Oh yea!!! How excited are you for the bonus blog...I thought I would link to the company website to see some of the cool commercials/promo videos they have. I especially like "The Power of One" for the cheesy progressive rock guitar solo going in the background while people are micropipeting. AWESOME!! haha
Life Technologies Corporate Videos
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The Bob Kays Internship Experience – Part 5
(Part 5?!?! OMG I STINK…If this internship was like the “Rocky Movies” I would have already lost to and beat the guy from Happy Gilmore, destroyed Mr. T's face, single handedly ended Communism and would now be working with inner city youths to end gang violence on the streets of Philadelphia) If anyone stuck with me through that reference, you (like myself) watch may too many Rocky marathons on TNT, get your fill now because once schools starts, you will probably be watching less TV.
WEEEELLLLLLLL then….back to the internship. Wow, these 3 months went by really fast, it feels like only yesterday I was the new guy who was depending on others all the time, constantly being confused, asking lots of questions and bugging people for help…(wait a minute that was yesterday). I mean come on, its 3 months…I wasn’t planning on being the CEO by this time (I would have been just fine with Senior Vice President).
But seriously, this internship has been a fantastic experience for me. I really learned a lot about the company, the position and got lots of opportunities to hone the skills I am learning at the GSM. Before the internship, I was interested in a career in biotech product management and the good news is that this experience only furthered my interested in this position and industry. I feel like that is a successful internship...now i just have to start pandering for a job.
This last week is going to be filled with a lot of presenting and cleaning up of stuff. Today I did a hour long presentation to the product development team with the results of the new product survey I worked on with another product manager. It’s a good thing we picked the tiniest conference room in the building that had too many people in it, no ventilation and used a projector which could essentially double as a 50,000BTU Weber BBQ Gas Grill. Needless to say, I got a little sweaty, but the presentation went really well and the discussion following helped give the team direction on the next steps in the new product development project. I’m going to do this presentation one more time to my product management group and also do a second presentation to that group about the portfolio management project I have been working on next week. So 1 down and 2 to go…then back to the wonderful world of the GSM and back to paying to do work, instead of working to get paid. School would be so much better if you got a paycheck!
Bob
WEEEELLLLLLLL then….back to the internship. Wow, these 3 months went by really fast, it feels like only yesterday I was the new guy who was depending on others all the time, constantly being confused, asking lots of questions and bugging people for help…(wait a minute that was yesterday). I mean come on, its 3 months…I wasn’t planning on being the CEO by this time (I would have been just fine with Senior Vice President).
But seriously, this internship has been a fantastic experience for me. I really learned a lot about the company, the position and got lots of opportunities to hone the skills I am learning at the GSM. Before the internship, I was interested in a career in biotech product management and the good news is that this experience only furthered my interested in this position and industry. I feel like that is a successful internship...now i just have to start pandering for a job.
This last week is going to be filled with a lot of presenting and cleaning up of stuff. Today I did a hour long presentation to the product development team with the results of the new product survey I worked on with another product manager. It’s a good thing we picked the tiniest conference room in the building that had too many people in it, no ventilation and used a projector which could essentially double as a 50,000BTU Weber BBQ Gas Grill. Needless to say, I got a little sweaty, but the presentation went really well and the discussion following helped give the team direction on the next steps in the new product development project. I’m going to do this presentation one more time to my product management group and also do a second presentation to that group about the portfolio management project I have been working on next week. So 1 down and 2 to go…then back to the wonderful world of the GSM and back to paying to do work, instead of working to get paid. School would be so much better if you got a paycheck!
Bob
Friday, August 28, 2009
The Bob Kays Internship Experience: Part 4
So I thought I'd give a little background about some of the things I have done outside of just the internship projects.
Networking
When I started, my boss told me one of the best things an intern can do is to meet as many different people in the company as possible. She was nice enough to give me a list of about 10-15 contacts and suggested I should try to meet one on one with them to learn about their background and talk about their position at the company. This was great because although I was in product management, I was able to speak with people in different areas of the busisness, such as business development, market development as well as some specific application scientists. This gave a good perspective on the company and to get into certain positions. This week, I also met with the division manager, which is pretty cool because he is a pretty big guy in the company. He was very nice and actually had a similar background to myself (worked in biological R&D and then got an MBA to move into business). He also gave me some great career advice and told me to keep him as a contact for the future, hopefully he can hire me or help me get a job :)
Intern Program Activities
Life Technologies has about 30 interns (see picutre below) working this Summer at the Foster City Applied Biosystems site and every week we usually have some sort of internship program event. Some events were really interesting (at our kickoff we got to meet the CEO of the company and at the other event, we got to hear from the President of the Applied Markets Division talk about Applied Biosystems' work with forensic science and crime labs. However, some were not the most helpful (for me, the resume building event was not so helpful, as I have already had hours of very similar events at the GSM).
