Wojciech is one of the first graduates from Computational biomedicine – a Master programme offered by SDU for the first time in 2016. Throughout his studies in Denmark, he has worked hard to learn about the Danish job market, and has also participated in the programme Career in Denmark for international Master students at SDU.
What does your new job involve?
I've been given a place on the Novo Nordisk Graduate Programme as a statistical programmer in their biostatistics department, and I'm really looking forward to getting started. I'll mainly be working with data analysis of clinical trials.
The Novo Nordisk Graduate Programme is made up of three periods of 8 months, in which you change between three places - and functions. For instance, I'll probably be spending 8 months in India or Tokyo, which I'm really looking forward to.
How were your studies?
I'm originally from Poland where I gained a Bachelor degree in Biotechnology, which is a study programme very much based on chemistry and wet laboratory work. In 2016, I came to SDU for an internship with the Protein Research group at BMB, and that's when I decided to study on the new Master programme in Computational biomedicine.
The study programme itself has been an exciting journey into a completely different academic world than in my Bachelor. A lot of the subjects in computer science and computational biomedicine were totally new to me, so I've really had to learn a lot, particularly in the first year.
Although Computational biomedicine is a new study programme, which had a few teething problems, I've still got a lot out of it. The study programme is very innovative and ground-breaking, and speaks directly to the times we live in. It focuses on the analysis of large amounts of data, so I'm pretty sure that most of the graduates should quickly land their first jobs.
How did you manage to get a job at Novo Nordisk?
In November 2017, I took part in a case competition at Novo Nordisk - Innovation in Action. I believe that it was a great opportunity to both get to know the company and pitch myself to a potential employer. I'm sure that the competition was a good basis for me getting a job with them now.
Actually, it was through SDU RIO that I had found out about that opportunity. In many ways, they've helped me get my foot in the door and have given me a lot of advice about how I can make contact with different companies. Throughout my whole Master programme, I've done a lot to make myself attractive for the job market, and it's totally great that it has paid off.
Through the competition, I was also introduced to the Novo Nordisk Graduate Programme. You apply to the programme in the same way as with any other job, but one difference is that you also have to send in a video CV, which was pretty interesting to do.
What are you most looking forward to in your new job?
I'm really looking forward to specialising in statistical programming and to using my competences in real life. At Novo Nordisk, I'll also be moving between different departments, which in itself will give me a lot of new experience. They work in a very team-based way at Novo Nordisk, and it's a very international company, which also really appeals to me.
What else could you have found a job doing?
There are a lot of opportunities with Computational biomedicine! Because the study programme is so interdisciplinary, it opens doors to many different industries. The study programme opens up for a wide range of work because you become strong in mathematics, programming and data analysis, which are areas where the work force is very much in demand today.
The world of banking also showed an interest in our profile. Knowledge of analysis of large amounts of data, machine learning and artificial intelligence are also things they need. Obviously, it would require a bit of extra training as we're not trained in finance, but I'm sure that it is possible. Jobs in bioinformatics or software development could also be an option.
What happens now?
I'll be moving to Copenhagen in a couple of days, so everything is a bit hectic at the moment. Our plan is to stay in Denmark for now, and if I can get a permanent position here we, might stay here for good. But we haven't committed ourselves to anything yet.
First of all, I'll enjoy the summer and having completed my Master programme.