graduate researcher

postdoctoral fellow

teaching assistant

research assistant

graduate assistant

University of Texas at Austin

Austin is a beautiful city to live in, and my job at U. Texas is in a brand new high-tech building.  I arrive to work early and log-in by 8:00 am.  I review my workload and decide what is priority to accomplish today.  There a variety of tasks to do.  I enjoy working with the faculty, post-docs, and graduate students.   As I finish a project I check if off my electronic list.  I log-in new projects in color-coded files and have a system to track and move the workflow through my desk until it's completed.  I do different kinds of tasks on different days.  Some workload has strict deadlines to meet, and the rest of the work is "filler" work that has to eventually get done, but no strict deadline.  After 4 hours, I'm ready to take a break.

On my lunch hour, I walk to the gymasium and take an exercise class (different type of class every day), and I really look forward to this.  After the workout, I'm back at my desk feeling refreshed and ready to concentrate.  I pay tuitions, hire students, process visas, finish travel reimbursements, meet with a faculty member about their accounts, or do accounting work on the grants.  When my day ends at 5:00 pm, I have accomplished a lot.

I have learned a new computer system at U. Texas. I have learned the NSF-style / Fastlane proposal submissions and have done a lot of  accounts reconciling, projecting in Excel how to spend down the grant funds before the end date, and tracked and closed grants at a  zero balance.

One of the best parts of the job here are the coworkers who are very knowledgeable and helpful towards each other.  I was trained by a coworker for a year (when I started the job), and now I'm training a coworker who is new to the Institute.  The administrators work as a big team.  If one administrator is busy submitting a proposal and cannot manage the rest of their workload, then we help out by doing their travel reimbursements or other work until they can recover.  

The hardest time at my job was when I was brand new and not very familiar with the U.T. computer software and accounting system.   I simultaneously had a full workload and many people to support.

The most enjoyable part of the job has been the teamwork among all the administrators who are willing to answer questions when you're really stuck and give support when too much workload is occasionally happening.   The supervisor of administrative staff will meet with a new administrator once a week.  You can bring your work questions and get answers during the meeting, and you can continue with the training meetings for as long as you need help to get up and running fast.  The Director of the Institute also takes all the administrators out for lunch several times a year.  As well, he provides several lovely party events during the year for the entire Institute.

There was a time when job candidates were told by UT Austin interviewers "If you take care of UT, UT will take care of you. You'll never see an industry-grade salary, but you'll come close. You'll have both good benefits and a good working environment. You'll work 40 hours a week, and we don't do layoffs." 

They don't say that anymore, and will deny ever having said it. That's because it was only true up to a point when they said it (though even paying lip service to those ideals said something good about University values at the time), and would merely be a pack of lies today. The exception is the benefits, which are good, but remember that you're locked into the Teacher's Retirement System, so you need stay at the University long enough to vest, and with University-wide and departmental layoffs standard operating procedure since 2003, that's a lot harder than it once was.

Even as a Senior Software Engineer you're likely to earn at least $35K/year less than industry is paying, and your retirement (if you can stick it out long enough) will be based on the average of your highest five yearly salaries. For many years now, money for salaries has been so tight that holding your own against inflation has beeen problematic, so forget any fantasies about anyone doing the right thing for you in your last five years.

The software developer's career ladder has also been severely truncated over the years, which means that  during your career, just a few promotions (your only chance for significant raises) are possible. Once you hit Senior Software Engineer, forget about meaningful salary growth. (Job opportunities at UT are few due to the budget problems, so jumping between jobs within the institution is an unlikely source of useful salary bumps.)

In the IT sphere you can mostly expect bad, even actively abusive, managers. On the plus side, though, they are deeply concerned about career advancement and salaries. On the minus side, it is only their own advancement and salaries they are concerned about, so the politics among them are vicious and that trickles down to make already iffy and chaotic working conditions even worse.

As various people have said of the management: Those people are so bad, that even if they're not trying to make you so miserable that you'll quit, quitting is your best option. And of the UT employment experience as a whole: Get out - get out now - it'll be the best move you've ever made.

