I chose to first work for Almac as a placement student back in 2010. Almac had opened a great position for a placement student to work within the data services team, so I applied and got the position. I was attracted to Almac as I found the Pharmaceutical industry interesting and wanted to learn more about it.

I also wanted to find out what is involved within the data services role on a daily basis. The other placements I applied for were mainly working for companies who wrote JavaScript, and I didn’t enjoy JavaScript programming that much within my first year. Databases were a new learning curve and there were no other roles that were similar in the market at the time I was applying for placements so it was exciting for me to do something else I knew my peers from university would not be doing.

I spent 10 months working alongside my manager, getting to understand the working world within the IS department. After I completed my placement, I went back to university to complete my degree. A graduate position in the IS department became available, so I applied to come back to Almac as I enjoyed working with my team and already had the knowledge of a lot of the tasks required.  I was accepted and have been working with Data Services since.

There are many perks within Almac that make the job worthwhile but the most important is being able to work within a team that is able to support and help with any queries or difficulties that you have.

I always feel like if I need a question answered there will be someone within IS or the business who will be able to set me on the right path.

If someone I knew was going to apply for a position here I would tell them that Almac is a great place to work as our colleagues all look out for each other and help when they can.

I would let them know about all the amazing opportunities that I have had while working within the business and how much the business has grown in the few short years that I have been here.

Working with our business users has allowed me to learn more about the business as well as the role that I can provide.

Since I joined Almac I have learned many different skills to enable me to do my job and support my team. I have been taught coding right through to database administration tasks which are all important jobs within the data services role.

To further improve my skills and understanding of the role I provide to my team, I have also completed some training courses. I feel that training and always having the chance to be mentored by my peers is essential when working within an IS department, as technology is constantly changing and it’s important to know the best ways to get the job done.