Better go somewhere else!
Gut am Arbeitgeber finde ich
colleagues were good and most students were eager to learn and fun to work with
Schlecht am Arbeitgeber finde ich
According to my experience and opinion, I did not like the IN-EAST as an amployer because to me it was like the following description:
You have to do what you are told. You may try to argument against decisions that you think are not good but in the end you have to do it because if you do not do it you will get problems with finishind your PhD. And if that means you have to do administrative tasks that is usually done by a secretary then you have to do it.
You have to work for 6 years and it is common that after 6 years you have to finish your PhD at home because you were not be able to complete your thesis before that. And if you dare to complain about the workload the reply is that you still have the weekend to finish your work.
The negative working atmosphere result in an atmosphere where no one wants to say anything because it is best to stay quiet. There is no support for you when you have scientific questions because PhD topics are accepted even though there is no one who has knowledge in that area, so you end up as the one who does the experiment and have to get support from other universities. Hard work is not rewarded, the only result of that is that you are regarded as valuable and therefore it is made sure that you work there for 6 years if you want to get your PhD (to reward good workers with a PhD after 4 years would be a waste). Leaving earlier is not allowed and handing in the thesis before the end of the 6 years is made almost impossible (easy if your employer also decides about when you hand in your PhD and if you pass or not).
If you quit before the 6 years are over it is made sure you cannot finish the PhD so everyone knows that one is not ok to quit after 4 years and try to finish the PhD at home.
Why 6 years? Because by law after 6 years you cannot renew the contract again. Good thing otherwise you have to stay longer.
You also have to bring your own laptop because the computers and monitors there are so old that you cannot even work with a normal Excel sheet. Loading times are incredible and crashes are frequent, if the computers work at all. And if you ask for a new one you are told no because buying new computer every decade is a waste of money.
The monitors are very old and small as well. Very difficult to work propoerly. Best solution is to bring your own laptop but you do not get money for it.
If you want to work there make sure to talk to people who have worked there in the past. You hardly find someone who thinks positively about an employment there after completing the PhD. Not surprising because even after PhD graduation and hard work there is still no support. You have to get your own connections outside the Institute to get a job afterwards, because external applicants for Post-Doc or professor positions are highly preferred over internal people. So if you worked hard and long to get your PhD there you are not supported to get a job afterwards. Your only chance is to make friends outside of this university and get a job somewhere else after your PhD.
So, better do your PhD somewhere else from the beginning. In other universities you can get the PhD in 3 to 4 years and if you worked hard you have a real chance of getting a good job there or a least a good recommendation. Outside the IN-EAST economic department people know how valuable connections are and that former PhD students are the professors of tomorrow and that a good relationship with them is good if you do not want to have a negative image in the scientific community in the long term.
If you want to make a PhD and you can only make it there, my tip is to do it the external way. Get a job (not at IN-EAST) and make your PhD besides that. That is, according to my opinion, almost the only way to get a PhD in less than 6 years. Because there is no incentive to keep you working for the chair (because you do not work there, so there is no value in you). But the chair gets money if you get your PhD. so it makes sense to let you graduate fast when you do not work at the chair.
I made many connections outside the IN-EAST and I know how things are at different universities. Take my advice and avoid the IN-EAST. According to my opinion it is for your own good.
Verbesserungsvorschläge
In my opinion the following things would make things a lot better:
- be fair and honest to employees
- let people finish their PhD in 3 to 5 years
- only accept PhD topics that the supervisor has knowledge in
- give internal PhD graduates a fair chance for a Post-Doc of professor position at the IN-EAST
- administrative work should be done by secretaries
- invest in computers and monitors
- no work on weekend please