Anyone worked at colleges/universities?

IT-Fella

Hi!

I'm in the process of interviewing for a system engineer position at one of my local state colleges. The position is being budgeted at the same salary as I'm getting paid now (literally only 1k difference) . However, being a state job it has many perks such as a state pension, more days off, discounts, reimbursed phone and internet, work from home, etc. Also, it will be a huge difference in the amount of managed IT resources (currently ~20-30 servers - 200 work stations - 2 locations vs thousands of users and hundreds of servers and network devices) which certainly will be a good addition to my experience (and resume too). Should I make a move if offered for experience and perks? Or colleges and universities (especially state ones) are not the best place to work at?

As always - appreciate any advice from the most brilliant folks at Techexams.net

Thanks.

anhtran35

Apply ASAP.

tjb122982

I would do it. I work at a university and so far I love it. I'm hourly so I don't get all the great perks. However, if you are "regular full time" you get great insurance, 5 weeks of vacation, every major holiday off, university library privileges, free classes. If the money is the same, there is no reason not to do it but that's just me.

JasonX

I worked at a state university and it was BY FAR the most political environment I ever held.

Managers which had no freaking clue how to manage or had any technical abilities. Raises were dependent on who's table you sat at during lunch. Most of the unskilled employee's are complacent and will be lifer's doing the bare minimum to retain their employment. Anyone with ambition quit within 2 years tops.


Cliffs: I got tired of the political bullshit, added a bunch of certifications and jumped ship asap with a nice bump in pay.

IT-Fella

"added a bunch of certifications and jumped ship" - That's probably what I'm thinking about this opportunity too

How big were the raises? Just bare minimum like 3-5%?

the_Grinch

I worked for a private University and currently work for the State. If you can get in then I highly suggest that you do. At the University, at least for me (and as far as I could tell elsewhere), at the tech level it wasn't political. Once you got to Manager or Director and up, then it became political. But regardless, at the University and the State we have steps so I know where my salary will be in the next 10 years. Education is a huge perk, but remember if you are taking graduate courses you have to declare it as income for tax purposes.

I have friends at a local state university and they've been there since they attended school. Since it's a bit of smaller team you have to work from the bottom up. I had applied for a system administrator position and the help desk, to which they told me I was not qualified for the system administrator position. Ultimately found out that my friend was moving into the position and they wanted to fill his position. Being a public university the position had to be posted.

UnixGuy

My last job was at a scientific institution that was part of (and run like) a university. There was a culture of complacency, and mmmm how to put it nicely? It was too politically correct for me (can't expand on this). Either way, It's the best place to grow technically.

Polynomial

Half my career has been in higher ed. The salaries for IT roles are simply not competitive with their corporate counterparts.

However, the benefits tend to be really strong and the work environment more laid back.

Qord

I have worked for a non-profit Community College for just about 4 1/2 years now...and I still look forward to coming in to work every day. In my scenario, the pay is well below market rate (but steadily rises 3-6% annually), the benefits are excellent (especially the 401k contribution; tuition remission at 6 regional colleges for me and my dependents), and the work environment is healthy and laid back.