<p>What are the benefits of a lab tech job?</p>
<p>Salary, health insurance, free tuition, mentors, publication, lots of vacation/sick time, neat name tag, maturity, (if it’s public, reduced cell phone cost), gym membership, community of intelligent people to interact with, travel to conferences, guidance/direction.</p>
<p>The negatives of taking a tech job are that you may not have control over your project, you may end up doing something rote, boring or out of your area of expertise, you won’t get a degree for your trouble, you may feel like you are stuck in a transient period of your life, you may hate your PI.</p>
<p>Name tag! Our techs don’t get name tags. (I did knit matching hats for three of them, though – is that enough? ;))</p>
<p>A major benefit of a technician job is that, if you pick the right lab, you can take your time deciding whether graduate school is something you really want to pursue, while getting both more experience in research and a salary. I agree with belevitt’s negatives, which indicate that a prospective tech should really try to figure out if a potential lab is a good fit, if at all possible – jobs don’t grow on trees, but you should try to be a little selective.</p>
<p>Not to mention seeing what it’s like to do science 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for more than just a summer.</p>
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<p>My PI is awesome but yes “feel like you are suck in a transient period of your life” so succinctly sums up my opinion of my life! I get quite jealous that my officemates are closer than me to getting out.</p>
<p>Nobody knitted me a hat. Now my crummy name tag no longer seems like such a good selling point.</p>
<p>For me, it was definitely good to see how it felt doing science 8-14 hours a day everyday for an extended period of time. Also, you get to see grad students in all stages AND postdocs and PIs!</p>
<p>Also, this may not be true for everyone - I was able to score a technician position in a “high-powered” lab and a good recommendation from my PI. I don’t mean to be self-deprecating but I really don’t think I would have gotten many good interviews if it weren’t for his name. I have mediocre GPA from a mediocre state school.</p>
<p>Get into a good lab and be a tech, make some money and have fun with science - see if it’s the right career for you - and it will take you far.</p>
<p>Oh and yes, I’m not gonna lie, towards the end of your tenure you’ll start feeling like you’re ready to move on… which is another good thing, you totally will be DYING to go back to school! (I am! 
)</p>
<p>But honestly, towards the end of your PhD you’ll also be feeling like you’re ready to move on, so… 'tis life!</p>
<p>thanks for the replies.</p>
<p>the free tuition sounds very appealing- how does that work? </p>
<p>Do you actually get to take the classes for CREDIT and not just on an audit-basis?</p>
<p>what kinds of classes can you take (any, or ones in a specific department only)?</p>
<p>Tuition is covered as part of your employee benefits. They usually extend to any dependents/spouse just like health insurance. Fill out a form, take it to some office, and poof, no tuition charges to your account.</p>
<p>Classes you could take depend on a few things. In my experience, most summed up to “will this negatively affect my job performance?” Specifically:</p>
<ul>
<li>Time of day (1:00 class messes up the whole day’s productivity for some)</li>
<li>Number of units/length of class (do I really want this PLUS 40+ hours a week?)</li>
<li>Relevance to career/current job</li>
<li>PI willingness</li>
</ul>
<p>Other factors:
- Department policies (some don’t like non-degree seeking students, especially if they’re from another department. Most probably don’t care, though)
- Audit vs. credit will probably depend on you wanting to do the homework/take the exams</p>
<p>You can take whatever will be helpful (registrars aren’t going to know that host pathogen interactions would be relevant for rheumatology). Your PI or supervisor will have to okay it, but who would say no to this? There is some form that you fill out and put in the trashbin of campus mail and then, no bill is generated. I have taken my courses for credit though I don’t see how that is relevant as there is no such thing as retrocredits or transfer credits in grad school. I know one of the techs who had my job several years back actually did an MBA while he was working (I think they became a little more strict after that). Some schools require that you be a certain class of employee or have held your position for six months or something before you can start taking advantage of these benefits.</p>