A Promising Career Avenue for graduates from Pharmacy and Life Science

For graduates and post-graduates from Life Science and Pharmacy streams, there are multiple avenues where an individual can launch a career. We have tried listing down the fields where such professionals are welcome and can make a meaningful contribution. Some of the prominent roles are - Laboratory Staff, Microbiologist, Chemist, Medical Representative, Pharmacist, QA officer, QC officer, Production Chemist, Professor. It is surprising to find so many career options available for graduates with  differing talents and interests to make a meaningful career.

However, none of the professions listed above open doors for graduates who are interested in switching to a career in programming. On the contrary, we have experienced time and again that the candidates from Pharmacy and Life Sciences have done or are likely to do extremely well in the Clinical Trial Programming field. Thanks to the ever growing Clinical Research industry, things have started changing rapidly. India is moving from being a generic bulk drug manufacturer to one of key players in Clinical Research being conducted across the world. An indispensable stage in the  Clinical Research and Drug Development is the analysis of the data gathered during the Clinical Trial and generation of study reports  that are to be submitted to Drug Approval Authority such as FDA in US. The most commonly used software for the analysis and reporting is SAS. Thanks to high availability of skilled resources, innovative capacity and reduced costs, we anticipate India (and more generally Asia), with its large pool of young, talented human resource, will spearhead the growth of this segment.

If you have good aptitude, strong domain knowledge in life science and a passion to build a different career, this is an excellent opportunity for you.

There are three reasons why Clinical Trial Programming is a viable career option for you:

1. It complements well your educational background – The domain knowledge you have acquired during your formal education actually puts you at an advantage over other programmers working in this area

2. The field provides a sustainable and highly rewarding career roadmap.  The competent professional can rise up the ranks in the corporate matrix and the only limiting factor is your performance, potential and attitude.

3. The field offers a handsome remuneration and perks that typically are part of a career in Information Technology. These perks include a market competitive salary package, opportunity to attend and present seminars at international conferences  and deployment to overseas locations., 

At Cytel, we have many examples of Pharmacy Graduates who have made an illustrious career in the Clinical Trial Services field. CliPLab, the strategic skill-building unit of Cytel, is working with a mission to help the deserving candidates make a foray into this challenging and rewarding industry. To know more on this topic, you can visit our website or send an email at info@cliplab.co.in

About the author: Nakshatra Vinod, a Postgraduate in Microbiology and Psychology, is working with CliPLab as a Team Lead. Her expertise lies in counseling the students on career opportunities in clinical trial industry and coordinating the operations at the Hyderabad centre of CliPLab.

First C-CAP Batch in Pune Felicitated

We recently organized the convocation ceremony for our very first C-CAP batch from Pune. The students were looking forward to this event for a long time – so much that some of them travelled from Mumbai and Noida just to resurrect some of the great moments of their student lives.  The event was also attended by our existing students who were thrilled with the opportunity to hear the experiences of their seniors as they stepped into the corporate world.

The guest of honor for the ceremony was Mr. Ajay Sathe (CEO, Cytel India) who happily agreed to grace the occasion and share his valuable thoughts for a successful career with the young graduates.

The young graduates have undergone a rigorous training program in  SAS^® 9.4 followed by hands on  experience and on-the-job training at Cytel Statistical Software & Services Pvt Ltd. The C-CAP program has groomed them on various facets of a successful career in Clinical Programming – Domain Knowledge, Statistics Awareness, Therapeutic Areas, Industry Standards, Practical Assignments and Soft skills. The comprehensive structure of the program has ensured that students from diverse educational background are able to emerge as versatile professionals. As shared by Kaveri, our mentor, the diversity in the batch has actually fostered peer-learning and taken the experience to next level.

 In our earlier blog, we had announced that our C-CAP batches were ready to be hired by the market. Thanks to the capability shown by our students, we have been able to clock 100% placement record for the first two batches – one from Pune and the other from our Hyderabad facility.  The students from Pune batch have been placed with reputed CROs such as TCS, Accenture and Inventive. This has once again established the viability of our systematic approach towards talent development.

Previously there was a myth that one must be statistics background to have a successful career in this industry; but with the grand success of our students it has been proved that the statistical knowledge provided in C-CAP is helpful in cracking the rigorous recruitment processes of MNCs irrespective of the student’s background. 

Watch some of our participants share their experiences with C-CAP.

         

The graduates were quite enthusiastic to share their experiences from their stint with the corporate world. Here are some of the useful insights from the interaction: 

1.     An appreciation of statistics helps a lot in cracking the rigorous recruitment process followed by MNCs for clinical programmers

2.     A sound knowledge of the domain is inevitable to navigate confidently through your job responsibilities in Clinical Trial Services Industry

3.     The exhaustive sessions on the safety domains – a unique offering as part of C-CAP, gives you an edge over your peers – both during recruitment process as well as on the job

The graduates were quite satisfied with the training provided on various classes under Safety domains - such as general observational class, special purpose class etc. One of our students shared that in his new project he is working on the assignments pretty similar to what he had worked on as part of practical training in C-CAP. Naturally this gave him an added advantage in terms of understanding of data and analysis of the same. As part of the operations team, it was very gratifying for us all to hear the kind words from the batch. The batch remains special in our heart, since they put their faith in us and gave 100% commitment as we walked along the journey.

Congratulations to all our gems that are ready to adorn the teams of these reputed organizations! We have no doubt that you will keep up the learning spirit and build an exemplary professional reputation. All the best!!

About the author – Nikhita Pemgirikar-Pasalkar, a post graduate in healthcare management , is working with CliPLab as a program coordinator in Clinical SAS Programming. She has been a key contributor in design and execution of C-CAP program.

C-CAP Lite Unveiled – Merge with the highway to a great career

At CliPLab, our mission is to help youngsters build a meaningful career in Clinical Trial Services Industry. The belief in our mission has enabled us to come up with C-CAP – a proven career development program that captures all aspects of a coveted profile in the industry. While campaigning for C-CAP, we realized that there are candidates trained in SAS programming from other institutes and still unable to make a foray in the industry. We brainstormed over this and came up with an entry path for such candidates to benefit from the C-CAP program. Now, candidates already trained in SAS elsewhere, are able to join C-CAP through an option called C-CAP Lite.

The C-CAP program spans 18 months, out of which first three months are reserved for training in SAS programming. Thus candidates trained in SAS can join C-CAP batch at the end of three months for a particular batch and still get the holistic experience. How do we ensure that the candidates joining through C-CAP Lite option are at par with regular C-CAP candidates in terms of proficiency in SAS? We evaluate the incoming candidates with an in-house technical test that only the candidates with sound programming skills can clear. This helps us maintain the quality at intake and help a larger audience at the same time.

The candidates trained in SAS often go for an internship program run by various institutes or CROs in order to gain practical experience and thus ease their entry into the industry. While these options are useful to some candidates, they have their own limitations, when it comes to predictability. C-CAP Lite is designed with an intention to improve the predictability in your career path and thus create a more tangible, sustainable value in the long run. In a short video, we have examined the situation of a typical candidate, trained in SAS and seeking options to debut in the industry. Watch this video to know how C-CAP Lite can help you reduce the uncertainty in your career journey.

To know more about C-CAP Lite, visit us here.