UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) Reviews

Former Employee – worked at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Top-notch scientific powerhouse. Lots of resources for research. Great location in the city. New Mission Bay facilities.

Cons – A lot of bureaucracy. Cost of living is high in San Francisco.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – -Excellent Benefits
-Very Tech Savvy
-Lots of Opportunities for Professional Growth

As a disclaimer, while I had a wonderful experience in my department, many people have suffered horror stories at UCSF. It's impossible to give a rating to the entire institution, as your experience will vary depending on which campus and department you're in. Parnassus tends to have many more politics and personality issues, whereas the campuses are generally more easygoing. Again, this is a blanket statement and can be totally off depending on who you get, but it's typically true.

My department was located at San Francisco General, which is the most inclusive and least political campus (although they still exist here, just not to the degree of Parnassus). I was very fortunate to work in a major clinical department in which I had the support and respect of everyone in the clinical and admin staff, from the bottom to the top. It truly did feel like a loving family, and is extremely rare anywhere in this world but there are some departments at UC that are really doing it right.

Starting pay is usually okay (not great, but serviceable), but depends entirely on how "flush" the department you join is. Some have more money (Surgery, Anesthesia, Medicine) and some have less (Podiatry, Otolaryngology, Optometry).

Cons – -Raises take a while to go through. You're supposed to receive fifty cents or so every six months, but instead you usually get a buck and some change every couple years, so that can be frustrating. If you feel you've been more than puling your weight, though, you can apply for a merit increase (an unscheduled raise) or a step-up, which is going up in title.

-Some people can be very unhelpful. There's a tendency among some that if you ask for complex help or for them to teach you how to do anything that even vaguely relates to their job, they believe you're "trying to steal their job" and they become very difficult to work with. You mainly see this in departments that have heavy politics and poor management. Departments that cross-train and have a good collegial atmosphere typically don't have this problem and are much easier to work in.

-Unions can be very obstructive if you hold a union position and are trying to advance in your career. While claiming to get your back in everything, they will do whatever they can to fight your "upgrade" to a non-union position, as they don't want to lose your membership (and dues, I'm sure). Many union employees who want to advance typically have to apply for a vacantAnalyst position in their department, or move to a different department, which is unfortunate if you're in a department that you really enjoy.

Advice to Senior Management – This is more directed at the School of Medicine, which dictates everyone's salaries: Please start people out at a higher wage, and be more consistent with raises. You have a lot of good, hard-working people who are leaving your organization because they can't afford to live in the city any longer.

Also, imitate some of the campus departments and do more to instill equality and collegial respect between all levels of clinical and administrative staff across the board. There should be real penalties for disrespect and elitism.

Listen to your staff's suggestions for company resources (such as the MyAccess apps). These are the people who will actually use these tools, as opposed to some freelance developers and executives who will likely never touch them.

Finally, stop throwing so much money at the Regents. With the excess money you pay them in bonuses and incidentals (which they don't even spend in one year), you could easily hire lots more people at a good salary to staff your organization.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco)

Pros – Can acquire a lot of experience.

Cons – Changes in funding/fiscal management issues.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Balance, good benefits, training opportunities

Cons – Low salaries, few raises, few chances to move up

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – If you care about Education, Medicine, Research, and San Francisco; then UCSF is a place to have a job in that field. You will have a chance to encounter a lot of different, and often disparate, operational business and office models.

Cons – It IS a "non-profit", which wags to the donors demands, despite the actual demands of operations in an organization that size. Job expectations often exceed the demands of for-profit equivelants. That action is not based on medical, security, or safety urgency, but simply bad policy institutional conflicts with contracts/grants needs, school and department conflicts. If you hope for access

Advice to Senior Management – Upper management is often in it's own turmoil and afraid to admit it for fear of showing their ignorance of many steps in actual business and office operation. Doesn't that sound like a great place to LEARN?? And really, that is what should be modelled from the top down.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco)

Pros – Smart colleagues, quality of scientific research is high.

Cons – Disinterested faculty who do not seem to care about professional growth of students and postdocs

Advice to Senior Management – Pay more attention to your underlings.

Former Employee – worked at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – benefits; large population lots of areas to grow

Cons – Parnassus campus is cold ad hard to get to.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) full-time for more than a year

Pros – A fantastic mix of talented, innovative people that have some balance of ambition and passion for their work along with translation medicine perspective.

Cons – A support network of long-term staff that are not always motivated and a cumbersome HR.

Advice to Senior Management – Cut down on the outrageous 'retention pay' schemes. No one is irreplaceable - especially in management.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Employees get discounted gym membership at Parnassus and Mission Bay

Cons – It's really hard to get a job here for some reason, and it's even harder for most to advance.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great place to work when you're a new grad. Lots of opportunities to train on different projects, responsibilities are given quickly, and there are learning/lecture opportunities. Also, if you're interested in professional school, its a great place to make contacts that can help you get admitted!

Cons – The pay is not competitive, but it is run by a government that's in a lot of financial trouble. Probably about 10-20% less than what you would make in the private sector. But, if you're a new grad, this is a great place to start. There's not very much room for advancing since many titles rely on the number of degrees you have.

Advice to Senior Management – We know you're stretched thin with your workload. We really get it. But your staff is too!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend