Enjoyable and challenging until you hit the plateau
Pros
Biggest and one of the best employers in the area. IT people left other nearby companies to work for Penn State. Many who gain employment by the university stay and develop long careers in higher education. Retirement benefits are strong: the university contributes 9% to a 403(b) plan or you can opt for the state employees pension plan. Health care benefits are mediocre. PTO is 24 days per year for full-time staff plus another 10 paid holidays. In my opinion, that is the best benefit of all. Depending on the department, you may have many opportunities for professional development. I did, and enjoyed the travel to courses and conferences around the country. I really enjoyed working with coworkers who wanted to work and had some life in them. However, there were too many folks who got in and then got lazy. They did the bare minimum and made work difficult for the rest. Amongst good employees, there is a culture of pride in the work done and in serving the students and faculty so that Penn State could accomplish its mission.
Cons
Compensation differs greatly from department to department for the same kind of job. Once you have mastered your job, if the management says there's no room for growth, the only way to stay challenged is to apply to other positions within the university or outside. There is no promotion plan. In the central IT unit, there are too many layers of management, making bureaucracy a real problem. It takes a long time to get things done. Good ideas often rot on the vine because of the slow nature of university management.
