I interviewed Mark Cullen, a Quality Assurance Specialist that works for a Biotech Company called Stemcell. I interviewed Mark through a video call, I chose to interview him because we both have interest in biology.
Questionnaire answers
Can you explain your roles and responsibilities with your current position?
A Quality Assurance Specialist insures that products are high quality, they regulate the process that goes into making the product, sets the standard quality of release, and does the documentation.
What obstacles have you faced to get you where you are today?
As with any job, it’s a challenge to convince the interviewer that you are the person for the job, and specifically in Vancouver, there isn’t a lot of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. There are mostly smaller research-based companies in Vancouver.
What advice would you pass on to someone interested in what you are doing?
A science or engineering background, working on communication and presentation skills.
Why are you passionate about your job or role?
The products that the company Mark works for makes are always high quality. The products that are made are used in research and clinical trials, help projects and experiments, etc. Mark likes to help in developing drugs and curing diseases.
My own questions:
What aspect of your work do you like the most?
Talking with different people, meetings with different companies and groups is the main pull aspect to Mark. However, this same aspect can also be difficult because there may be language barriers, different opinions, values and criteria differentiate between companies, etc.
What got you first interested in your current work?
In school Mark enjoyed science, and his dad owned an engineering shop. He first got interested in physics and chemistry. He wanted to become a analytical chemist (participate in police investigations). In college he changed his mind and decided to choose biotechnology for his major which opened up a whole new world.
What you learned from the interview and how that connects to your passions/interests
I learned that even for “academic” jobs, you still need skills in communication and presentation. This connects to my interest because if I want to go into a similar work space, I now know what I need to work on on top of academics.
Bibliography:
Images:
https://www.onlinedegree.com/
https://www.workex.jobs/
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