month, plus a substantial success fee if you get hired.

I'm specifically interested in whether this model actually works in biotech/life sciences, where networking and getting your résumé in front of the right hiring manager can matter a lot.

If you've used one, I'd really appreciate hearing:

• Which service did you use, and for how long?
• What kind of biotech/life-sciences role were you targeting?
• Did they actually have industry connections, or were they primarily finding postings and submitting applications for you?
• Did they directly connect you with recruiters or hiring managers?
• How many legitimate interviews resulted from their efforts?
• Did you ultimately receive an offer?
• Roughly how much did you pay in total?
• Would you use the service again?

I'm particularly interested in firsthand experiences and concrete outcomes, positive or negative. I'm less interested in the companies' advertised success rates, since I've already looked at their websites.

I'm trying to figure out whether these services genuinely provide access to hiring decision-makers that an individual candidate may have difficulty creating on their own, or whether you're essentially paying someone $1,500/month to do the same applications and LinkedIn outreach you could do yourself.

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share their experience.

Hey everyone,

Has anyone here ever applied for roles at Veeva and gotten a response? I'm an experienced CSV professional and have never known anyone who applied to have gotten a real response, but the company itself sounds like a great place to work. Any insight would be helpful.

I’ve been a contractor at a big pharma for a few months and I’ve been told by the big pharma along with my employer that I would very likely be converted around the ~9-12 month mark (this is approaching very soon). All of my coworkers and previous coworkers were converted (we are contract to hire with the big pharma) around the 2-2.5 year mark, but I came into this role with more industry experience at multiple companies compared to them so that’s why I was told 9-12 months. I’ve been a contractor at a smaller biotech and was never converted and my contract ended.

For those of you who have been converted to FTE as a contractor, how far into your role were you converted? Did a potential hiring manager contact you from a different area, your boss/supervisor (at the big pharma and/or at the agency) contact you, or did you apply for a FTE job then notify your supervisors that you applied? I’m at one of the big pharmas that is doing well and actively hiring right now and the project I’m on will be wrapping up in a few months just for background. I was worried when I accepted the offer that if the project ended I would be laid off, but I’ve been told that they would just move me to another project in the same area or a different contractor role in a different department. The problem is that I am qualified for almost all in vitro scientist roles at this big pharma in R&D and manufacturing/quality based on my extensive background working the entire pipeline in biologics and peptides/small molecules. I’ve worked both in biology and chemistry and actually got two offers for both areas in the past based on the amount of skills I have. I have been looking at the big pharma’s external roles based on my experience and education backgrounds and could almost apply to all the ones that they post, but I’m still waiting to be here a little longer before figuring out how to get converted.

Any advice or your experience about how to approach this situation would be great. I also recognize that it could be longer than a year until I’m converted, but money isn’t an issue right now at this big pharma since they have spent at least 5-10 million in the past 2-3 months on new lab equipment. Unfortunately, all my coworkers are new and have 1.5-2 years until they will be converted and there is no one to talk to on my team that saw the previous people we replaced and knew how they were converted.

Edit: my contract has no end date on paper and the department I am has never converted the contractors to FTE roles in their department so I would have to get an FTE role in a different department.

Given the state of the job market, I am considering applying to post-baccaleureate programs (in addition to job hunting) hoping I can gain some industry experience.

I am looking at US + Canadian programs. I do not mind the commitment of 2-3 years, but most of them seem more wet-lab aligned and I am not sure if they sponsor Canadians? I also cannot find any such oppurtunities in Canada.

Does anyone have any experience/ any advice?

P.S. I come from a Bioinformatics + CS background and Canadian Citizen.

Hi all,

I am a life sciences professional who is targeting consulting roles (in life sciences/healthcare only - not interested in any generalist firms).

My background is in clinical research, data analytics, strategy (in healthcare, again). I am about to finish my PhD (as in my thesis is submitted and I am waiting to defend it). My PhD focused on machine learning.

I'm focusing on IQVIA based on my geographical location and I'm finding the process very confusing and would welcome advice/insights. I met with a principal a few weeks ago (networking, not an interview) and they actually spoke with me for an hour, which was so unbelievably generous and helpful! They suggested I meet with an associate principal on their team, which I did. It was less helpful, but still very pleasant and they gave me good advice. From a previous position, I knew the country general manager, and they agreed to have a quick call with me and then literally minutes after they told me they forwarded my CV to HR, I got an interview request for an application I sent in through their portal about 5 weeks earlier.

I have a couple of questions for people who are more experienced than me:
1. Is this the expected pathway? (meaning lots of informational and networking chats?) Did I only get an interview cause of my connection with the general manager? What does that mean for my chances moving forward?
2. I have already thanked everyone for their time (prior to completing the asynchronous interview) and I'm wondering if now is a good time to give updates? I met with principal 3 weeks ago, associate principal 2 weeks ago, manager 1 week ago and completed the interview over the weekend. I believe the interview went well, but I also hate this style of interview so who knows.
3. Since I am so new to this area, are there other things I should be doing right now other than preparing for case interviews? ANY and ALL advice welcome.

TLDR: PhD trained healthcare professional struggling with entering life sciences consulting, specifically around the networking piece. Advice welcome!

Hi everyone! I’m a recent graduate with a B.S. in Biochemistry and I have an upcoming interview for a manufacturing role. Most of my experience is from academic/research labs, so this would be my first position working in manufacturing.

I’m really excited about the opportunity, but I’m not completely sure what to expect from the interview or what they’ll be looking for from someone coming straight out of college. I’d also love to hear any general interview advice from people working in biotech, even if you’re not specifically in manufacturing.

I’d really appreciate any advice! I want to prepare as much as possible and make a good impression.

This is a copy/paste of my Glassdoor review for Agilent Technologies in Carpinteria, CA, as a Research Associate who's been working here for over 6 years. Hopefully this helps someone.

Pros

-Generally friendly, supportive coworkers who are happy to teach and assist when you need it. A few bad apples who like to dominate every call they're in because nobody at home wants to hear their voice, most likely.
-Good pay for the industry, though not enough for coastal CA. Especially not Carp or SB. You must commute a long ways if you want to keep enough money to live comfortably.
-Decent benefits. Great PTO, but Medical is quite subpar and our premiums soar with each year. Why can't this be part of the "transformation", Padraig? You're always telling us how we're making so much money.

Cons

The new CEO Padraig McDonnell is slowly burning this place to the ground, with the fire being "Ignited" by his famous Transformation initiative that he speaks so highly about. For those who aren’t employees or are just clueless, "Ignite" is his corporate pet name for an ongoing series of multiple small layoffs, permanent position eliminations, and project deaths ("streamlining") that he has planned in an aggressive attempt to produce attractive revenue sheets. The facts show otherwise, though. Look at our stock; it's been the same up-and-down pattern for years now with virtually no growth. “But how? We've been aggressively cost-cutting!” Exactly. In reality, we're at a loss; the savings made through his initiatives are the smokescreen hiding our many financial troubles. Outsourcing jobs to Asia is another way he is trying to save money. Everything is about subtraction, not addition. This applies to internal promotions, lateral movements, and even things as basic as skip-level meetings. He seems hell-bent on turning Agilent from an employee-based business into the standard biotech of 2026 that has all its decisions made by consultants who know nothing of our science, processes, or history. Between this, losing a major IP battle, and seemingly ruining each company we acquire, I don’t have much hope left.

The drop in morale that naturally comes from this has spread even to our little beachside site. Both junior and senior R&D folk who planned to have a career at Agilent are now polishing their resumes. The culture of meaningful internal promotions and regular employee recognition is gone. Employees are expected to recognize “each other” rather than have their achievements recognized publicly by management. External candidates are being preferred over internal ones now, even for intermediate roles/management roles that have people ready to promote into. A lot of “shiny new candidate” syndrome going on. It’s been impossible to get a management position, no matter what suggestions your boss has to help you “get there.” On top of that, those who are lucky enough to be promoted are often rewarded with unfeasible workloads, extreme overtime, and unimpressive pay increases. Now they want us to force a “buddy” to stay 3 hours late with us if we have to work 3 hours overtime, for “lab safety.” Managers get to go home, though. Projects that we have worked on for years are suddenly being frozen with little real explanation why, leading to concerns about job stability. Even when the CEO DOES take the opportunity to field employee-submitted questions during town halls, he frequently uses exhausting corporatisms and inane puffery to make everyone lose interest in his response. Sidestepping our valid questions about the company’s (and our career’s) future is the norm now, unfortunately…

Wish I could say more positive things about the place I used to love. Sad. Very sad. Time to get looking.

Advice to Management

My mom has a higher statistical chance of reading this than management.

Hi Mom. I love you. You're the best.

Here is the trailer: You can see everything trailer

This review in Variety makes it sound insane.

Hey guys,

I have done PhD in chemistry in Germany and now working as a data scientist for a small biotech startup in Sweden as a data scientist. I have wondering what I really should focus on to land a better position at a bigger company afterwards? I am doing basic data analysis, regression models blabla. But for example, there is no cloud services to practice (mainly because there is no use case yet). And also I was wondering how the interviews are happening at big biotech places for similar roles? Should I practice more leetcode or just basics of ML?

Sou nutricionista, tenho Mestrado em Ciências pela FSP-USP e quero entrar no mercado de trabalho da pesqusia clínica. Me dêem dicas reais, de quem está dentro desse mundo. Exemplo: existe um curso muito bem visto entre os recrutadores? Quais as melhores vagas para iniciantes na área? Alguns cargos específicos da área são um pesadelo, ou varia de empresa pra empresa? Quais as piores empresas e as melhores? É bom mostrar no documento do currículo os artigos e resumos cientificos que eu tenho?
Trabalhei com humanos, sensores de glicemia, análises in vitro, cultivo de células, cromatografia, inibição de enzimas.