senior scientist

scientist

intern

system engineer

production technician

Roche

There was good and bad at Genentech in SSF; unfortunately, the bad far outweighed the good in our department and in a cross-functional department with which we frequently dealt.  The environment was extremely political, restrictive, and often negative.  When I first came to the company, and before I had started any work, my manager proactively warned me that "There are LOTS of land-mines here!”  That was the very first red flag.

One cross-functional manager was allowed to run amok and wreak havoc, not only to his own team, but to other cross-functional teams as well.  This resulted in unexpected sudden departures of high-performing employees on his team as well as collateral damage to  cross-functional contractors.

There was little freedom of movement and information as everyone was constrained to work in silos that were closely guarded by management.  This made collaboration among workers extremely difficult and sometimes such collaboration was actively  discouraged by management.  The quality of work output was mediocre in our department and management showed little interest in improving, in spite of being offered specific, efficient methods by very well-experienced personnel.  The root cause of this was an inordinate fear of resistance from a cross-functional manager.  And this observation was made, and privately discussed, among many well-experienced contractors and by some employees.

Management was completely intolerant of honest and diplomatic corrections made in cross-functional meetings.  That is, they were protective of errors stated by other managers during meetings and would punish anyone who made respectful corrections to unintentional misrepresentations of facts.

There are many prolonged and inefficient meetings yielding no tangible results and without managerial discretion regarding who actually needs to attend - thus resulting in still more waste in the form of hidden costs.  There is little accountability for employees and mid-level management.  Schedules are easily and repeatedly slipped. Try to improve the methods and practices, while still complying with the existing systems, and you will likely face a brick wall if it requires even a minimal interdepartmental effort.

Our team of contractors is dissolving as several have become discouraged with new, poorly considered cost-reduction policies and have recently chosen to leave the company mid-stream during projects.  All of them are highly qualified, educated, and experienced and some of them had been at Genentech SSF for many years.  Team morale has been adversely affected.

In summary, the good culture and values that are endlessly professed at the company are glibly regurgitated, but not practiced by mid-level management.  Instead, the work environment is fraught with an adversarial hierarchy, bad politics, gossiping, and intimidation.

In my current position, I held several regional and global lead positions conducted under a Project Mmgt style.  I gained extensive experience in significant issue mgmt, global compliance assessment as well as writing local and global processes, tools and procedures.

I was the lead for working with our vendor managers and the CRO leaders for our monitoring staff.  They escalated significant site & study as well as monitor performance issues to me, and we collaborated on action plans, which were mainly subject to my approval.

I was the gatekeeper for severe issues, including fraud and misconduct for the highest GCP Council for reporting and managing them.  I worked with the study teams extensively on these types of issues as well as CAPA implementation from audits/inspections.

I was afforded the opportunity to bring forth new ideas and the freedom to implement them at my discretion.  I was well trusted, valued and often recognized for my achievements.  I was always bringing something new to the table for process simplification.  I wrote all of my own project training materials, which were often adopted globally.  I was always thinking ahead toward streamlining and improving every aspect of my position.  I'm very "big picture" and detail oriented, I'm very independent, and I leverage resources, tools & systems to simplify work.

I was known for building bridges to establish relationships and foster collaboration where none existed previously.  This fostered a more robust working environment under which I gained more insight to other departments.  These relationships ultimately allowed me to provide the best ways to run and manage my projects.  I was recognized for this extensively by company leaders.

I loved my career, and the only reason I'm leaving after 14 yrs is due to all remote positions being eliminated globally under new leadership.

I worked in several departments at Roche and all of them suffered from the same issues: poor leadership and poor hiring decisions. Hiring based on who's relative a person is does not (usually) mean you are hiring the best candidate. It does, however, create fast animosity towards that person as well as create immediate cliques. 

Management does not care about their employees. They continuously eliminate positions and pile on the work of 3 or 4 people onto 1 person leaving no time for a social life. Leadership is not transparent. However they are crass and degrading - talking about people in derogatory ways when they are not there to defend themselves. It's disgusting. 

If you desire to work for an innovative company than this is not the place for you. They are afraid of being innovative and rely on the "we've been doing it like this forever and so it or we will not change" approach. This seems to be the case for both sides at the Indianapolis location: Roche Diagnostics and Roche Diabetes Care. 

Senior leadership saves the most cringe worthy people by promoting them to high level project initiatives when the rest of their departments get laid off and jobs move to Costa Rica or the likes. Saving people who lack common sense, project management skills and social skills because they are BFFs with senior leaders or HR. Then creating jobs for these people out of the blue, that really are not needed from a business perspective. It's truly amazing. 

If you are critically ill, diabetic or just need really good health insurance you may want to work here... its definitely why I stayed for so long. They dangle these benefits over you like "look we are awesome, complete your surveys so we can be on the top 100 best places to work list!" Notice how they weren't on the list in 2017 (maybe it was 2018 I don't recall) This is because we finally started to realize the benefits are a ruse!

My role in this job ranged from documentations expert to data manager to bio-statistician. Entering with a background in applied physics, I had a diverse and strong skill set, and this job required me to preform at all levels nearly all the time, whether I was networking with colleagues overseas to develop a testing procedure that would yield strong statistical power or to give an open presentation on our team's progress and statistical results. As my contract approached its end, my time was spent on data management and documentation.

The company provided ample support and cross-department assistance. The atmosphere was largely amicable and the employees were incredibly friendly, which alleviated the stress that came with the workload. 

I was given the space and guidance to learn R, quickly becoming our office's expert, and developed statistical analysis modalities for verification protocols. I learned quality control procedures and how to produce adequate scientific publication for FDA submission. Learning is my favorite part of any job, and my role at Roche allowed me to absorb the knowledge and experience I need to become a stronger industry scientist.

Our company was approaching launch when I joined, so my employment was restricted to a contractor position which did not grant vacation nor holidays. This was an issue for me, having missed out on holidays for the previous 6 years (4 during undergrad, 2 grad school), impacted by the high-intensity requirements of the job as we approached 510K/CE-marking submissions. These are the only qualms I had.

When I first started with Roche Diagnostics, it was a magical placed filled with nice people who cared about your well being. I had an awesome manager who cared and co-workers who had great work ethic and teamwork. As time went on, (as did 4 senior vice presidents, mind you) things got worse. 1 guy that I worked with left the area, they switched management on us, and made the job ultra competitive. At this point, I was doing the job of 2 people. Keep in mind, my area was huge and I was the only person in the company who had to drive 6 hours to get to his/her closest account. Even with all this though, I was still the top performer, in my region. But, my "new" boss didn't help things and ended up being a narcissist/micromanager. Everything was about "His guys" and he was constantly condescending and even told me I didn't need to go to college, I just needed to read a service manual. It got so bad that I had to report him to HR, which did nothing at all.

After sitting through an area meeting, where the Senior VP decided to get drunk and tell us how much Americans "Suck," and how he would "shoot the stragglers" I decided I had enough of Roche and put in my notice.

I am thankful for my experience, but I feel this is one of those companies that feel that, YOU, should be happy that they let you work there. They do not cherish their Hard working employees, and will get rid of you in a second. If your not part of the clique, you might as well expect to be a FSR for a while. You used to be beautiful Roche!

I learned a lot by working at Roche; It is a great place to work!  It's organizational structure internationally is strong and makes sense.  My co-workers were professional and truly enjoyed a team environment.  My role was supporting the system and users, which I truly enjoyed.  My manager was great for the majority of my employment.  The last year was awful, as a new manager came on board.  I experienced bullying for the first time in my life.  On my team we implemented several system changes, sometimes overlapping projects with upgrades, with no breaks, and at times working on holidays or very late.  Many could say that it could have been the hardest part of the job, but it wasn't.  It was the most satisfying!  The hardest part, was the bullying that I experienced for over one year, which was completely unnecessary.  Still, I hold a positive attitude and will not fault Roche for one individual.  The bully actually moved on, and didn't even last long in the role.

I have been in the Biotech Industry for 17 years. I have truly enjoyed my experience at Roche/Genentech. My typical day at work consists of my team and I convening at the outset of the shift to discuss, in an organized fashion, work related current events, and the path forward for the day's activities. With Roche/Genentech I have learned multiple scientifically backed assays (see resume) that comport with GMP compliance that are used in release of FDA approved product.  In addition, I have learned how to solve problems as they arise, and interact with multiple departments and personnel on a daily basis to solve problems and ensure a path forward is established. Management has always been a respectable entity at Roche/Genentech. They have consistently promoted progress and development. Workplace culture has always been an important aspect of the job. At Roche/Genentech, we have celebrations that occur upon achievements, monthly mixers, a great Christmas time party/parties, enjoyable day to day interactions with coworkers. The hardest part of the job is trouble shooting stubborn instruments and/or assays. Typically this is a function of software or instrumentation. The most enjoyable part of the job is of course the people. At my location, I have great and professional colleagues. I could not ask for better.

I started my career at Roche Molecular Systems as a scientist in the Oligonucleotide development department. In this role, I was responsible for scaling up processes, validating critical processes parameters, and technology transfers. Additionally, I was extensively involved with the Oligonucleotide synthesis processes. 
Currently, I manage the Analytical Testing Group. My lab performs in-process and final release testing in a GMP environment. Besides testing, my lab performs method development, method validation, and method transfer activities.
I am responsible for maintaining the lab in compliance at all times, assisting technical lab control group and investigation team during equipment non-conformance, and out-of-specification results. One of the major responsibilities in this role is to review and approve test method validation protocols and reports and assist the team during audits. I also review the testing documents and manage the changes relating to testing SOPs. I have managed investigations and CAPA related to the analytical testing lab. I manage the testing schedules to meet the testing demands in a matrix environment. 
The most enjoyable part of the job is technology we work with and the product that we put out in market actually help our patients makes me feel good about my work.

Do not work at Roche. Management is the biggest issue here as they do not care about the scientific process, and only care about valid results. Projects frequently fail or get canceled. Nobody seems to ask scientific questions but instead looks for people to blame. If you want to work at a company where you can grow as a scientist, this is not the environment for you.

 Any scientists job can be replaced by a liquid handler, and management would prefer this. I have been in meetings where directors and department heads openly joke about this. It is rare for a contract scientist to get converted full time, as you are seen as expendable. I know contract scientists that have been on projects for 3 years and were let go indiscriminately. 

Management is the biggest issue at Roche. None of the directors or department heads truly care about the science being conducted. Projects are not managed correctly, scientists are not properly trained, and any lab project is always in crisis mode. 

It does not surprise me that Roche is not doing great as a company. Their competitors are making more breakthroughs in diagnostics, manufacturing, and scientific discovery. Roche is still trying to play "Catch-Up" with Illumina, Bio-Rad, and Thermo Fisher. This strategy is not going well for them

A typical work day involved strategic planning, organization, and customer encounters involving physicians, nurses, hospitals, and pharmacies.  Subsequent to each encounter I always maintained records detailing the transaction to facilitate planning and a continuum of better service.

During my career, I learned life is not about me and to be always concerned with the emotions and needs of the customer at any given moment.  My relationship sales approach provided personal fulfillment and customer satisfaction.  As I continued to develop and seek further growth opportunities I learned to apply the same concepts toward mentoring others and team leadership.

Management, on balance, was supportive and provided advancement resources as requested.  I was treated fairly throughout my career in a corporate culture that was very family oriented.

Developing annual sales plans, dollar goals; and strategies were a bit tedious for me.  Accounting is not my strength.  However, the absolute most enjoyable experiences were the moments I knew my customers considered me a valuable and professional resource.

It is rewarding to help others!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Senior scientist 12 salaries reported	$109,696 per year
Scientist 9 salaries reported	$95,778 per year
Intern 5 salaries reported	$30.20 per hour
System engineer 10 salaries reported	$117,900 per year
Production technician 4 salaries reported	$19.88 per hour

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