Pros
benefits: OPERS PSLF Tuition assistance
Cons
Lab techs are very low on the food chain and not well represented so it is very easy for PIs to use intimidation tactics to manipulate you into working overtime without being paid for it. I was told “if you can’t get it done in 8 hours, this job may not be for you” after being up my concerns about not completing a procedure that takes his most experienced graduate students on average 12 consecutive hours of work. I was told “don’t work overtime because I won’t pay you for it” so i would work as fast as i could, still not finish because the procedure could not be shortened, leave on time and get yelled at because the product would fail. i would skip writing my notebook and taking care of my administrative responsibilities (ordering, writing reports, sorting data, etc.) because i had no other choice. i was stuck rushing through bench work for 10+hrs of the 8hrs i was being paid for 5 days a week. But then I would get yelled at and threatened to be fired because my notebook was 6 months behind or we ran out of this or that or i got to work at 9:30am instead of 9:00am because i had stayed over until 10:00 pm to finish a procedure. the grad students were between 1 and 3 years behind on their notebooks and perfectly capable of ordering anything they used the last of.
