You’ll wake up every day knowing that you’re changing the world, but the pay is bad, and the management are awful.
Pros
Working at the Salk is like working at a religion for some. You wake up every day knowing you’ll change the world. Your coworkers are usually amazing people. And after your worst day at work, I guarantee you’ll still wake up the next day feeling like you’re going to change the world.
Cons
Harassment from management is a rampant issue at the Salk. Google The Salk Institute and harassment and you’ll see what I mean. While I was there I was verbally and sexually harassed by one of my superiors. HR was an absolute joke among my coworkers. I was told they only exist to protect the company. When I came forward with what was happening in my department I was laughed at and shown the door before being told they’ll talk to the manager. Nothing changed and I left. Furthermore, it seems like they’ve worked out a system to prevent paying median wages in people’s line of profession. They give you a custom title (they will not budge a single inch on your title, no matter how far back it sets you in your career in your industry). Your title is set in stone upon arrival and they pay you according to how they rank that title in relation to everyone else (which is probably going to be lower than median wage in your line of work). All of these issues were happening on the staff side so I can’t speak to the research and faculty side of things. But people talked and I heard rumors some of the same issues existed over on the research side as well. Also there was no healthcare. Sorry.