Pros
- R&D institute associated with TUM, striving to become an "SRI International" of Bayern - one can get interesting contacts with industry and academy - good location in Munich (U-bahn access)
Cons
- low salary: salary is low and according to federal public tariff in Germany, similar to any academic or university place in Germany. On the other hand, work atmosphere or expectations might be like in industry/company (depending on group leader/manager) - pyramidal non-flat hierarchy: CEO, then a few professors or group managers leading their divisions. Social atmosphere between groups is rather weak and it could be improved. Top management might have some issue with listening people. Not many different backgrounds/disciplines. Officially no flex-time arrangements possible - no permanent, long-term contracts: mostly only perpetual yearly temporary contracts - perhaps not the best place for long-term plans and promotion, some groups managers might not be responsible employers: people often come and go. Job applications promise sky, but some doing their promotion with TUM left, as well as more senior personnel. Those planning to do promotion should take care that they have clear definition of PhD topic with their group leader written on paper, as well as clarify on few years support rather than playing on-the-go trust due seniority. Otherwise they might find themselves doing different topics or frequent sub-contracting for/with industries what might be in interest to a group leader, but bad for promotion focus. As of postdocs, they often come and go. - administration staff: not the most polite people encountered