educator

zookeeper

facilitator

preschool teacher

technician

Orlando Science Center

I have been working for the science center for quite some time now. I thoroughly enjoyed my time here and working with children. While working as a part-time educator, I took on a pretty heavy workload. Learned a lot of lessons, taught classes, guided field trips, and went on off-site programs. While being trained on all of these things, I felt the pay was slightly fair ($17.20). We got the news that they would not allow us to work summer camp 2024 (which is part of the education department). This would reduce our hours tremendously because “they could not afford us” to work those shifts and because school is out, they aren’t scheduling as many field trips or programs. What they thought the best solution would be is to offer us different positions around the science center, and that was something I was comfortable with until they said all hours under those positions would be paid $15 an hr. Which means I’m losing $2 an hour each shift. Since the news, they have mainly scheduled me the shifts at $15 an hour after deliberately expressing “I don’t mind the shifts but I do not want my whole week with them”. Working here has showed me that if you are a part time educator, they do not care that you put in time to make their programs look good, assist management with any side tasks, input ideas to help with lessons, work on the weekends, stay late and pick up shifts if needed, and take the heat from schools when management doesn’t communicate effectively about sold programs. They will still take away hrs and money to “save money”. It’s truly disappointing that such an amazing job could go completely wrong just because management does not care for the longevity of their part-timers. 

The mission of the Orlando Science Center is to inspire science learning for life. This ideology is the epicenter of the organization and it is the reason why so many talented, dedicated individuals continue to show up to work long past when the company has deemed them unessential and meritless. While the mission resonates strongly in their employees, the Science Center is unable to bring its mission forward solely due to the poor treatment of their staff. It is unrealistic and unfathomable to place the burden of children’s development on staff while simultaneously accepting that their employees are paid so little that they are reduced to starting Go Fund Me pages when they have car trouble.

Senior leadership makes ineffective decisions that diminish the morale of their employees. Their decisions are demoralizing and have led to the resignation of many crucial members of their team. Those unwilling to leave are rewarded with reduced hours, assignments from their peers who have left, and the looming threat of additional layoffs. The choices made during the pandemic will define how the organization will look in the future and will show other community partners that they are not a pillar of the community—they are a self-serving children’s play place with no regard for the employees that try to bring their mission to fruition.

Unfortunately, my experience working here was not very positive. I came in expecting to learn and grow in my role, but I did not gain nearly as much knowledge or training as I should have. Management sets a lot of deadlines and goals that feel unrealistic, especially within the time frame given. Instead of proper guidance, the approach is more of “figure it out” and you should exceed the knowledge of your own superiors when needed. While that can be good for someone who enjoys discovering things on their own, the lack of structure and support from management really holds you back from developing professionally.

Sometimes, you have to do something that either you are not comfortable doing or do not know just to cover for someone else. And it is unfortunate as this creates an environment where people do rely on you and missing a day can affect your team’s performance.

For some people, this is a good work environment where you meet very interesting people and have very supportive team members. The place is very inclusive and flexible at times with your schedule. As long as you put the effort and interest in learning, you will do well in the role

Overall, this position might work for someone looking for self-directed learning, but if you expect mentorship, clear direction, and realistic expectations, you may end up feeling stuck in the end.

I love working here so much! My job is legit talking and doing fun activities with kids. As long as you can public speak to kids and like working with them then come join us! We teach kids about science by doing field trips and going to schools to give mini presentations. It’s easy and you’re given lots of time to do what you need to do. There’s a bit of a learning curve but everyone is very supportive and will help you if you need it. Management is great and treats you with respect, never any yelling, very positive. Super flexible with your school hours, lots of hour range, I’ve worked before at 7am and left at 11pm before. (Not the same day ofc) but this is to show all the variety of job hours and job tasks. You’ll never be bored and always learn something new. If you need to call out you can, very understanding managers, they do lots of work so they’re stressed but kind and accessible none the less. Age range of co-workers is 20-35 but anyone can do this job. Make sure you’re able to walk a lot tho because it’s a big building. You get a break if you work over 6hrs, but there’s plenty of time to do what you need to do. We are a bit short staffed though so please only work here if you’re planning to stay for a while because there’s a lot that goes into training new people and so much information. 

