Pros
Work life balance Prestigious institute
Kontras
Ridiculously low pay - not competitive at all Often no room for advancement within one's own department People who work hard are often overlooked. For many people, overtime is actually discouraged, because the department can't afford to go over budget. The work life balance, while nice, also fosters a sense of complacency in many people who have been here a long time. That, along with the fact that it takes a lot to be fired, allows people to stay here a long time who no longer care about their jobs, are poor managers, and put zero effort into things such as continued learning to stay up to date with the latest skill sets related to their position. This puts more pressure on the people lower down (and receiving lower pay) to do the tasks that those managers are responsible for. It creates a lot of frustration for people lower down the ladder, and in my particular department an entire team of people just recently left for new jobs. These people were some of the best and brightest, but were not being compensated for the work they were doing, and were not getting promotions or title changes to reflect the changes in their duties.