In the past 8 years I have worked in food/beverage, plastics, rubber, power, and agri-chemical industries. I now find myself in the SF bay area dominated by pharmaceutical and biotechnology.

So my question is how to break into this job market (control engineer) without pharma or biotech industry experience? Any suggestions? The following is a couple of ideas I had:

1. Read articles pertaining to 21 CFR Part11.

2. Read articles pertaining to cGMP.

3. Read articles and white papers addressing
validation techniques for control system design.

4. Consider taking biotech classes offered through local university.

5. I looked through what ISA offers, but have found nothing more than a few white papers (not very specific) and a web course on using GAMP for PLC design, but besides that not very helpful.

Please comment on any of the above or provide your own thoughts on making the crossover (or how to gain skills important for the industry).

Thank you for your time.

 

A "must" for the bio-pharm is to join ISPE. They offer several courses that will help you become more familiar with GAMP, 21CFR and so on. The also have a wide selection of books available. Start to learn the lingo of GMP and GAMP4. It has helped me get up to speed fast.

http://www.ispe.com