research assistant

graduate researcher

postdoctoral associate

postdoctoral fellow

postdoctoral research associate

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Negatives First: You should know what you're walking into
Due to the university policy of not permitting mandatory classes from 5-7 PM, many non-academic student-facing jobs prioritize availability that stretches from 8 AM (before classes start) to 8 PM, requiring many staff members to work 12-hour shifts multiple times per week. In these circumstances, raising a family can be difficult. 

Staff salaries do not reflect the cost of living in the immediate area, and perks such as free / reduced-cost public transportation are only good if you live on a high-frequency rail or bus line inside city limits. The value of that benefit dissipates immediately once you are in a surrounding town or neighborhood where evening bus schedules add significant time onto your commute home. 
If you have to commute from a distance, driving is often the best option for a timely trip. However, parking fees cost $12 per day, and the typical distance from the assigned lot to the office can exceed half a mile. There are workarounds, and the maximum parking fee is capped at approximately $2,200 per year. Trying to avoid paying becomes a fun game of cat and mouse, and the parking enforcement staff is actually REALLY COOL. They'll help you when they can.

Staff are not highly valued at the university, and there is a current effort to reduce full-time positions to part-time to save on benefits as current employees leave or retire. There is a lack of upward mobility within many departments, and most administrators carry a mentality of 'plug-in and play,' using departures from staff members as an opportunity to reduce salaries for new hires and save money.

Now for the GOOD STUFF (AND THERE IS PLENTY)
Benefits are, for the most part, excellent. Health and dental coverage covers a lot of things (which is a shrinking window, as the quality of care in Massachusetts slowly deteriorates year after year, but that's another story and not MIT's fault). The 401K used to be excellent with employer matching, but they've scaled it back. It's still good, but not as exciting.

Most admins do not micromanage. You can do what you feel is best to be effective at your job. 
Your job is going to be cool and exciting. You are working with the best minds in the world, and the students are incredible people. For the most part, there are no egos! Work satisfaction is off the charts.

Equipment is not something you ever have to worry about. What MIT saves by treating its employees like summer interns salary-wise, it makes up for by having large budgets for equipment. You'll usually have access to the newest and coolest stuff.

What will drive me to leave? The inability to afford the privilege of working there. Why would I stay? It's a quirky and cool place with features like a nuclear reactor on site and a grass and sod department that is rumored to have a multi-million-dollar budget.

just when you expect MIT to be great and found out these people live in the 70s. Management is extremely poor. They def. play favorite, and they don't care. My manager is so cheap, he doesn't believe in reward employee that go above and beyond. He simply said "these people get pay to work and that's it". There's absolutely no growth. Very poor working conditions. It's like a zoo in the office everyday because nobody knows how to work efficiently and effective. It took 4 people to find 1 piece of paper very day for at least 30 mins. People show up to work and just sit on computer online shopping, and pretend to be busy, pushing their work to other people. Apparently, my coworker show up smelling like alcohol and there was complaint against him regarding alcohol incident but my boss does nothing about it. I don't know since when it's ok to be drunk while working. These people refuse to change for the good, they been doing whatever they do since the 70s for so long, they are afraid of technology. How ironic because this is MIT. They don't know how to work the printer, fax machine, and don't even get me started on how they DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE PDF to do a simple edit text and combine files. It's true that when you do your job so well that you get to do other people job. The people here are lazy.

Depending on where you work at MIT depends upon your experience. Overall the community is made up of extremely kind and impressive people. However retention of current employees is not a priority combined with illegal human resources practices I would carefully ask questions of your supervisor and get everything in writing. The policies that are listed on the website are not necessarily institute wide. Also there is a huge difference in benefits for salary and non salary employees. I believe MIT was a great employer at one time, however I can say my experience and several other individuals was poor. The vacation and benefits are excellent. Work life balance is difficult. Culturally it is a very unique place to work which I loved. My biggest complaint is human resources and they have one of the largest departments and are easily the least helpful.

MIT Medical has so much potential that is being squandered.  Wonderful people work there, and are treated badly. The management does not seek input from their many thoughtful, capable, and experienced employees.  The culture is top down, with the worst people at the top.  When they hear that employees are dismayed by lack of communication, they redouble ther efforts to tell employees what to think and do.  Management does not engage employees in problem solving or utilize the skills and experience of employees.  This dysfunction applies at all levels of MIT Medical. Management is intent on applying the worst aspects of health care reform to demolish what was once a truly patient-centered system, turning it into a mediocre insurance-centered system. Management lacks imagination and staff are united only in their dismay at the unfortunate changes being imposed.  It is a sad situation.

Working at MIT is a wonderful experience. They are excellent about work/life balance and flexibility. The benefits are fantastic but the compensation is generous but, as expected, will be less than one could make in the private sector.
Job security is always an issue for a research scientist that relies on grants for salary, so it seem the only real job security is through tenure if you are a professor.
For research scientists, the structure is very flat. There are certain "rules" at MIT that only allow a certain number of senior scientists which depends largely on the size of your department. So if you are "capped out" on senior scientists there is really no opportunity for internal advancement. To make it even worse, only senior scientists can be Principle Investigators on new grants.
Overall, if you just want to focus on research it is a wonderful place to work. You get to work with brilliant scientists and students and have all the flexibility, autonomy and balance you need.

A typical day at any position I had was very busy. Although I previously held HR positions before MIT,  there was a difference between manufacturing and education responsibilities.  I learned different policies, many based on international employees and students, ex: visa laws and processing.  As well, the customs and beliefs of many worldwide.  I felt very secure and confident with all managers I supported and had a very good relationship with all.  The culture at MIT was very intelligent, interesting, friendly and in most cases relaxed.  Hard: balancing my responsibilities, with interruptions to insure I processed all in a timely basis but always did.  I enjoyed my job all the time; I love to be busy, very diversified, really enjoyed the students, as well as all I worked with.  Research was amazing.

MIT is a wonderful place if you land in the right department. It's like its own town and each neighborhood is different. If you land in a good one you'll be fine. If you land in a bad one you may want to find a quick exit strategy. 

Departments with lots of cubes or spread across several buildings means being cut off from co-workers and isolated. This along with multiple re-orgs and cutbacks have resulted in low morale and a toxic environment where many have left in a mass exodus. Beware and talk to someone in the department you're applying to or interested in.

The benefits are amazing, the campus is beautiful, the people are bright, the work can be interesting or mundane based on your job. But the prestige of working there is incredible to leverage.

The culture at MIT is one of constant improvement and innovation; in that respect it reflects the profession of engineering in general. At MIT, I work with incredibly smart, driven people who--while they may not be the most adept at interpersonal skills--more than make up for this deficit with their commitment to collaborate and work productively in teams.

As a professional communicator, the biggest challenge I face is earning respect for the important role of outreach, dissemination, "marketing" (a word we don't use here!), and public relations.

To address that challenge, I demonstrate my value every day: Whether it's delivering high quality collateral, for print or online, on time, on budget, and to specification, or sharing quantifiable analytics (website visitation, for example).

A typical day at work requires for me to be ready and productive at all coast. I will dedicate myself at achieving every aspect within doing what the companies expectation requires. I get to learn from others and lesson to problems that I would like to tackle. The managements very informal on different problems and task that we might have to deal with. This will allow me to pick up the correct process on facing adversities with the daily processes at work. My co workers are great and we help each other to push one another to doing great each day. There can be hard days that come about, put having the correct work attitude and a daily regiment on facing stress can lift you up. The most enjoyable thing about my job would be helping customers  receive the best service and find the correct apparel that they need.

I love working in a university environment because there's so much going on. MIT is no exception. In non-COVID times, there are lots of activities for students, faculty, & staff. The place feels like a small city or community (in a good way) and the benefits are the best ever -- both probably reasons why many people have worked there for decades. There are many  opportunities for advancement. Only complaint is that my current role is a high-stress one with a lot of work with urgent, immediate deadlines, and the boundaries between work and personal life seem to be eroding -- especially since working at home due to Covid. My coworkers are a caring bunch, but the work needs to be done, no matter what. That said, I will continue working here for the foreseeable future. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Research assistant 11 salaries reported	$48,638 per year
Graduate researcher 24 salaries reported	$47,071 per year
Postdoctoral associate 30 salaries reported	$74,130 per year
Postdoctoral fellow 19 salaries reported	$80,211 per year
Postdoctoral research associate 10 salaries reported	$72,700 per year

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