Don't be fooled into thinking it is a rich University due to all the construction on campus, the new medical school, etc. That is funded by the Permanent University Fund, private donors, etc. Staff salaries, on the other hand, are funded by the Texas Legislature, which seems to be opposed to public education at all levels.

What is the best part of working at the company?
As a communications professional, I enjoyed a large network of communicators to utilize when needed. I especially loved how well many schools  coordinated and organized their communications strategeies for higher involvement across campus. I often received social media packets to help boost events. I especially enjoyed coordinating with UT central communications. They always jumped in to help and train. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The stress is determined by the school that employs you.  Some schools work very closely with their staff to ensure their success and longevity; others do not. I worked for a school that was not supportive. The dean often requested me to preform special assignments outside my realm of skills and duties. If I attempted to compromise with the dean or request additional support to perform those tasks, I was lectured by management. If tasks weren't done specifically to the dean's  wishes, even if I generated better results, again I was disciplined. My immediate manager enjoyed micromanaging and practicing the silent treatment with his staff. It became very hostile, forcing me to resign. I found out later that my position suffered from high turnover. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Each school defines their own culture and work environment. As a communications professional, a big issue I dealt with is that schools did not have communications budgets but they did have development budgets. Development is a fancy word for fundraising. Without a communications budget, communications professionals were regulated to a development office. Its a sticky situation because my development manager did not have a good grasp on communications and was not open to collaboration. I was forced to only communicate the work that would help raise money. Engaging with students or their parents was never a priority... just the donors. To make matters worse because I was in a development office, I spent more time around other development professionals than communications. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Typical work day: 
Get to work by 8 am. Wait for the boss to call your office and assure him you are there and working. Grab a breakfast burrito. Comiserate with coworkers about your supervisor. Develop content, interview professors and meet students. Ask manager for a day off. Watch him lose his mind. Report the interaction to HR. Wait for HR to tell you the interaction didn't happen and to move on. Attend a meeting with the Dean. Allow an aging, out-of-touch octogenarian tell you what is good for social media while simultaneasly requesting you find a way to fix a bit of outdated hardware in her office. Commiserate with coworkers. Wait for your boss to request information and justify everything you did that day. Then he will excuse you to go home.

I've worked several jobs at UT. I've enjoyed all of them and been very thankful for the opportunity and pay, except PLUS. From the beginning, there are too many components the program is juggling. You have to use a new email system, attend several different types of weekly sessions they host, find volunteers within the course and make sure they keep showing up, in addition to hosting several meetings of your own and fully documenting them to turn in. Everything comes from the coordinators, but at the same time if you are doing anything slightly to the disliking of the manager, you will hear about it. There is very little supervision and the first thing you hear is never a push in a positive direction, it's a very anxiety inducing email telling you what you did wrong, despite the fact there is extremely minimal guidance. The manager essentially uses blaming the coordinators for their shortcomings to make the numerous aspects of the program that are dysfunctional and should be fixed by them seem like the student's fault and not their fault. The job isn't actually "flexible" in your role, it's only deemed "flexible" because nothing is set up clearly. The manager is a very anxious person who puts their anxiety onto the coordinators of the program rather than using that anxiety to fix the numerous things that need fixing within the program. I heard a lot of complaining about how many meetings they were having to attend generally, even though they created the need for so many meetings without much purpose at all within the PLUS program. I wish they would have spent some of that time offering positive guidance or coming up with more ideas to make the load less strenuous on coordinators and more equal on themself. We had a "relaxing" meeting decorating cookies one week where we couldn't even decorate the cookies in peace, it was a constant barrage of bizarre questions like "what is one thing you would remember from your childhood if you could." You had to answer all of the questions regardless of content, and when we got the frosting paints, the manager snapped at the grad student as soon as we sat down asking "more questions?" Sums up the feeling of being a coordinator pretty well. Overall, genuinely wish I would've never applied. The pay for other positions at UT is much more worth it. Left me with a lasting anxiety of feeling like I'm doing something wrong all the time. 

If you are a graduate student and looking to build your resume or gain teaching experience while in school, being a TA is a great opportunity. You will also inevitably gain more knowledge in your field by having to teach the material. However, your compensation depends on the department you are teaching in––if you are in the Humanities, expect to be paid very low. The stipend is definitely not a living wage, so you will still need to supplement with loans or even another job (which would be killing yourself). Even though you are technically only required to work a max of 20 hours a week, you will end up working more than this some weeks, especially when it's week where grades are due. Your students will also email you at all times of the day and night, sometimes with "urgent" questions, so you have to be mindful of protecting your space while also being attentive. In my department, there was very little training offered and we were all kind of just thrown into it––the university at large has resources for TA's but they are hard to find and not readily apparent. For example, using Canvas as an instructor is very different than using it as a student. The Canvas platform is not always intuitive, and if the main course instructor has not already set up the grading rubric and course data, the grading and record keeping will be a nightmare. If you don't already have some teaching and organizational/management skills going into the TA-ship, you will have to play some catch up in this position. The benefits offered are decent (again this depends on your exact TA contract), but I hear that the exec admin is now thinking of downgrading the health insurance plan available to graduate student workers. And it took a lot of work and persistence just to get exec admin to re-approve graduate student workers for a tuition reduction benefit (which in my opinion, should be a given). As a TA, you are the one providing a lot of cheap labor for the university, especially if you end up TA-ing for a course that has a huge enrollment, little direction from the professor, and an inadequate syllabus. But, you are expected to be so thankful for this job and its benefits––which really aren't generous at all when everything is taken into consideration. 

After clocking in, a typical day begins with helping students answering questions about Adobe Premiere or Avid Media Composer (for the most part). Sometimes I would get questions about After Effects or Photoshop. In regards to Premiere or AVID, the questions usually ranged around the exporting/ importing options and what to specifically choose to achieve the best outcome when finalizing their video. Other times, questions ranged from every aspect of the program. If I did not know the answer to the question, I would sit with them and figure it out until I knew the answer. If I could not personally answer the question, I contacted my supervisor so they could come in and personally problem-solve the solution with us. 

The hardest part of the job, but also the most enjoyable, would be finding out the answer to a student's question that I did not know at the given time. There have been plenty of instances in which a student ran into a very specific problem that I have never seen before, but I was able to sit with them and problem-solve the program until I figured out the solution. This also became the most rewarding part of the job as well. 

After holding this position for quite some time, this job has easily become my favorite job I have had so far in life. Earlier jobs included many years serving at various restaurants, as well as cashier experience at retail stores. However, as an editing proctor, I have had so much fulfillment learning new ways to tackle Premiere or AVID and problem-solving new situations in these programs. This was an everyday instance. 

As far as management goes, my supervisors were my favorite bosses that I have ever had. They were fun, easy to speak to, and were fantastic at helping me and other students when certain questions had gone to something near-impossible to answer. And for that, I thank them immeasurably because of the experience I was able to take away from that position. I will definitely miss this job when the summer ends, and hope to continue looking for a job as a full-time editor.

A typical day at work would be about being able to rely on your fellow co-workers and higher ups to show up consistently and do their job.  I in turn would do the same thing - so in essence, reliability and consistency.

I would learn about other people during the day and on a more pragmatic level, learn about how to do things more efficiently.

Management would lead by example, meaning walk their talk and not micro manage.

The workplace culture would be respectful of peoples time and opinions and focus more on the quality of work done and not try to cook cutter everyone into being exactly the same.  They would value and honor diversity, and in return people would be committed to working hard.

The hardest part of the job would be dealing with difficult clients but that would also allow me and others to grow and learn how to provide better customer service. Also if there is any lack of communication among the staff, that could prove to be challenging.  I would hope that there would be weekly meetings where there would be an open forum to discuss things.

