the lice hate the sugar wrote:
I started off in college as an English writing major (worthless, I know). I changed my major to neuroscience at the start of my senior year, mainly because I took a few classes my junior year (out of curiosity) and had some great professors that sparked a passion for the subject. I stayed an extra year to finish the necessary coursework, did well, and then I was done. I changed majors purely because of an interest in neuroscience - I didn't do much thinking about what I would do once I graduated.
Basically, with this degree, there are two options: graduate school or medical school. After graduating, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, but was interested in research, so I applied for, and got, a job as a research assistant in a laboratory that studies brain injury (TBI/stroke) and epileptogenesis. This seemed like a decent lab with a clinically relevant topic. The PI (MD PhD from Pitt) offered me the job. I was so excited - $30k, maybe $35k a year?!?!?!? No. The starting salary was $10.00/hr. Whatever; I wanted to get some research experience, so I took the job. I was considered the "lead" research assistant (there was some woman with an MD that was another research assistant, but she frequently left the job to go shopping/walking/talking on the phone). A bunch of college (freshman/sophomore) interns started "working" (read: surfing the internet all day) in the lab. They were making $10.00/hr also! Coincidentally, their parents all worked as physicians/administration in the hospital (the son of the PI even "worked" in the lab, despite being a political science major with no interest in science). I felt somewhat ripped off. Aside from that, I started with 1 vacation day and 2 sick days, with an accrual of roughly 2 hours of vacation time per pay period (every 2 weeks).
Fast forward 3 years: Now I am making $12.00/hr (26 years old - embarrassed to say that - all of my quarterly performance evaluations have been marked as "exceeds all expectations"). I have no help at this job, yet we have 3 active grants, so this has been a major juggling act. The PI was awarded a grant from the NIH for $350,000 one year prior to my arrival (2007), with a progress report due 3 years after the award (2010). When I started, I was instructed to work on 2 projects. I did not know about this timeline until recently, and was not instructed to work on the NIH project until this past September (when the PI received the warning letter, which stated that a progress report would be due soon). So, this man basically received $350,000 and did nothing with it for nearly 3 years. In the final few months of the third year, he has expected me to complete 3 years worth of studies. I have tried my best to complete this, but am still not done. He has ignored all deadlines to submit progress reports and is still expecting me to finish the study very soon - I am nowhere near done and am still working feverishly to finish this study. He will not trouble any other laboratory personnel with helping me to finish the experiments. He constantly mentions, " I can't believe I let this go for 3 years," yet maintains these unrealistic expectations.
Recently, the laboratory had to fire several senior members due to lack of funding to support their endeavors. I have asked for a raise several times, yet my boss has stated that the funding "just isn't there" to facilitate that, YET he goes out of his way to allocate funding to keep paying all of these interns that don't aid in the lab's productivity (which it certainly needs, at this point).
During my time as a research assistant in this lab, I have been nothing but a civil, professional, hard-working employee that has, according to my boss, "kept this lab afloat." I have gone to interviews for other positions that have offered better employment situations, but ultimately decided to stay with my current lab because of their guilt trip and because I find their research to be more interesting/more clinically important. I am beginning to regret those decisions. I am tired of the low pay, non-existent paid holidays (the research institute offers 6 paid holidays a year), practically non-existent accrual of any vacation/sick time, and the favoritism towards those whose mommies and daddies work in the higher echelons of the institute's hierarchy.
I am basically holding out for a letter of recommendation from my boss, who, believe it or not, is a successful physician-scientist. I would ultimately like to go to graduate school; however, I am currently looking for a better position in another lab before doing so. I feel like even if I left, my boss would still owe me, if anything, a decent letter of recommendation. Looking back, I have never been truly happy with this job (in fact, it has recently been making me completely miserable - I absolutely dread going to it on a daily basis). I have friends who work in freaking bakeries kneading dough that make more money than I do (with benefits!). I realize a college degree isn't what it used to be and that I am on the low end of the totem pole, but I guess I naively thought that hard work and a respectful, professional attitude would at least get me in better financial standing. The bottom line is that I hate this job and want nothing more than to quit it and focus on getting on with my life, BUT at the same time I appreciate actually HAVING a job and HAVING health care. Am I wrong for feeling ripped off? I guess I'd just like some others to weigh in on the matter.........
Thanks.