Study? Doesn’t always have to be.

My name is Liya and I am in my second year of training as a pharmacist. It wasn’t easy for me to decide to quit my studies and apply for training as a pharmacist at Bayer. But today, two years later, I know exactly that it was the right move.

Like many high school graduates, I thought I should go to university. Because I have already completed internships in pharmacology and I am particularly interested in biology and chemistry, I enrolled in pharmaceutical chemistry studies. However, I soon noticed that it was much more theory-oriented than I had expected and was used to from school. In short: I felt a bit lost there.

No matter who you are – everyone can improve something!

Nevertheless, I was very interested in chemistry, biology and pharmaceuticals, their production and mode of action, which was the reason why I finally decided to train as a pharmacist. Now I am at the end of my second year of training and can say that my interest is even greater. In addition, all procedures are constantly being improved and you can get involved and make suggestions for improvement when you realize: “Wait a minute, this would be much easier and faster”. Whether you are an apprentice, a trained pharmacist or a master, everyone can improve something and will be listened to!

At the beginning of the training I also noticed how great the team spirit is. We are a small class of twelve people and we all get along really well. We always help each other. We also have good contacts with the other classes of pharmacists and the higher classes help out when the younger ones have questions. Of course, we also have our trainers, our teachers in the school and our contact persons in the company. Nobody is on their own – we always help you with problems.

What you learn, you can apply directly

What I particularly like is the fact that what I learn as theory in vocational school I also see in practice in the companies. Labelling a sketch of a plant with its individual parts is one thing, but being able to see this plant working and control it is quite another. In addition it is still to be said: Most do not know the occupation of a Pharmakanten correctly and think directly of pharmacies. That is a frequent misunderstanding. As a pharmacist you manufacture pharmaceuticals, on a small scale in the laboratory, but also on a large scale in production – and there you operate large technical systems and are responsible, for example, for changing the parameters for compressing tablets. However, analyses are also carried out in the laboratory and the quality of medicines is checked.

During the whole training you are not only always in one division, but you also go through all possible departments and see different facets of the job profile and what it takes to turn a pharmaceuticals from a simple powder/active substance into a ready-packed drug.

After the training is far from over

I will have completed my training soon and one always asks oneself: “What now? Should I continue my education? Or should I just work first? I can honestly say that I still don’t know exactly how and when I want to continue my education – but I know that I have a variety of opportunities at Bayer that are also supported. Maybe I’ll make my master, maybe I’ll become a trainer, I could even study on the side. That’s all still in the future. But I’m looking forward to it!

This post is also available in: German