Probably the best event of the Summer was when we went to a San Francisco Giants game (see the picture below). We went to a day game, so not only did I get free baseball tickets, but they also paid me to go watch baseball and drink beer (AWESOME!!). The game ended pretty quickly as well so after the game we went down Embarcadero to some happy hours after the long hard day of work.
Networking
When I started, my boss told me one of the best things an intern can do is to meet as many different people in the company as possible. She was nice enough to give me a list of about 10-15 contacts and suggested I should try to meet one on one with them to learn about their background and talk about their position at the company. This was great because although I was in product management, I was able to speak with people in different areas of the busisness, such as business development, market development as well as some specific application scientists. This gave a good perspective on the company and to get into certain positions. This week, I also met with the division manager, which is pretty cool because he is a pretty big guy in the company. He was very nice and actually had a similar background to myself (worked in biological R&D and then got an MBA to move into business). He also gave me some great career advice and told me to keep him as a contact for the future, hopefully he can hire me or help me get a job :)
Intern Program Activities
Life Technologies has about 30 interns (see picutre below) working this Summer at the Foster City Applied Biosystems site and every week we usually have some sort of internship program event. Some events were really interesting (at our kickoff we got to meet the CEO of the company and at the other event, we got to hear from the President of the Applied Markets Division talk about Applied Biosystems' work with forensic science and crime labs. However, some were not the most helpful (for me, the resume building event was not so helpful, as I have already had hours of very similar events at the GSM).
Probably the best event of the Summer was when we went to a San Francisco Giants game (see the picture below). We went to a day game, so not only did I get free baseball tickets, but they also paid me to go watch baseball and drink beer (AWESOME!!). The game ended pretty quickly as well so after the game we went down Embarcadero to some happy hours after the long hard day of work.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
The Bob Kays Internship Experience: Part 3
The ups and down-times of interning
So back as promised after a hectic last week. We got out survey launched and as of today, we have about 2000 respondents so we should be able to get a lot of information out of it. The survey will be open until this Friday, so we won’t be working on analysis until next week. (An interesting tip for people who are going to take the stats/market research classes (MGT 249, MGT203B and MGT285), in both of those classes, we used lots of Minitab and SPSS, which are two stats programs for analysis and therefore used very little excel. However, based on my passed job and this internship, it seems like most companies use excel and not these other programs, so just make sure you know how to do everything in excel as well).
I am writing this blog from work so you can probably tell that my week is going pretty slow so far(its funny because last week I was really busy, but this week so far I feel like I am just staring at the clock all day. Good news is I mapped out about 200 different combinations of class schedules for this next year and got my resume updated, so at least I got something done).
For the product development project I am working on, we are in some down time now. After the project update presentation I gave to my boss last week, I now need to wait for the next steps to develop in the project before I can go any further. As I mentioned before, the survey is open so we are just waiting on respondents, and I am waiting to meet this afternoon with the product manager I am working with on the portfolio analysis project so we can discuss the next steps in the project. Getting closer to finishing that project, we have isolated specific buckets of under performing products, so the next step is deciding what action steps should be taken to increase the profitability of the portfolio.
Oh well, until the phone meeting this afternoon, it looks like I need to get back to work (I wonder if there is a new Bill Simmons column on ESPN.com - a great sports/pop-culture columnist if you need something to read).
So back as promised after a hectic last week. We got out survey launched and as of today, we have about 2000 respondents so we should be able to get a lot of information out of it. The survey will be open until this Friday, so we won’t be working on analysis until next week. (An interesting tip for people who are going to take the stats/market research classes (MGT 249, MGT203B and MGT285), in both of those classes, we used lots of Minitab and SPSS, which are two stats programs for analysis and therefore used very little excel. However, based on my passed job and this internship, it seems like most companies use excel and not these other programs, so just make sure you know how to do everything in excel as well).
I am writing this blog from work so you can probably tell that my week is going pretty slow so far(its funny because last week I was really busy, but this week so far I feel like I am just staring at the clock all day. Good news is I mapped out about 200 different combinations of class schedules for this next year and got my resume updated, so at least I got something done).
