Simon - Our Resident Chemistry Student

mooney1el · Post by **mooney1el** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 11:00 pm

I didn't know quite where to put this, but here goes.

A little bird told me: Simon Johnson (SEJohnson95), our 20 year old chemistry student has landed his first job in the pharmaceutical industry. He will be doing a year internship with Roche in Basel, Switzerland. These internships are not easy to get and he must have truly impressed the interviewers at Roche (as he did with us in his answers in the Rain-X thread).

Congratulations are in order, IMO

Before he knows it, he'll be out looking for his dream E-type, armed with real Swiss Francs :).

Richard Gray
Fernandina Beach, FL

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sat Oct 17, 2015 11:08 pm

Well done Simon. If you could just invent something for dementia I will buy you a pint, providing I remember. Now where was I?

PeterCrespin · Post by **PeterCrespin** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 5:22 am

Congrats Simon. Not a bad company and a nice city. Spent my professional life in pharma and did a lot of work with Roche. Now if they could only find my first four years of pension contributions to a firm they later took over...

JagWaugh · Post by **JagWaugh** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 7:34 am

Congrats Simon. I am in Eglisau/Z?rich, so feel free to contact me if you have any questions about how things work here in Switzerland. Perhaps we can hook up at some point.

Andrew

ralphr1780 · Post by **ralphr1780** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 8:51 am

Congrats Simon, my first was also in Basel at Ciba-Geigy at that time, great memories!

Post by **mgcjag** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:06 am

Hi Simon.....Great news...well done...enjoy.....Steve

Post by **Heuer** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 11:14 am

Well done Simon - will you get a company car? Maybe an e-Type

Moeregaard · Post by **Moeregaard** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:12 pm

Congratulations, Simon! Best of luck with your new position.

David Oslo · Post by **David Oslo** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 1:20 pm

Excellent choice for location, Simon will get to learn a bit of language as well as chemisty. Well done :D

mystery type · Post by **mystery type** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 3:51 pm

well done simon. was your choice of Basel influenced by the fact that Geneva is only 2.5 hrs away

christopher storey · Post by **christopher storey** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 3:52 pm

Congratulations . Lovely place, Basel or Basle, even if it cannot decide which country it's in ! Be sure to visit the Schlumpf museum at Mulhouse while you are there, which is only about 30 kilometres away IIRC

Simon P · Post by **Simon P** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 4:26 pm

Well done indeed. Switzerland can be a little dull, but looking on the bright side its flag is a big plus....

:D

Durango2k · Post by **Durango2k** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 5:29 pm

Yes and if he wants he can very easily go to GERMANY because its near and there is NO channel in the way- and even better, with his Swiss Francs things would be cheaper hereover.

And he can go to Mulhouse / Schlumpf collection which is well worth the day....

Congrats !

Carsten

andrewh · Post by **andrewh** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 7:44 pm

Yes we'll done Simon. I know how tricky it is to get a proper internship with a top company as my eldest daughter is going through that process now. Not chemistry but Classics which I think is pretty complex too. Very well done and I am sure you will be onto your dream series 1 OTS now.

SEJohnson95 · Post by **SEJohnson95** » Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:50 pm

Thank you all gents for your kind words and support, I'm humbled to hear from so many of you! :D It's still not properly sunk in. You go to some of the careers talks in first year and they tell you that realistically not many people get into the pharmaceutical industry, so no one is more surprised than I am!

I shall be one of around 20 UK interns starting on the 1st September next year. We're all be living in a large apartment block 5 minutes from Roche HQ, close to the banks of the Rhine. It all sounds like a dream, full Swiss salary for a year, access to all sorts of facilities Roche provide, the chance to do amazing organic chemistry with some of the best chemists in the world, meet loads of people, travel, loads of things. Any suggestions I'm happy to listen to r.e. places to go and things to see.

It wasn't a dream I thought I was capable of achieving but the academic staff here in Brum gave me a bit of a wake up call! Here's a photo capturing the moment, I may admit to a few tears of joy so I'm probably not looking my best

I tried to sharpen the image as it was a bit blurry so apolgies for the quality.

One step closer to that car anyway

christopher storey · Post by **christopher storey** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 10:34 am

A SUIT !!?? Crikey, now we know you're seriously into this

Post by **1954Etype** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 10:45 am

Well done. A PAID internship?! Now you can get the money together for your E type.

Post by **Heuer** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 10:45 am

There is a very strong Jaguar fan base in Switzerland and they meet regularly during the summer months. Suggest you put out a few feelers with the JDC and E-Type Club. And as others have suggested, Mulhouse has to be top of your list and a day is not enough, it is so vast you need several visits to take it all in. Another one is the Zeppelin museum in Friedrichshafen - a boat trip across Lake Constance makes it a great day out.

David Oslo · Post by **David Oslo** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 6:29 pm

I missed Mulhouse when I was visiting a supplier a few years ago, and kicked myself ever since. Good friend of mine drove down there this summer, and even though he had read up and was prepared (so he thought), he was compeltely overawed. Breathtaking he said. So that for sure is something to experience!

SEJohnson95 · Post by **SEJohnson95** » Mon Oct 19, 2015 8:26 pm

Would certainly be nice to attend a few of the E-Type/JDC meetings over there if I have the opportunity. Already looking forward to being well-placed for whichever European Grand Prix circuit the old man and I choose to do in a few summer's time. (well-placed for me) Probably Austria!

Certainly looking forward to the new challenges, I love living away and leading my own life, so it's just a bit further away really

Love the group of friends here at uni and it will be great to meet loads of people out there. On top of living in such a lovely place. Pinch me! haha

Link:
BBcode:
HTML:
	Hide post links

Link:
BBcode:
HTML:
	Hide post links

Link:
BBcode:
HTML:
	Hide post links

Link:
BBcode:
HTML:
	Hide post links

Link:
BBcode:
HTML:
	Hide post links

The 'E' Type Forum

Simon - Our Resident Chemistry Student

#1 Simon - Our Resident Chemistry Student

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

#13

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20