My Alcan Day

   Now it is time I got down to talk about my Alcan Day. This day is the kind of days which allow you to learn what really matters. When I decided to play the game, my aim was not to win the trip to Canada but to have the opportunity to spend an Alcan Day. So do not hesitate to play the next session of the "Weallcan program" if you want to live a real and exciting experience.
   As you may have noticed, this blog is a way for me to share my Alcan experience with you. This is why I will not bore you in explaining what happened hours after hours. If you are reading this post, it means that you are interested in discovering what means doing research in a firm such as Alcan.I will thus focus on what I would like to know if I were you.

Voreppe, the technological center of Alcan
   Voreppe is a little town near Grenoble. Voreppe is known for welcoming many competitive firms such as Alcan. Voreppe is very well located since it is near Grenoble, Lyon and Genève where there are many laboratories of research in material sciences. Moreover if you enjoy skiing and travelling this region is a place where you could live. As a matter of fact, Voreppe is located in the Alpes and near Swiss and Italia. Moreover, the sea and Paris are no longer far from Voreppe because of the "TGV".
   Voreppe is the Alcan Research & Developpment center. There are 550 employees of Alcan in Voreppe. Most of them work as researchers or engineers. Maybe you would like to ask me:"What are all these people searching for?". In fact, the field of their research is the use of Aluminium in Aerospace, Automotive, Marine applications or Food and beverage cans for instance.

What does my coach's job consist in?
   My coach, Sylvain Henry, works as a Senior Research Engineer. The field of his research is automotive heat exchangers. His work consists in innovating. It means that Sylvain has to be able to make the automotive heat exchangers, sold by automotive equipment suppliers such as Valeo. But his job does not only consist in innovating. It also consist in finding solutions when his clients (cf "First Topic") -which may be Alcan factories or automotive equipment suppliers- have problems. He may thus be called whenever. As you may guess it, Sylvain has to be ready to act and react.
   
   During my Alcan Day, I discovered a job which requires different skills. Indeed, you need a strong scientific background if you want to be at the leading edge of Aluminium technology. It also means that Alcan researchers have to read a lot of scientific articles. You also need to be creative in order to find new ways. Besides, it cannot be denied that communication skills are also requested since alcan researchers are often in touch with Alcan producers and Alcan clients.

Does an Alcan researcher have to work as a researcher during his whole career?
   Of course not. As it is written above, many skills are required when you want to become an Alcan researcher. That is why lots of Alcan researchers can be given the opportunity to change the shape of their career. It means that Alcan researchers may work in production, human ressources or in sales department for example. And do not think that you have to wait for many years before being given this opportunity. However remember that your career is in your hands. You will never give another shape to you career if you wait for such an offer. You have to build up your project and to convince the others that you are suited to the job. Finally beginning as an Alcan researcher may be the best springboard to a successful carrer.

Is it the same to do academic or industrial research?
   Do not worry! I will not use a set language!... It is often said that the more interesting is academic research whereas the best paid remains industrial research. In fact this is not as simple... I think that I can no longer hide you that industrial researchers are usually best paid than academic ones. However, this criterion is not enough to choose. Indeed these two jobs are not the same.
   First, the aim of an academic researcher remains to publish scientific articles whereas the aim of an industrial researcher remains patenting.
   Moreover industrial researchers often have more means than academic researchers but the work of the former have to be profitable. It means that industrial researchers cannot waste time or means.
   Another large difference is the field of their research. Industrial research is less theorical and more apllied than academic research. If you still do not know which one to choose, try to know if you prefer knowing or knowing how... Let me give you an example. Sylvain was very proud of himself when some commercialized cars were equipped of "his" cooling system.
   Besides an academic researcher has to do everything by himself. Thus he has to prepare the samples, to analize the data, to write the reports. On the contrary, an industrial researcher can delegate to someone. There are indeed engineers and technicians here to help him. So ask yourself if you enjoy polishing or using an electron microscope or if you prefer delegating and dealing with the development from science to market...
   Finally it must not be forgotten that academic and industrial researchers work together because they have the same passion.

The sentence of my Alcan Day.
   "If you can bring all your projects to a successful conclusion, it means that you do not do research..." Sylvain Henry (my coach)
As a matter of fact, it would mean that you only do development. Moreover without taking a risk, you cannot contemplate making large profits.