MIT Reviews in Boston, MA Area

Pros

A very exciting place to work at.

Cons

Compensation and promotion for research scientists is very limited.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more competitive regarding salaries

Pros

Great colleagues, excellent classes, very high quality program, no other program of this caliber for the material I wanted to study.

Cons

Can be competitive even when no necessary, not as nurturing as it could be, seems like there is never really any time off, when not working, feel guilty for not working.

Advice to Senior Management

Try to loosen up the lab atmosphere and promote more of a collegiate feel. Right now, if you are not part of a lab, it is hard to feel like you exist.

Pros

Joining MIT you will MIT is a fantastic place to work if you want to solve some of the most important problems facing the human race, or dreams fantastically about the applications of science and engineering to the future.

Cons

It's a high energy environment, not exactly a place where you get to sit down and smell the rose all the time.

Advice to Senior Management

Hockfield and Co are doing a great job of continually expanding MIT. I feel like the tuition cost per student is perhaps overestimated.

Pros

It has very good science and business professors with nearly world class research facilities, and we could leverage this connections being there.

Cons

MIT is very demanding in worklife, leaving no time for personal life and sometimes the life gets very stressful without recreation.

Advice to Senior Management

They can include the internationals better with more focus on leadership and how they could be integrated in the american society.

Pros

MIT can be a fantastic place to work. The culture is exciting, the faculty and students are all excited to be there, and they make the job fun. The benefits are great, there are ample opportunities for career development, and as long as you are willing to move between departments, lots of opportunities for advancement.

Cons

Like many jobs, a lot depends on luck and politics. Some faculty forget that administration is on their side, and it's not unheard of for administrative and support staff to get treated with very little respect. This can usually be remedied by changing departments, because this isn't a majority of the faculty. However, the faculty are the priority, so seeking help to improve a current position doesn't seem to help when the conflict is with a member of the faculty.

Advice to Senior Management

Overall, I think that the management is doing a great job. It's a fantastic place to work. However, like in any situation with elite talent, the talent is the priority, and working there in a support role, you need to accept that sometimes you're second class.

Pros

Resources, both in terms of people and technology available, to do all sorts of really cool stuff.

Cons

Had a tough time transitioning out of school, frustrated with degree bias

Advice to Senior Management

Better mentorship

Pros

1. good life/work balance
2. very encouraging about additional education/tuition reimbursement
3. very flexible work hours
4. people who can't manage get demoted pretty quickly
5. management is involved in the work of the people they are managing
6. just about everyone is smart
7. location is very convenient (in Lexington) - away from a lot of traffic
8. awesome library/staff on lincoln campus
9. can get involved with a number of different projects if you're bored with your current one

Cons

1. lincoln has an odd system for promotions - you need to be working under the right leader and on the right projects to get noticed
2. not all work can be published due to security issues - publications are key for scientists/engineers
3. relatively little feedback on work from superiors
4. egos can be a problem at times
5. pay is mediocre compared to other places

Advice to Senior Management

The promotional structure at Lincoln is odd. Assistant Technical Staff do not just compete with other Assistant Technical Staff in their group, but in their entire Division. This gives preference to staff who are working under group leaders with more influence.

Pros

Mit is a very dynamic place, every six months all the people around change; in the same time exchange ideas and opinions is very sample. usually the salary are very low but there are different benefit: frequent flight and travel for conferences, strong respect in the international community, nice work ambient.

Cons

in Mit is impossible make plan for the long term, the turnover is very strong and the level of the stress is incredible.

Advice to Senior Management

please try to use less your MIT brand and increase the quality of research, hence the quality of life for researchers.

Pros

Working in academia is a great experience. A very laid-back atmosphere where performance is valued. As long as you work your hours, you can generally work them whenever you'd like.

Cons

It is at time an unprofessional work environment. Many of the professors, however intelligent, may not be the best leaders. Once again this comes with the territory.

Advice to Senior Management

I feel management is doing a remarkable job at keeping MIT up to the highest research and academic standards. Almost all of the cons I have encountered are inherent to working in academia.

Pros

Most co-workers are very intelligent and working with them can be an incredible learning experience. Most projects are very interesting and fun to work with.

Cons

Complete lack of direction, at least with this particular position. Six months spent on a project that will most likely never see the light of day. A good engineer/scientist doesn't always make a good boss.

Advice to Senior Management

Direction for student employees; granted co-op experience and knowledge is limited, but to spend more than 20% of the time sitting around with nothing to do is a waste of company money.