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From School to Work to Working at School?
torgosan asks: "After years of school and many years of toiling in the corporate world and being laid-off in one of the seemingly perpetual down-sizings [my former company was employee-owned until a corporate buyout a few years back, after which point it all went downhill - a mini-Enron, as it were, including crooked execs, cooked books, SEC investigations, the whole mess], it appears my days of joblessness may possibly be coming to an end. A small university near my hometown has an opening that has my name written all over it. This is all still early in the process and the offer hasn't come yet but that's not stopping me from researching the target city, moving expenses, cost-of-living comparisons, living arrangements, etc. Taking the position would mean a sizable pay-cut but I need to get back to doing what I love to do and this seems to be 'it'. What I haven't been able to find, though, are the insights into university employment and how it compares to working in the 'real world'.
This would be a staff position working with other staff and professionals and with some interaction with the student body. So my question for you uni workers out there is: What sort of adjustment should be expected? Is the uni workplace as structured as the corporate world? Pet peeves? What are the politics like? I ask as I attended a commuter-school with little campus life and have little to draw on for perspective."
- You need to show up at work at a regular time.
- They make me use Windows which is preventing me from copying and pasting list item tags from one item to the next because Windows IE is too "smart" to let me do that. Anyway...
- Generally, computers are far more locked down and standardized. On the other hand, as someone pointed out, they're therefore not broken half the time.
- Breakfast and lunch meetings provide food, and it's not immediately stolen by starving grad students.
- I can't wear a t-shirt and jeans every day.
- They pay a lot more.
- Total Slashdot time is unchanged.
OK, the combination of the last two has shamed me to going back to work...What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
At some universities, administration bureaucracy is a major problem. Usually, larger and/or older institutions are worse, smaller and/or newer institutions are better, but there are exceptions in both directions.
Academic politics is always bloody. Kissinger's "University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small" is apparantly universal. Fortunately, the tradition of lying low and avoiding getting involved is also well established. If you can avoid getting seriosuly involved, that is probably a good thing. If you actively want to get involved, then there is no hope for you :).
Best course of action is almost certainly to talk to few people working there, especially people in the department you hope to be appointed to, and see how they feel about these things.
As somebody who works in a small university, I have to say that it is a great job. Yes, the pay isn't all that great. However, I have all the freedom I need. Most people around me works 35-40 hours/week, but there are a lot of slacking off among some of the staff members (I swear some secretaries work way less than 30 hours/week in actual working time).
Work hour can be very flexible. I know people who comes 7 AM and leave by 3 PM, or 10 AM and leave 7 PM. On the other hand, if you work for non-academic departments, then, you may have 8-5 (or 9-6) job as the rest of the world. IT people tends not to have 8-5 jobs, however.
A few years ago, I left my university job for a while working for a company for a while, then, I came back (to my original job at the same university). To me, the corporate job I had was a dreadful job. It was a 9-6 job, but there were so many restrictions and procedures that I had to follow to do anything.
Now, I work 6 AM to 6/7/9 PM almost everyday, but for the most part, I enjoy my job. I have my own private office (with a lot of space). I get to do a lot of cools things (including just playing around/experimenting with a lot of things). I can even get some research and teaching done. I have never showed up work with tie or dress shoes that I can remember. In fact, during the summer months, I usually show up work with shorts and sandals on.
It is true that in some cases, funding from grants matter, however, in many cases, it doesn't matter. For example, if your posistion does not have a lot to do with research directly, then, it probably doesn't matter. Also, as far as I can tell, in smaller institutions (like mine), it tend not to matter too much (smaller schools are more likely to be teaching institutions where less grant funding research with enough funding to hire people for the research).
Generally speaking, the benefits are good. You can often take the university classes for free (or nearly free in some places). In fact, I know a few people who have gotten their college degrees by taking classes for free a little by little (usually secretarial people with only highschool degree seeking college degree, however).
The downside of working for a college is some people do not have broad skills. My primary responsibility is a chemist/scientist, however, I end up being an IT guy (in local offices), administrator (as business administrator), etc all the time. This is partly so because people who really should be doing that jobs aren't doing it, and they need to be taken care of.
Also, depending upon the each specifics, it may be hard to get things you really need because of the funding issues. For example, it took them over 6 months to get me a reasonable computer to use for my work (although I did get exactly what I wanted in the end). I often have to improvise what I need with what I can get hold of.
There is one thing you should know if you work for a college settings (particularly at a small teaching institution). The college/university is there to teach students. That is the primary function of the institution. That is why all the profs were hired (so that they can teach students). If you are a staff member, then, your job is assists the profs and students to help the students learn better. Even those non-academic departments are there for that purpose. That is a very important concept (unfortunately, many people do not understand that at all).
I agree 100%. I have had some very good teachers, and I have actually taught at the University level. Unfortunately my experience working at several, and attending a few, universities has shown that many do not have this talent. And these are not local community colleges. Hell, one of the most highly regarded technical schools in the country is in my backyard and most of the professors barely speak english. How do you explain Feynman's theories to a 3 year old if he cannot even understand you. Language is no the only issue, as I have seen many professors who grade students poorly because they disagree with perfectly valid opinions the students hold.
Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
I've worked both for Universities and in the "real world".
Benefits?
1) Lots of vacation, generally around 20 to 25 days a year, plus holidays, and around 21 sick days. (This of course varies from place to place).
2) Depending on the position you hold, you'll have very flexible hours. If it's not an IT position (mine haven't been), you get a lot of choice on when you get in, and when you can leave. (Of course, this depends on the boss you have).
3) It's pretty laid back, and usually the only pressure comes when funding gets low, or there's some big demo.
4) If you work on campus, generally the places you can go for food are pretty decent.
5) Pay isn't that bad, depending on the position. Many people have said that the pay is lower, but I've never had a problem with getting relatively high pay. I'm probably one of the lucky ones. Pay increases do tend to be low, and there's never a bonus, so get hired at a high salary; don't expect it to increase that much.
6) You'll be able to take classes at a discount, and if you have kids at go to school there, you'll get a big discount.
7) Unless you work at a pretty cool place in the business world, you'll probably have more gadgets and "toys" to play with in academia (again, this varies with position).
8) College towns have pretty good sporting events and concerts that come to town. Take advantage of those.
Negatives:
1) If you don't have anything above a BS degree, they won't take you seriously when it comes time to putting people in charge of things. I don't care if you're the tops in your field at whatever you do, if it's a choice between someone with a BS with tons of experience and a PHD with no experience in that field, they'll go with the PHD.
I've seen this many times.
2) Politics. Several people have mentioned that already. I'm not sure what else I can say, other than imagine the worse politics you can think of (probably marketing vs. engineering), and it's like 10x worse than that. At least with marketing vs. engineering you knew where it was coming from; in an academic environment, you'll constantly have to be on the lookout.
As far as "real world politics": If you're a conservative, learn to bite your tongue. If they figure this out, some (not all!) people *will* retaliate against you just for being a conservative, and no other reason than that. If you're a liberal, there will be many people that agree with your views, so you're probably ok.
3) You'll be used as a step for someone else's career. I've seen very little promotion from within Universities, mainly because the people doing the promoting don't see what benefit it is to THEM. A project that's done will in business might get your promoted at your next review; you might not even get reviews in academia, at least none that lead to a promotion.
4) Parking. You will probably have to pay to park on campus. Some universities charge a LOT of money to park there each month. Plus the waiting lists for parking lots can be long. Like three years long.
5) If you work for an academic department (again, probably not IT), and you write something that will be published, your boss *will* also put their name on it, whether or not they actually wrote anything in it. This seems to be standard operating procedure. Unfair, yes; anything you can do about it, probably not.
Could go either way:
1) Office space. This is always at a premium. Some of my best offices and some of my worst have been a universities. Mine have all been better than in business though.... never had to work in a cube since that time.
I left the corp world several years ago for public school education and have never looked back. Much more flex time, lots of vac time, you'll prob get every holiday listed on the calendar - I get Good Friday - who gets that? Of course there are office style politics, but I don't think they are as bad as the commercial world. Look at the other perks - most universities let you take courses for free - that's how a lot PhD types are born. You will be surrounded by smart, creative, academically like minded ppl - most will love their craft. Some private universities and K-12 private schools include free housing - another major perk if you don't own your own home - no rent, no mortage! There is a private school in my area that offers housing to every employee, whether prof or janitor! Also, most universities allow your children to go there for free, for as long as you are employed! Now that is worth the lower pay right there.