Pros
Rewarding work. Flexibility to each how you like. Amazing co-workers.
Cons
Truth: this place is a sweatshop for its workers. Tilden is in direct violation of the multiple labors laws, and wage theft is rampant. The company will require you to show up for an hour, with 4-5 hour unpaid gaps, and then another hour at the end of the day. You will not get paid for any work you do in the intervening time, but, you will definitely do work in that time. Even if you try not to, a supervisor will stop by and talk to you, direct you to write an email, or some other task, which is unpaid. Tilden will expect you to live off of 10 hours or less a week. There is forced, unpaid vacation (school breaks) where you will not get a paycheck. Most of the teachers struggle financially and are very unhappy. Few of the teachers have consistently more than 30 hours a week guaranteed. Most hover around 20, and many work less than 20. The "high pay" comes out to less than you'd get working at a fast food restaurant, when you factor in the time wasted sitting there not working. Worst, your workload can drop precipitously from one week to the next, and you can never be sure what your next paycheck will be. There is no vacation, no paid time off, no possibility for an excused absence other than illness, so everyone who has anything they need to accomplish simply calls in sick and misses the entire day. If you don't do this, they will punish you. The management is a mix of genuine, but underskilled people and personality disorders that are so toxic nearly everyone avoids interacting with them. Raised issues go unanswered, and you'll discover that they've been raised for years without being addressed. Be careful, they will walk all over you and ask you to do ridiculous things (especially when you are suffering and need hours), but when you need something in return, they will give you the silent treatment and act put-out. It's management by personality disorder. By my estimation, the owners of Tilden Prep clear well over a million a year (and you can do the math yourself), but they refuse to give their workers paid healthcare, paid time off, or other standard benefits. Pay for your own parking, and nearly everything else. They bring on new hires, when they don't have the hours to sustain them in the Bay Area. They have robbed many people of finding a better opportunity by lying to them about how many hours they will receive. People have moved from out of state to discover they will be living off ~300 a week in the Bay Area. It's unconscionable, but they *refuse* to turn students away and chase every dollar rather than provide a living wage for their workers. This job is a dead-end, last resort and most people move on quickly. The few people who have been there a long time are either passionate about their work (and don't mind minimal hours) or else extremely dissatisfied and vocal about it. Toxic place; stay away. (From what I know, the Albany campus is more toxic than the Walnut Creek campus, but both have the same fundamental problems as they are exploitative and abusive workplaces.)