Experiences of our new team members
Their experiences so far at OCS
Javier Rodríguez Soto - Biostatistician & Riya Rai - Statistical Programmer
Our colleagues Javier and Riya both started at OCS Life Sciences earlier this year. New team members provide us with a different perspective on our organisation. Therefore, we have interviewed them to get to know each other better. Who are these new colleagues and what is their background? But we also like to hear about their activities for OCS Life Sciences and their first impressions at OCS Consulting. We are thankful they have joined our team.
Can you tell us about your background? I like to think that I’m a curious person; I’ve always been interested in very diverse topics, from technology to nature and biology. I’ve worked in technical roles for more than ten years, but I was not feeling totally happy. Therefore, I was also looking into switching to a more statistical or data scientist role. I ended up doing the masters' specialization in Biostatistics, which focuses on quantitative methods for medicine and biosciences.
It's great that you made that career switch. How do you know OCS Life Sciences? OCS was my first international experience and I always thought that somehow, I will return and work with them again. Turns out I was right. I previously worked at OCS as a SAS technical consultant. Then I left the company and worked for a large Dutch bank, mainly as a software engineer.
Why did you come back to OCS? OCS has been involved with the life science industry for many years. Not only with statistical programming but also biostatistics (among others). They have many different types of projects and clients, and that’s a perfect learning experience.
Why do you like working at OCS? It’s a small company but has a vast amount of knowledge in life sciences. There have a good company culture and values. It’s a nice mixture of young talent and very experienced people. People are always very supportive, not only your colleagues, but also the management team.
Is there anything else we should know about you? I happily married and we have two beautiful girls, raising them takes much of my time (and energies!). With what’s left of it, I like to read sci-fi books and doing some running and biking.
Riya Rai
Riya just moved to the Netherlands from India. Why is OCS Life Sciences a good place to work for you? I have been working in the healthcare domain since starting my career. Initially, I started as a medical coder, which gave me good exposure to this Healthcare domain. As my career progressed, I moved into a statistical programmer role. OCS Life Sciences being one of the leading consultancies providing services in the life science domain was a perfect fit for my area of expertise.
What was your study? I completed my Master’s in Life Science with a specialization in Zoology in 2016.
Why did you want to work at OCS Life Sciences? My education and work experience in life science were very much aligned with the job description of the role, this encouraged me to apply for it.
One of the initial reasons for me wanting to work in this branch would be that it is near to my place, but now after joining the company I would say the reason has changed. Now it would be the wonderful and helpful colleagues and the good work opportunity that I see which will help me to build myself as a good SAS programmer.
What kind of work have you already done at OCS? I have been working in OCS with a couple of projects until now. Which mainly revolves around implementing new requirements and validation of ADaMs.
And is it here as you expect? OCS has a good environment to work that nourishes your skills and encourages you to take on new challenges. At the same time, everyone is very approachable, this gives you comfort, and you know that you are not alone in the expedition.
Is there anything else we should know about you? I would describe myself as a fun-loving person who likes to travel a lot and learn about new cultures. At my home, I have a good backyard where I have developed a new hobby for gardening which I’m enjoying nowadays.