As an SPI, your day to day is about 50% presenting shows, and 50% creating new content. Our shows go in seasons, so things are always fresh. You will be doing potentially dangerous things on stage in front of large audiences- when they ask if you are comfortable causing controlled explosions in the interview it is not a joke. Friends and family will love stories about what you did at work today, almost as much as you will have enjoyed your day. I gave compensation and benefits 3 stars because the health care and retirement benefits are excellent, but the pay is extremely low compared to similar jobs at other museums and non-profits. Management on my team deeply cares for their subordinates and is always ready to have your back if anything happens. The only thing that would make this job perfect is a higher pay rate. With only about a $6,000 difference between my manager's pay and mine, there's really no incentive to move up in the company aside from getting experience to move somewhere else with.

I worked in the animal department at OSC for several years. The wages are incredibly low (I stared at $11 an hour), even for individuals in leadership positions with degrees and several years of experience. I saw amazing internal candidates consistently get passed up for promotions in lieu of older external candidates who were LESS qualified for the jobs. Upper management does not have any animal experience, yet they often dictated many of the animal decisions for our department. This resulted in disgruntled animal care staff who were consistently disrespected. OSC does not invest any money into conservation projects and there was no prioritization of animal welfare or staff welfare. There were keepers employed there for over five years who never received any formal professional development. The turnover rate of keepers is very high, leaving other keepers to pick up the slack with no increased pay or promotions. I would not recommend OSC to animal professionals, even beginner ones looking to gain experience. 

The work can be really difficult or really easy, but never in between. There is a lot of downtime and very little hours when school is not in session. The workplace culture is amazing if you are an open-minded person. You do not do this job for the money, however hours are never guaranteed. There is a surprising amount of turn-over rate due to low wages. Middle management is amazing but higher ups don't care and intimidating, they say there is an open door policy, but always chastise you for using it.

This is a great job for someone who is a self-starter and works better without micro-management. But there is very little incentive to go above and beyond and work your hardest as it will go unnoticed. If you are looking for not a lot of hours, great coworkers, middle of the road effort and something that looks good on a resume, this is a great job. If you are looking for career advancement, look elsewhere.

There is a high turnover rate and the evidence can be seen by the number of pt and ft positions open currently. Typically, ft staff responsibilities exceed the compensation and work hours allotted. Middle management is self-centered, yet underpaid and they take this out on their subordinates by providing little to no support. They excuse their behavior by stating that they are treated unfairly as well. They side with a guest's encounter besides listening to their employees' take on it. Upper management seems to have an issue with resolving problems within the organization and with transparency. Many decisions that affect employees are left to the last possible second. Yet they hold lower management to a higher standard. You will find many people within OSC that love what they do and have a passion for the mission. But you will also find a toxic work environment that will slowly deprive of that passion and energy.

This was a nice place to work at first as they were fairly flexible with their schedule and the work was low stress for the most part. That lasted about two months. 

Certain upper level managers/directors tend to work in a way that creates a negative work environment for lower level management which in some cases is passed on to employees. Staff would talk openly about how bad this or that person was as a director.  It was all very unprofessoinal.

There is very little room for advancement at OSC and while they say they promote from within, during my time there I saw no evidence of that. This is largely due to the size of the organization.

When I started working at the observatory, I had a pretty good grasp of astronomy, or so I thought. I have learned much more than I ever thought possible on the subject working here. I understand that it's the same in many of the other areas of the Science Center. If you are interested in learning about a subject, and immersing yourself in knowledge, this is a great place to work.
You really have to love what you do here, because that is the main compensation you will receive. Since they are a Not-for-Profit organization that receives its funding from the community, they do not pay all that well. Nonetheless, it is a rewarding place to work.
Because of the observatory schedule, open usually only on the evenings on weekends, the hours available are very limited. But it is easily the best part-time job I have ever had.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Educator 6 salaries reported	$18.05 per hour
Zookeeper 5 salaries reported	$18.89 per hour
Facilitator 8 salaries reported	$15.39 per hour
Preschool teacher 2 salaries reported	$40,560 per year
Technician 4 salaries reported	$16.63 per hour

Working at Orlando Science Center: Company Overview and Reviews

Orlando Science Center

Orlando Science Center Ratings

Popular jobs at Orlando Science Center

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected