Pros
-Great pay and benefits. -Great sick and vacation policy. -Cofounders and upper management are very enthusiastic and willing to listen to lab operators' concerns. -Free food and snacks . -Downtime to nap, play games, watch Netflix on the job.
Cons
-With the 12 hour days and the work day starting/ending at 4pm/4am, this job is physically demanding. Days are long and extremely exhausting by the end of the work week. You have to give up a lot of weekends and a normal schedule. -The actual work is very pendantic and frustrating . The software makes running experiments, even simple tasks like emptying chemical waste, are painfully slow. For example, something simple like making standard can take about an hour in accordance with the software. A minute spin on a centrifuge takes around ten minutes for the software to clear the steps. -Work requires very little critical thinking. The software is designed to limit the "human" component of running the experiments. The software dictates your every move in the lab and the job requires very little training. It is easy to feel undervalued and not interested in the work. -There is low morale within the lab ops team. Everyone seemed to complain about the work and it was common to hear people talk about looking for other jobs or when they plan on leaving. People generally either seemed unhappy, exhausted, or more commonly both. -There is an extremely high turnover. It seems like only a handful make it past 6 or 7 months. People are constantly leaving. If applying or commiting to this job, I would recommend weighing the options before doing so. The pay is good, however it comes with a price. Few last and almost all seem unhappy or at least frustrated with the position. Of a twenty-something person lab ops team, more than ten operators left within the past year. This job is hard and unfulfilling. Emerald's inability to keep lab ops team members is a reflection on that.