The most enjoyable part of the job would be forming a bond that is genuine and authentic with fellow co-workers and supervisors/managers.  Learning from others, growing with others and really enjoying working there - the job would not just be a paycheck and or being stuck in a cubicle all day doing things that were repetitive and required no ingenuity.

I realize writing this that this is supposed to be about the University of Texas at Austin...while I believe SOME part of UT can be like the above, my previous job was not like this.

This review is about a job that I would ideally like to be a part of.

I worked in the coffee shop, which was essentially a "starbucks". I've worked as a "starbucks" barista before, so I didn't need much training, if at all. However, I felt so bad for my coworkers who haven't because training was minimal, if at all. They would just throw new student employees in without any prior knowledge to menu items, drink codes, etc. The training that was available was very inconsistent. The Dining Manager for our shop had no starbucks experience, and therefore could not properly train new employees. It made it extremely confusing for those of us who WERE familiar with starbucks, because everyone had their own way of writing on cups, which often led to mistakes making drinks, and would back up the queue even more. This was an extremely high traffic café, with lines extending out into the halls nonstop from around 10am to 6pm. Coverage was always spotty, and there wasn't any direction on who should take breaks when. I always felt so guilty taking my break because I knew how short we were, but eventually I was just happy to get out of there. 

Also, our manager had a favorite employee, who everyone including my supervisors had issues with, and would let them get away with anything. They'd show up late, leave early, and barely work while they were there–didn't matter. We all kind of tolerated them since there wasn't much we could do.

I could go on, but ultimately the café I worked at was the most dysfunctional coffee shop I've ever worked at.

In 1990 to 1992, Austin Texas was growing. So was the university where my father spent three years studying engineering until World War II began and he was drafted his senior year. 
Accounts receivable administrative support was a strength as well as a vocational bachelors degree in education, non-certification. The degree provided opportunities to grow in soft skills in communication and mentoring, both of which played a vital role in the responsibilities of the position. 
Being thrilled to work in a university setting with peers in the accounting department of the Student Union was a dream come true. The university offered so many opportunities to grow. That kind of setting is unbelievably rich with opportunities. 
The University of Texas at Austin and other universities truly are wonderful places to work, grow and learn. The benefits packages are wonderful. Usually there are small eateries around the campus that serve the students, faculty, staff, families, and alumni, as well as the community itself. Usually there may be transportation options available, such as bus or metro, to serve the community. Salaries are good, too. There are many opportunities for networking with many different departments and professors whose passion it is to mentor and teach the leaders of tomorrow. 
Working for a university is an opportunity not to be missed. Especially at The University of Texas Austin. 

I had the privilege of working at the University of Texas at Austin, and I must say that it was one of the most enriching experiences of my professional career. The university is a world-renowned institution with an incredibly diverse community, providing a dynamic and stimulating work environment.

Throughout my time at UT Austin, I found myself surrounded by passionate, knowledgeable, and supportive colleagues who consistently pushed me to be the best version of myself. The leadership team was exceptional and always made an effort to ensure that employees were happy and fulfilled in their roles.

As an employee, I appreciated the university's commitment to providing ample opportunities for professional growth and development. The institution offers a wide range of training and development programs, allowing me to enhance my skill set and take my career to new heights.

The university's emphasis on research and innovation also provided me with the chance to work on exciting projects and collaborate with experts in my field. I always felt valued and appreciated for my contributions, which made my work at UT Austin extremely fulfilling.

Overall, my experience at the University of Texas at Austin was exceptional. It is an institution that truly values its employees and provides them with the support, resources, and opportunities needed to succeed. I would highly recommend UT Austin to anyone seeking a challenging, rewarding, and fulfilling career in higher education.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Graduate researcher 29 salaries reported	$33,966 per year
Postdoctoral fellow 153 salaries reported	$62,327 per year
Teaching assistant 14 salaries reported	$15.36 per hour
Research assistant 9 salaries reported	$32,778 per year
Graduate assistant 9 salaries reported	$30,729 per year

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