UC Davis Reviews

Pros

- strong network
- pleasant coworkers and staff

Cons

little advancement or personal growth

Pros

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning offers great workshops and resources to help you become a better instructor and teaching assistant. Professors will generally be understanding of your schedule.

Cons

There will be almost no recognition of your ability or your efforts as an instructor. You will work shoulder to shoulder with people who do not care a lick about teaching and you will be paid the same no matter your ability or results.

Advice to Senior Management

If you choose to make teaching a priority, pay for performance.

Pros

The University of California at Davis provides an atmosphere of excellence. Some of the best and the brightest minds work here.

Cons

Davis is a smaller town, so it may not provide access to all of the amenities that larger cities can provide.

Pros

Overall, good leadership experience. The compensation is really great, especially compared to any other job you can get on campus. There are good opportunities to advance as a returning RA or SRA.

Cons

For me, the toughest part was taking on the "RA personality" that Student Housing expects. I felt a bit like I had to hide parts of who I was to avoid attracting negative attention due to their intense love of "diversity".

Advice to Senior Management

Overall, things are good. Just take into consideration that some members of "dominant" demographics may feel slightly ostracized as a result of the focus on diversity.

Pros

Rich information and great research support team

Cons

slow paperwork and too many bureaucracy in departments

Pros

Great environment and great people. Have very good job security and easier to get a job if you worked at the university.

Cons

Not much room for career growth.

Advice to Senior Management

Better communication between departments

Pros

A good environment to learn, grow, and experience a scientific lab. working at uc davis allowed me to explore an array of different research opportunties.

Cons

Location was far from home. academic research is mundane and becomes stagnant after a period of time. not a dynamic environment.

Advice to Senior Management

allow more opportunties to move up the ladder at uc davis lab. give more responsibility to entry level employee and

Pros

- Mentors are great resource (depending who it is)
- Opportunities for learning are unlimited
- Room for personal growth

Cons

- Pay for student researches need to increase
- Grants are hard to come by
- Some PI's not motivated to "let you move on"

Advice to Senior Management

Mentors (PI's) need to draft a career paths with their students and keep this path up to date (refer and change often).

Pros

Excellent benefits, lots of vacation and sick leave

Cons

Favortism at a grand level. Even if you are an excellent employee with many years of service and outstanding performance reviews and attendance, mid-level management will lie,steal and cheat to promote and maintain their "friends" positions-who happen to their subordinates even if they perform at a lesser level. Pets are allowed to waste half the day, chit chat 2-3 hours daily etc.

Advice to Senior Management

How about acting like adults. I feel like I am surrounded by high school girls in the accounting department I work in. This is one of the worse places I have worked as far as a professional-business like atmosphere. Not ! Also UCD is now laying off hundreds of workers-many with 15-20 years of service. Avoid this place like the plague-unless you are buddies with a manager.

Pros

Benefits, holidays,pension,allow you take learning classes related to job

Cons

No job security.Charge employees $500+ a year for parking. Management is snobbish. No incentive to be an exceptional employee-bad workers and good workers receive the same the same raises and same treatment as good workers. Seniority based-they will layoff a great worker and keep a slacker.

Advice to Senior Management

The UC system is one of the most corrupt systems established in the State of California. They are a public* partially tax payer funded entity yet they waste taxpayer money. They have shown time and time again their elitist arrogance which has well been documented by article after article in the Sacramento Bee regarding their excessive salaries for administrators, huge student fees hikes, recent hiring of new staff by the Chancellor and she gives them $100K-200K salary increases over the past person to hold the position (and in these budget thin times !), the favoritism and layoffs taking place UC system wide---and all of this is done "in your face" because UC knows these actions will always make the news. They do not care. Taxpayers and employees are tired of the misuse of our taxes to pay for the greed of these elites.