<p>I am kind of astonished that I am reading some of these comments about “just go back to get another M.S.” and “just go get another major”. I don’t think that it is quite that simple these days to just get up and go back to school especially if you are having to pay for it yourself while also putting food on the table and a roof over your head with a job paying an average salary at best. The way things are right now in this country, going back to school simply may not be an option.</p>
<p>with more and more jobs like this people are right to warn others not to consider Chemistry a viable career</p>
<p>Analytical Chemist / Formulation Pharmaceutical BioTech
Respa Pharmaceuticals, Inc</p>
<p>Job Snapshot
Location :
Addison, IL 60101 (map it!Map it! )</p>
<p>Base Pay :
$13.00 /Hour
Employee Type :
Full-Time
Industry :
Chemical
Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology
Manages Others :
Yes
Job Type :
Pharmaceutical
QA - Quality Control
Biotech
Education :
4 Year Degree
Experience :
3 to greater than 15 years
Travel :
None
Post Date :
10/31/2011
Contact Information
Contact :
Robert Wiley
Fax :
630-543-3345
Description
We are a small size pharmaceutical company expanding rapidly and seeking a part or full time analytical lab chemist. This is a long term position.We also have openings in microbiology lab and formulation chemistry.</p>
<p>Job Description: Responsible for cough and cold liquid formulations, solid dosage formulations (tablets and capsules) creams, lotions and ointments.</p>
<p>Primary Duties:</p>
<p>Experience in using HPLC, pH meter, viscosimeter, Friability, Disintegration and Dissolution testing equipment. Familiar with pharmaceutical manufacturing and testing processes.</p>
<p>Position Requirements:</p>
<pre><code>* At least a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry.
- 2-3 years experience as a Formulation Chemist in the pharmaceutical industry.
- Knowledge of the principles and operation of HPLC, FT-IR and UV Spectrophotometer and in using Empower chromatography software a plus.
- Knowledge of the principles of cGMP’s and cGLP’s.
- Knowledge of basic laboratory techniques, ability to follow procedures and instructions, learn and operate analytical instruments and complete the specific tasks assigned.
- Knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel and troubleshooting skills are preferred.
- Willing to work overtime and can accommodate flexible work schedule.
</code></pre>
<p>RequirementsBachelor’s Degree in Science
2-5+ years related experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience. </p>
<p>•Solid fundamental background of chromatographic techniques in HPLC
•Strong mechanical ability for, troubleshooting, maintaining and operating chromatographic/laboratory equipment.
•Demonstrate strong problem solving skills.
•Familiarity with chromatographic and mass spectral software (e.g. Chemstation, EZChrom)
•Proficiency with Microsoft Windows (various platforms), Word, Excel and Outlook.
•Strong verbal and written communication skills
•Self motivated detail-orientated, able to work independently, or in a team environment</p>
<p>@Mr. Bojangles</p>
<p>Making $30K even after a few years of experience with a college degree isn’t helping the case for science especially if this is in an urban area with even a moderate cost of living. That is a negative return on your college investment.</p>
<p>I’ve heard from all of the professors I’ve asked that there are plenty of opportunities for polymer chemists, which is what I’m most interested in anyway…in fact one of the PhD students in the lab I work in now just got an internship at a major company which he will be allowed to work while he is finishing up his PhD and will be able to continue working there after he’s done. My professor said that there are plenty of jobs open in this field and other professors I’ve talked to have commented when I told them what I plan to specialize in that there are plenty of good jobs open there. Not to mention I have no debt from undergrad and was even able to save maybe $5000 over the course of undergrad to add to my savings from high school (when I got an allowance of $my age per month for chores I had my parents deposit them in a savings account instead of giving them to me directly, as well as saving all of my Christmas and birthday money).</p>
<p>sschoe2, nobody is arguing that right now in 2011, the market for chemists is saturated, most jobs are commodity jobs like QA, and the pay sucks. </p>
<p>No doubt, it sucks to be you. I feel your pain.</p>
<p>However, for the enterprising, there are options (see my previous post- he charges a lot of money and it doesn’t suck to be him), and in 10 years, your graduating class will have all found better things to do, the economy may be better, and there may be more talent opportunities for chemists in the BS Class of 2017, PhD Class of 2021-25.</p>
<p>Even if the economy improves the industries that employ chemists will still lag. </p>
<p>The chemical industry has been in decline for some time. </p>
<p>The pharmaceuticals industry is a complete mess they are losing all their big revenue drugs as the patents expire and have few new ones in the pipeline. This is why they have led the nation in layoffs for several years now. Even if they started now it takes 10 years to bring new drugs to market. They seem to be headed to a off-shore and contract only business model. They do ship a lot of the research to China and India and what they do in the USA is mid to long term projects where they hire a bunch of chemists on contract and then lay them all off when the project is over.</p>
