Days 5 and 6

Over the next two days I got to know all my other lab members as well as get more familiar with the equipment we worked with and the procedures we utilized. I also learned a lot of interesting things about the Indian education system as well as the company itself. For example, the undergraduate degrees which exist include B. Sc. (Bachelor of Science), B. Tech. (Bachelor of Technology), and B.A. (Bachelor of Arts). Apparently in the working world, these degrees are used to classify your position and payscale. The college you come from also plays a part in this process. My friend from IIT (the highly reputed and notoriously hard to get into Indian Institute of Technology) as well as myself get paid the same amount whereas our fellow trainees get half of our stipend. B. Tech graduates are paid more than B. Sc. majors due to their more hands-on knowledge of processes and techniques. The company likes to hire mostly B. Tech. graduates because their salary is quite low (close to a trainee’s actually) and doesn’t allow employees to take leave for furthering education. It’s a vicious business model but one that seems to have proven successful for Biocon.