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Industrial chemist job in Switzerland

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blackcat:
Hello, I am writing to seek advices from experienced people here about working in industry/company as a chemist.

A little bit about my background: synthetic organic chemist with 2 year experiences as postdoc. I have never worked in company before.

I will be designing and synthesizing novel organic materials in Switzerland Basel this November.

I mainly would like to know how to survive in chemistry company and how to do well.

In particular, does anyone know about chemistry jobs in Switzerland? How does it look like? Demanding or not? Stressful or not?

Enthalpy:
Several people here work(ed) in Switzerland, I expected them to answer, but your question is already a week old. I only visited companies I had applied to.

- Foreigners get supervising positions.
- Settling looks very possible. Getting the nationality is practically impossible, except maybe by marriage. One advantage of Germany.
- Many Swiss, more so with diplomas, have several languages. Language courses exist, I suppose it's a key to integration.
- Don't try to learn German (and I suppose Swiss German, which quite differs) by practising. Have a professor, train normally, and then it's easy. Do it early, because mistakes are hard to un-learn.
- The Swiss are extremely polite, punctual, they don't speak badly of other people, and they deliver products that work. Could that be a point to integration?
- The supervisors I met knew the job, like in Germany. That's a ton stress less than in France.

blackcat:

--- Quote from: Enthalpy on October 01, 2019, 11:36:50 AM ---Several people here work(ed) in Switzerland, I expected them to answer, but your question is already a week old. I only visited companies I had applied to.

- Foreigners get supervising positions.
- Settling looks very possible. Getting the nationality is practically impossible, except maybe by marriage. One advantage of Germany.
- Many Swiss, more so with diplomas, have several languages. Language courses exist, I suppose it's a key to integration.
- Don't try to learn German (and I suppose Swiss German, which quite differs) by practising. Have a professor, train normally, and then it's easy. Do it early, because mistakes are hard to un-learn.
- The Swiss are extremely polite, punctual, they don't speak badly of other people, and they deliver products that work. Could that be a point to integration?
- The supervisors I met knew the job, like in Germany. That's a ton stress less than in France.

--- End quote ---

Do you think there is a big jump in salary when being promoted to manager role? If so, what qualities should one have for such kind of promotion?

Oh, working in France is much more stressful?

Enthalpy:

--- Quote from: kamiyu2550 on October 01, 2019, 02:47:31 PM ---Oh, working in France is much more stressful?
--- End quote ---

Definitely more than in Germany. I didn't try Switzerland.

If you wish incompetent chiefs, with all the consequences on the job contents and company style, with conflicts everywhere, go to France.
Plus the secret services that destroy your private life every time you make some invention. I saw it in a field related to yours, by the way: TFT for LCD displays.

Enthalpy:
Thinking more about the language. I suppose your employer is in German-speaking Switzerland, where most chemistry is located.

While the official language of this part of Switzerland is plain German (called Schriftdeutsch there), which these Swiss read, write and understand, the spoken Germanic dialect is Schwyzertütsch (with variants).

Schwyzertütsch is not understandable to Germans even after a week, except if helped by a similar dialect. Ouch.

I don't know whether you should learn first German, Schwyzertütsch or both. I suggest that you ask other immigrants.

Courses abound, you should find some in English.

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