<p>The food industry is not doing great either. They seem to be also using the contractors model.</p>
<p>I predict in the future most chem jobs are going to be contract only and with the contracting agency eating such a large portion of your income and not giving benefits, raises, or any type of stability it will continue to be a low paying, unstable, revolving door profession. Avoid Avoid Avoid!!!</p>
<p>BLS says chemistry will grow slower than average though I think that is overly optimistic.</p>
<p>This post just makes me sad lol.</p>
<p>Since you’re so good at forecasting the future, you should be able to go short on everything chemical and make a lot of money, so stop complaining :-). </p>
<p>For the rest of the people. I think you’re wrong. </p>
<p>I agree the current commodity chemical industry will continue to decline and continue to pay commodity wages. Commodity businesses have no means to differentiate and therefore everything is sold on price. </p>
<p>There are novel ideas in chemistry that if there were a healthy economy would require talent jobs. My forecast is that the economy will not always suck, and there will opportunities for innovation to flourish. </p>
<p>I would not discourage my child from pursuing science if she wants to. I would just encourage her to be excellent.</p>
<p>If any of my children decided to major in science I would discourage them to the point of yanking any financial support. There are many better fields to go into that reward and develop hard work and intelligence rather than abuse and exploit it.</p>
<p>Sschoe2-such as what?</p>
<p>Work your bum off, get an MD, pay for it with ROTC and you’ll get nearly any bio-tech job you want–but you’ll also have a plan B to fall back on.</p>
<p>I’m definitely looking into a MD, but I’m also interested in math among other things (not math phd). I know I don’t have to decide now, but I’m kind of going in about 3-4 directions & it’s annoying.</p>
<p>You can major in math and take the pre-med courses alongside.</p>
<p>@beatles11 the degrees that businesses hiring really value</p>
<p>Accounting, businesses love people that can find all the loopholes in the tax code</p>
<p>Finance, businesses love people that can create complicated investment vehicles to cheat others</p>
<p>Actuary, insurance companies love people that can articulate risk and minimize the money they will pay out.</p>
<p>HR Businesses need people that can keep the slaves from revolting against the masters</p>
<p>health care
Doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and physical therapists: People sick or dying will pay anything to have their suffering alleviated</p>
<p>The trouble is people who are not sick would rather spend money on beer and sports rather than developing drugs that might someday save their life so the pharmaceuticals and medical research industries are out of luck. No immediate returns no instant gratification.</p>
<p>The problem is that only the truly exceptional will make it in the sciences in a glutted market. The difficult aspect is how to identify whether or not you are truly exceptional, and then decide whether or not it’s worth trying or not. There are lots of people in graduate programs who don’t belong there, and will not see an appreciable benefit from their graduate career in science. They would be better served by getting a job and gaining work experience. </p>
<p>No one goes into a graduate career thinking that they are average. Encouraging someone to be exceptional is basically consigning them to be a slave for the next 5-7 years of their lives.</p>
<p>I think some people in this post have forgotten the purpose of choosing a college major.
The first thing to know when choosing a major is to know what u really like and want to do in the future. </p>
<p>@beatles11 : forget about the statistics. economy and job prospect for a minute. Do really like biology and want to study and work in careers relating to biology? If you really want to, you have to take a risk and pursue your education in biology despite what other people say. If you just want to make a lot of money then you should consider other lucrative majors such as accounting or business or engineering. Do u think you will be happy studying and do what accountants do ? IF yes , you should do that. If you are really interested in biology and related field then you should go ahead with biology. Can you live without studying biology because of what people say or bcuz of the bad economy? do u think you will regret not studying biology in the future ? </p>
<p>If you plan to choose biology major then it should be because u’re really passionate about it and because you want know biology …not because of some statistics. If you decide to follow a more lucrative major which you dont like … even if you earn MILLIONS of dollars …you will not be happy and probably wish u shud’ve sticked with bio. Think about it… isnt the purpose of going to college to learn what you want to learn and be happy ? Would you spend 4 years of you life learning something you dont want to just because it can earn you a lot of money ? What is the purpose of money ? It’s to make your life better and to make you happier. Dont spend years of your life trying to pursue happiness through un-happiness.