For the product development project I am working on, we are in some down time now. After the project update presentation I gave to my boss last week, I now need to wait for the next steps to develop in the project before I can go any further. As I mentioned before, the survey is open so we are just waiting on respondents, and I am waiting to meet this afternoon with the product manager I am working with on the portfolio analysis project so we can discuss the next steps in the project. Getting closer to finishing that project, we have isolated specific buckets of under performing products, so the next step is deciding what action steps should be taken to increase the profitability of the portfolio.
Oh well, until the phone meeting this afternoon, it looks like I need to get back to work (I wonder if there is a new Bill Simmons column on ESPN.com - a great sports/pop-culture columnist if you need something to read).
Thursday, August 13, 2009
The Bob Kays Internship Experience: Part 2
Presenting all day every day.
So I’m back. The last couple days have been very busy. I had to give a project update presentation yesterday morning (Wednesday) to our division general manager about the status of a particular project we were working on. I had it already to go Tuesday afternoon when at about 430pm, I found out from my boss that some new information developed which could change the scope of the project. So I had to make some major edits to my presentation and had to stay at work till about 9pm (Although, I have to say with California’s economy in the tank and the Governator raising UC tuitions, I could use the overtime pay). My boss also said product management is a very dynamic position in the company and that things are constantly changing, so that this was a good experience for what product management is really like. So although the logistics of last minute changes are tough, its pretty cool to work in such a dynamic position.
Fortunately the presentation went really well, my boss and the general manager were pleased and the project is approved for the next phase. I probably won’t be able to finish the whole entire project because I have only a little over a month left, but it has been pretty cool being able to get it to this point.
Needless to say, I was a little tired today (Thursday) but had to get my game face on again this morning because I had to do another presentation for the internship program. The program has 2 other MBA interns (another one in product management and one in market analysis) and a ton of other interns in other areas of the company such as R&D, engineering and computer sciences. The presentation this morning went well and its good to get them both out of the way so I don’t have to worry about them. Oh well off to get a burrito at La Cumbre in scenic downtown San Mateo (If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it. Its kind of weird though because i grew up in San Mateo and I used to go there when I was in high school).
Coming up next week:
We just launched a market research survey this morning and we already have over 1000 respondents (so much easier to get respondents with company resources compared to having to bribe fellow students and friends to take it like we did in our MGT249 market research class.
As soon as we get more information back about the survey, Ill talk more about how it went.
So I’m back. The last couple days have been very busy. I had to give a project update presentation yesterday morning (Wednesday) to our division general manager about the status of a particular project we were working on. I had it already to go Tuesday afternoon when at about 430pm, I found out from my boss that some new information developed which could change the scope of the project. So I had to make some major edits to my presentation and had to stay at work till about 9pm (Although, I have to say with California’s economy in the tank and the Governator raising UC tuitions, I could use the overtime pay). My boss also said product management is a very dynamic position in the company and that things are constantly changing, so that this was a good experience for what product management is really like. So although the logistics of last minute changes are tough, its pretty cool to work in such a dynamic position.
Fortunately the presentation went really well, my boss and the general manager were pleased and the project is approved for the next phase. I probably won’t be able to finish the whole entire project because I have only a little over a month left, but it has been pretty cool being able to get it to this point.
Needless to say, I was a little tired today (Thursday) but had to get my game face on again this morning because I had to do another presentation for the internship program. The program has 2 other MBA interns (another one in product management and one in market analysis) and a ton of other interns in other areas of the company such as R&D, engineering and computer sciences. The presentation this morning went well and its good to get them both out of the way so I don’t have to worry about them. Oh well off to get a burrito at La Cumbre in scenic downtown San Mateo (If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it. Its kind of weird though because i grew up in San Mateo and I used to go there when I was in high school).
Coming up next week:
We just launched a market research survey this morning and we already have over 1000 respondents (so much easier to get respondents with company resources compared to having to bribe fellow students and friends to take it like we did in our MGT249 market research class.
As soon as we get more information back about the survey, Ill talk more about how it went.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The Bob Kays Internship Experience: Part 1
Hello and welcome to the Bob Kays Internship Experience. Get ready to be wisped away for a crazy ride filled with gigantic excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations and an ungodly amount of leg/butt cramps from sitting and staring at a computer all day......well if you haven’t immediately closed your web browser after reading that exciting introduction, I can tell you really want to learn about the MBA internship experience (or facebook is broken and you need to kill time somewhere else).
