How do i become a separation specialist? any advice guys!

[seamoro]

Currently have a deree in Biopharmaceutical & Healthcare science and i have been working as ana analytical development chemist for the past 4 years. I have been kinda pondering my career of the last while as what direction to take....and i was thinking since i have already started, to become a separation specialist......(well i just saw the name " separation specialist on this forum and i liked to sound of it...lol). how would you guys suggest i achieve this?...masters?...PHd?....experience?..... basically i wanna be the best in my field!...i think right now i am pretty good at HPLC but i have no experience of MS.............

[sassman]

I would suggest at least a Masters degree. The choice between Masters and PhD will certainly affect how much you get paid in the future; although, with experience that will almost even out. A PhD is not all that much more work and probably the best way to go. Of course for "separations specialist", a degree in analytical chemistry is the way to go.

[mohan_2008]

I disagree.

Getting any advanced degree is not going to make anybody seperation specialist.

On the other hand, joining an MS or PHD program may direct your interests elsewhere - as dependent upon your advisors research goals.
One may end up doing petrochemicals instead.

My advice.

Do not make the mistake of joining any advanced degree. Instead join a pharmaceutical company - preferably a CRO - and join an active Method development group.

In two years - you will be a seperation specialist.
Seperations at the expert level, is more likely an Art rather than Science, and that can be attained ONLY by experience in the real world.

[HW Mueller]

So in two years he is a separated speciality, gets stuck, and has to cooperate with a University . . . . where he could have who knows what . . . .

[oscarBAL]

Hello seamoro; I am far to become an separations spesialist; and here in Central America could be a kind of hard; but I going to tell you how I deal to try to be even close one day.
First;
-I try to have a open mind and read about columns trechnology and method develoment;
- put atention what the different column maker do, say and why.
-try to test what theory says; for example it really low pH helps to retains acid compouds? how IPR work? diferent solvent in my sample and mobil phase can affect the peak pattern? etc.
- Try to cennect everything I has learned.
-And finally put speccial atention what all this guys say inthe forum
at this way I hope one day I will advising more and asking less.
Of course this requires a lot of extra work beyond of the usual work of your company.

Well; I hope this formula works at least for me...

Regards.

Oscar

[sassman]

Do not make the mistake of joining any advanced degree. Instead join a pharmaceutical company - preferably a CRO - and join an active Method development group.

I know a few chemists who work in a pharmaceutical contract lab. They might be "separations specialists", but are quite lacking in technical knowledge. My wife is a project manager there, and she has to come to me when they run into a difficult problem. Yes, running an HPLC or GC is something of an art. It takes experience to be able to troubleshoot problems, but it takes education to learn the theory. Don't count on your boss to teach you everything. The main reason I suggested an advanced degree is money and respect, both of which you will get much more of with a PhD compared to a BS.

[mohan_2008]

Unfortunately, it is not always true.

Again, if you are a lucky PHD, you get a good position and respect.

I know a Physics PHD working under a guy with no degree, as he lacks experience.

This is the real world.

[danko]

Yes, the real world is as follows:
Not all PHDs are cleverer than the ones without it and vice versa.
And I’m not talking only about experience or the lack of it. Life is much more divers and complicated than that.

Best Regards

[rickwg]

Get an advanced degree. If you want to get a good start in the Pharmaceutical world you need the respect that is freely given at the begining of a scientist's career.

But that's just it, you get the respect to get looked at and hired. Then it is up to you to keep that respect through hard work, an ability to learn and apply your knowledge to problem solving on a daily basis.

I started with a Ph.D. in Organic Synthesis. As an O chemist you spend roughly 90% of your time separating stuff. I learned how to program/run/teach HPLC techniques to my colleagues and I run the analytical lab at a pharma company as well as doing organic chemistry. I also have extensive experience in Bruker/Varian NMR maintenance/operation/programing/pulse sequences. Waters/API/shimadzu/Agilent Mass specs both single and triple quads. The programs that go with each of these instruments and the ability to pick up additional programs with ease.

Get the degree, it will get you in the door. I have seen hundreds of BS/MS chemists treated like dirt in preference to Ph.D. chemists that don't know how to work a screwdriver let alone run an HPLC. Some are dumb as a box of rocks.

That being said there is a lot more to "separations" than just running the HPLC. you have to diagnose and fix hardware and software problems daily. Separations are easy, problem solving is hard. This is what a Ph.D. prepares you for. A good Ph.D. program teaches you the proper questions to ask to find out the information that you need to fix the problem that you are confronted with. Really, it teaches you that you don't know half of what you think you do but can find it out.

That also being said, only go for a Ph.D. program if you would do your job for free because you love it. Pay attention to what the term "Doctor of Philosophy" means. It means that you understand the Philosophy of your science and live it. Your entire outlook on life becomes influenced by the understanding of your science. It changes you much the same way that Boot Camp would change a military recruit.

Would I do it again. Ph.D. in Chemistry. Without hesitation. I love this job. It's what I enjoy doing everyday. They buy me expensive equipment and pay me to come in a play with it everyday. I love this job.

If you feel that way about "separations" then go for it.

[CE Instruments]

basically i wanna be the best in my field!

Noble sentiments but there is no such thing as a ranking list for Separation Scientists. Quantifying the ability would be almost impossible and there is plenty of room for all with the wide range of analytical separation techniques. The only way to be the best in the field is to invent a new one The best you will gain is to be respected in the field and peer respect usually comes to those who can talk about their achievements i.e from Academia. You can be a separations Specialist with no formal qualifications if you get the right training and experience, having a PhD can actually be a big handicap From my experience as a Chemistry graduate the better your degree the better job you can get in the first place. Progress through companies to high positions (salary) is enhanced if you have further degrees. However well qualifieed people seem to get promotted to management and away from the bench loosing any chance to get the experience essential to be considered a specialist.

[Alfred88]

Dear Rick:
I remember you're from Prof. Okamura group. So you like beating the traffic, and doing tech support now?

Dear seamoro:
If you want more money, go for an MBA, that is truly a shortcut to upper management (may be CEO some day).

Or else, you work very hard to get a PhD, and then live as a postdoc for years, without hoping to get an appointment as an assistant prof. or even a college instructor. If I am not mistaken, the pay for a postdoc is under the poverty level defined by the government.

[rickwg]

Don't do that gig anymore. I tried and found that I missed research. I'm running the mass specs/hplcs and doing organic synthesis for a pharmaceutical co in San Diego now. It was my extensive experience with instrumentation that got me this job now.

Only 24 miles a day.

Which lab were you in at UCR?



Post doc = indentured servant, sharecropper. Never did one.

[Don_Hilton]

The title of separations specialist: I know a divorce lawyer who considers himself to be a separations specialist. If the focus of your job is making separations happen - you are a separations specialist. And while that lawyer has a doctorate (OK, JsD) and makes a lot of money, I make a nice living and have a lot of fun doing it. I could consider myself to be a separations specialist, but like Rick (above) I’m doing something I love and have fun doing it. (I figure that if any of my employers had or does find out how much fun I have, I might have to buy a ticket to go play on the instruments!)

I started out to be a synthetic organic chemist, but was hired to do analytical work. (The organic background was wonderfully helpful to understand the mixtures I was analyzing.) Most of the work I did involved development of analytical methods - with chromatography as a part of the method. I could have been called a separations specialist then, I suppose. I went to work for an instrument company and spent a lot of time showing potential customers the benefits of GCxGC-MS and could have been called a separations specialist there too. (Or a mass spec specialist - but this gets into the question of whether you have a fancy detector on nice chromatographic system or a fancy inlet on a nice MS system - a discussion for a different post.)

And, most recently my demonstrated skills (whichever specialist I am) left me being invited to join a research group. The invitation came about because of the things that I do with separations and what I am able to do with the data. Given the particular mix of skills, I can even say that I am the best in my field - particularly since I know just about everybody else on the planet who is trying to do the same kinds of separations and neat data tricks. (And if any of the others wish to contest that, we can arm wrestle for the title at PittCon. I'll be there.) It is easy to be the best in a very small world – particularly if you draw the lines.

But to come back to the question of how you become one of these specialists – you are doing it. By working in the field, you are learning and developing skills. There was a chemist I worked with when I was younger. He had a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and it was not from a top ten type of school. He worked in the lab, learned a lot from reading, doing, and attending occasional meetings. He’s been retired for a number of years now, but I still consider him to be one of the best chromatographers (separation scientists) I ever have known. There are times I wish he was still around so I could get his opinion. And, when the “young folksâ€