Pros
* Safety 1st (kind of; minor injuries are daily-to-weekly, but most people will respect desires for major safety issues). * Direct managers are fair. * Pay is a bit above industry average. Though nothing special for what is expected. * Pretty stable job security. You have to be bad at the job or get hired just before a major downturn. * 8hrs paid holiday, even if you don't normally work that day. * Taking time off is rarely an issue. * Contributes $1,300/yr to HSA if you choose HDHP+HSA for medical. * 90+% of coworkers are good folks, work hard, don't throw you under the bus, and just overall people you can work with for 9-13hrs a day.
Cons
* Company shutdowns are unpaid and fairly frequent—in the first 4 years, you will use almost all of your PTO (which is your sick leave, too) on shutdowns. You accrue 40hrs/yr more after 4 years—you might get a vacation then. * This role is much more interesting to mechanics/electricians than it is to engineering graduates. They hire both types. The latter is their target demographic (for some reason?). * You will use ~5-7% of your engineering degree. A big con if you liked engineering; a big pro if you 'wish' you liked engineering. * Upper management are clueless, losing a dollar to save a dime—no, they will not listen to you no matter how much you and all of your coworkers warn them. And yes, they will blame you and your manager when they "do the dumb" anyways and things go exactly as bad as you said. * Extremely tight deadlines and schedule conflicts between engineers and lab equipment engineers—expect to delay (sometimes miss!) your breaks and lunch hour routinely. * Virtually zero upward career progression potential—you'll do the same thing at level 1 as at level 4 (even 5). You may branch to specialist or manager, but you'll not be promoted to an engineer, designer, modeler, QA, or anything else. What you do after year 1 is the same as year 20. * Expect bruises and minor burns, be thankful that's all you're going home with.