I should probably start by telling you a little bit about myself. My name is Bob Kays and I will be a second year student in the fulltime program at the GSM. I am currently doing my internship at Applied Biosystems ,which recently merged (or was acquired by, depends who you talk to) Invitrogen to form the conglomerate biotech corporation Life Technologies (Yea, we got a lot of websites).
Life Technologies is a global biotechnology tools company providing premier systems, consumables, and services for scientific researchers around the world. Applied Biosystems (the legacy company I work for) is essentially the premier company for all tools related to DNA sequencing and DNA analysis which is used in lots of different applications: from clinical testing (AB currently creates the assay used to determine if someone has the swine flu) to basic researchers in Universities/Medical Schools studying diseases to forensic scientist who use the tools to put away criminals and make the world a safer place to live. Sooooooo basically, by working here, I consider myself a superhero. Well maybe not, but if you want to get some DNA sequenced, I have got some mad hookups.
I am actually very excited to be working for the company. My undergraduate degree is in Genetics and I worked in medical and genetic research for over 5 years before I entered the UC Davis MBA program. During my research, I was actually a customer of Applied Biosystems. So to now be able to work in a business role for the company was a great fit. My title is an “Associate Product Manager” and this was perfect for me as my career aspirations are product management in biotech. I am very interested in product management because the position requires business skills, but also a detailed scientific/technical understanding of the products and technologies in the company. This is a great fit for me because I will be able to utilize the business skills I am learning at the GSM with the scientific background I gained while in my past work in research. So far, the internship has been awesome and has exposed me to lots of different projects a product manager undertakes. Currently, I am working on 3 different projects:
1) New Product Development - Early phases of a new product development project which required me to write a full business plan and assess the new product’s strategic and financial fit with the company.
2) Product Portfolio Management - A portfolio management project which required me to assess an entire product line in Life Technologies and make recommendations to increase profitability.
3) Market Research - Develop a market research survey to better understand customer perceptions regarding a new product soon to be launched.
So this was my introduction (and my first ever blog post so be gentle). I will try to follow up soon with some more details and specifics about my work here (so try to be patient, I know the anticipation of my next post might be too much to handle haha).
I should probably start by telling you a little bit about myself. My name is Bob Kays and I will be a second year student in the fulltime program at the GSM. I am currently doing my internship at Applied Biosystems ,which recently merged (or was acquired by, depends who you talk to) Invitrogen to form the conglomerate biotech corporation Life Technologies (Yea, we got a lot of websites).
Life Technologies is a global biotechnology tools company providing premier systems, consumables, and services for scientific researchers around the world. Applied Biosystems (the legacy company I work for) is essentially the premier company for all tools related to DNA sequencing and DNA analysis which is used in lots of different applications: from clinical testing (AB currently creates the assay used to determine if someone has the swine flu) to basic researchers in Universities/Medical Schools studying diseases to forensic scientist who use the tools to put away criminals and make the world a safer place to live. Sooooooo basically, by working here, I consider myself a superhero. Well maybe not, but if you want to get some DNA sequenced, I have got some mad hookups.
I am actually very excited to be working for the company. My undergraduate degree is in Genetics and I worked in medical and genetic research for over 5 years before I entered the UC Davis MBA program. During my research, I was actually a customer of Applied Biosystems. So to now be able to work in a business role for the company was a great fit. My title is an “Associate Product Manager” and this was perfect for me as my career aspirations are product management in biotech. I am very interested in product management because the position requires business skills, but also a detailed scientific/technical understanding of the products and technologies in the company. This is a great fit for me because I will be able to utilize the business skills I am learning at the GSM with the scientific background I gained while in my past work in research. So far, the internship has been awesome and has exposed me to lots of different projects a product manager undertakes. Currently, I am working on 3 different projects:
1) New Product Development - Early phases of a new product development project which required me to write a full business plan and assess the new product’s strategic and financial fit with the company.
2) Product Portfolio Management - A portfolio management project which required me to assess an entire product line in Life Technologies and make recommendations to increase profitability.
3) Market Research - Develop a market research survey to better understand customer perceptions regarding a new product soon to be launched.
So this was my introduction (and my first ever blog post so be gentle). I will try to follow up soon with some more details and specifics about my work here (so try to be patient, I know the anticipation of my next post might be too much to handle haha).
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