If you decide to stay with biology and fail in the future… you need to remember that you did not spend 4 years of your life for nothing. Hey you know alot of stuff about biology than most of the people on earth.You have achieved something big for yourself already. YOU TREID your best! things might not happen immediately after college but nothing stays the same forever. At least you wont have to live with the guilt of denying your own desire to pursue something meaningless. If you are passionate about biology , you will do great in it and which will lead you to opportunities in the future. If you do something u dont like ( accounting or whatever ) even if that major can earn you a lot of money , you probably wont suceed becasue you have no interest in doing it.
THERE IS NO GUARNTEE THAT YOU WONT GET A GOOD JOB WITH BIOLOGY OR YOU WILL GET A GOOD JOB WITH LUCRATIVE MAJORS SUCH AS ACCOUNTING OR BUSINESS.
Whatever you do you need to have connections and be open-minded. What good is an artist or singer if you dont know/have anyone who will enjoy your art.
No one person is the same so I am not sure if you understand what i mean or not. This is just an advice … im not trying to offend anyone or anything. I’ve been in your position and I knew that it helps alot of more if you ask youself questions than to ask for other people’s opnions. What helped them might not help you at all. And What they fail in you might succed who knows ? Just do want you’re really passionate about and be happy ALL THE TIME.
you wont die of starvation just becasue you cant get a job in ur major.
Again this is just my opinion. Im not focring anyone to do anything they dont want to do =)</p>
<p>@ sschoe2
hey man u have a BSc. Biochem and MSc. Chem-concentration in biochem and analytical. You know a lot about Biochemistry than over 50% of the population on the earth. ( im not really sure it’s 50% or not 
) Didnt you take biochm because u like it ? You dont marry the girl of you dreams and than blame her and hate on her because things dont go well. Even if you divorce her out of frustration … you’ll regret it for the rest of your life later ( assuming that she is THE ONLY GIRL of your dreams ) Nothing is ever easy in life. You fall down , you have to get up … instead of complaining or shouting at other people why you fall down.
if you have time to discourage other people from following their dreams than u have time to improve your life and work on ur own dreams. Throughout this post you sound like mu high school counselor who was totally useless and hateful on his life that he discouraged the students from going to a good university. He made my senior year hell. Please dont be that guy.</p>
<p>And for the love of god… dont let your cousin work in strip club when she has the chance to go to college and do something she likes ( unless stripping is her passion O_O )
And please dont discourage your children from doing science if that’s what will make them happy… dont u want to make your children happy ?? Only happy people make money and be happy Trust me on this.</p>
<p>And dont think very highly of accounting and business majors. they are mostly about organizing or making use of the things created by scientists. Every thing is created by science n engineering . The accounting and bossiness people work on that. If there is no science major left. Business and accounting majors wont have work either. YOu are not dying anytime soon ( unless you’re already 80 or 90 something O_O ! )… you still have a lot of time left to do meaningful things and change your bad condition to a good one.</p>
<p>You said this yourself : <em>The days where employers are impressed with any degree are long gone</em></p>
<p>why dont u try finding other jobs not relating to your major then ? Your are not limited to your major at all.
You have tried your best to get a Masters dont give up now… Be positive and positive things will happen 
I wish you the best man!</p>
<p>I’m trying to give people a sense of reality. Most people expect that when they go to college they will be better off when they graduate. That is not the case for science majors.</p>
<p>All this study what you love idealistic crap is what has led hoards of people to take all sorts of worthless BA’s and end up working for minimum wage with $20k of college debt crushing them. Heck I used to love and have a passion for biochemistry. Now a days I just hate everything to do with science. It doesn’t matter how much you like a subject if it destroys your life you won’t end up liking it.</p>
<p>As for finding a different job I have tried it. All the job ads are looking for someone who has pretty much done that exact job for 5 years and has a relevant degree. Food science major for food scientists accounting for accountants, Computer science and certs for IT people. People are pretty much pigeon-holed. That is why polls show 85% of people are in jobs they hate.</p>
<p>
I’d hardly call making between 30 and 40k a year “lucky”. In fact, I wouldn’t bother going to college at all if I knew I’d be making between 30-40k when I got out.</p>
<p>Agreed a degree in Chemistry or Biology is just simply a waste of money, effort, time, and in general life itself.</p>