Chemstation, TotalChrom, Empower

[Jumpshooter]

I considering applying for this R & D Analyst position, the ad said among other criteria that: "must have experience with Empower". I am solely a user of Chemstation and TotalChrom. Wonder if I'm qualified?

[krickos]

Hi

Unless the position include some responsibility concerning the software at the workingplace, the requirement seems really odd?!

Sure knowledge of a certain software can be listed as desireble, but as you put it it seems weird. I would apply anyways, a new software can be a breif hurdle to overcome but is "nothing" compared to extensive experiance in the technique in question.

Perhaps a tad off topic but some 11years ago my current manager hired a Ph D with analytical base and Ph D in biochemistry, turned out that individual was a wiz on millenium and computers but when it came to instrument hardware/trouble shooting and actually doing analytical chemistry it was somewhat worse. In the end the person ended up in the right spot as QA (ER/ES part 11 ecetera) for computerized systems instead of bugging us actually working peeps.

[Karen01]

I considering applying for this R & D Analyst position, the ad said among other criteria that: "must have experience with Empower". I am solely a user of Chemstation and TotalChrom. Wonder if I'm qualified?

I don't know TotalChrom but I am very familiar with Empower having used it and it's predecessors since the 90's, and have been using ChemStation for the last few months

Empower is a very deep and flexible software package that some find hard to get comfortable with... I personally like it a lot and consider it much more capable than ChemStation because of Empower being built from the ground up on a relational database in one fully integrated, consistent software package.

ChemStation is HUGELY different precisely because it is NOT built on a database, and I can see why someone going from ChemStation to Empower might take a long time to get up to speed on Empower if they need to do anything beyond routine stuff with it.

That said, chromatography is chromatography... and the only time I would consider it VITAL to have experience on the specific software/hardware would be for a temp/contract job.


- Karen

[DR]

Go ahead and apply.
If you know what good integration looks like and you can set up runs in the other packages, Empower won't be too bad - until you have to start making your own report files (but at lots of places, this chore is reserved for "experts"). Things can get sticky as Empower's report application is pretty different from Total*Chrom's and Chemstation's. Do you have any friends in the business who can show you around Empower?
Check the Waters website, I think there may be a free downloadable tutorial that at least hits a few of the basics. If you do get the job, you will really like Apex tracking...

[Jumpshooter]

Great. The company has contacted me for a first interview. It is likely that I made the short-list of 5 people as I'm certain they must have had over 20 applications--at least in this geographic area alone.
I stated that I was an experienced user of Chemstation and TotalChrom; however, that my knowledge of Empower was academic/theoretical and gleaned from various online sources via self-study. Evidently, for the first round of interviews, this was sufficient.
Seems like they want a multi-tasking lab R & D analyst to run/troubleshoot/prepare reports from GC, GC MS, HPLC, and FTIR as well as assorted wet chemistry like titrations and extractions. This is all right up my alley! They are an FDA-regulated firm that does quality control testing for food ingredients manufacturers. Anybody know about "derivitising agents"?

Thanks Forum.

[benW]

Hi Jumpshooter,
If it would be helpful, we could make some time for an introductory session on Empower via Webex...
Let you know what it's all about, answer a few questions and give you something to talk about in the second round.
Just a thought, let me know (you can use the email address from our website).
Anyway, good luck!
Ben

[Consumer Products Guy]

"Watch the last 10 minutes of the 1946 film (best picture winner) "The Best Years of our Lives". When told he didn't have experience for a job, Dana Andrews tells the guy that a few years earlier he didn't know how to fly a bomber, but he learned.

Tell the interviewer that you once didn't know how to use Microsoft Windows, ChemStation, Excel, etc. - but you learned. Show confidence. Emphasize that you have the ability to learn, and chromatographic separations, integrations, etc., are all the same.

I remember once writing in a cover letter that listed PhD as requirement that if that company really wanted someone with those initials behind his name, then to throw the application in the trash, But if they wanted someone who could do the job, then they could contact me.

[Jumpshooter]

Ben W, thank you sincerely for the invitation and I will be taking advantage of it--thank you much!

Consumer Products Guy: Thank you sincerely for that "word of advice" in terms of citing that I have "learned things which I did not know".

Sincere thanks to the both of you,

I luv this website! Great folks on here for sure.