Despite the pros listed above, each of these has a corresponding con, including:
- Low pay. The organization expects far, far more out of their employees than they are willing to give in return. Even at the Director level, I have seen salaries which do not seem commensurate with the qualifications required for the role (technical PhD). On the flipside, the insitution is rife with academics with little to no touch with how the real world operates and many if not most are generally incompetent beyond waving the MIT brand name and expecting a gold medal. "We're paying them" seems to be the catch-all justification for expecting miracles out of any individual with a stake in the functions of the department.
- Very poor organizational structure and questionable systems and practices. The entire institute is truly run like an anachronistic fiefdom survivng soley on the merit of the institution's name and energy of highly bright and motivated students continuing to produce innovative work for the benefit of the institution. I received no training or authorizations but from day 1 was expected to be proficient in the full breadth of the institution's administrative architecture and replicate years-old reports indicating a veritable mess of competing accounting systems.
- Employee collaboration and accountability totally non-existent with an "Every man for himself" mentality. While lax hybrid work is largely tolerated, employees are impossible to track down and non-responsive to requests arising from anywhere but direct higher up or whoever is jingling the money bag.
- Commute with expensive parking. There is generally 0 point in sacrificing hours of time day to day to slog through the torture hole that is Boston to fill up the brutalist, crumbling offices, but some PIs insist on doing things "the old way" to the detriment of support staff. Cast out of your mind any chance of being able to afford decent housing in the area. If you are young, live with your parents if you are fortunate enough to do so or negotiate remote.
Other than that, the remaining negative reviews (I give it a 2+ stars as I am grateful to even be employed at the moment) seem to match my experience here. Everything is about the PI and the PI only.
