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As a long term collaborator of Nactem and from my personal experience with many of its members, I can say that they are a very strong research group; one of the very few in UK (unfortunately) that do very well in terms of both money and also strong publications. The environment seems to benefit people who work hard and have the ability to contribute, but may not be suitable for people who are seeking for just a job without trying to accomplish the cutting-edge work which is Nactem's primary objective. I have seen many strong researchers who have gained a lot from working at Nactem, following up with estimable academic positions later. Equally, non-committed ones have departed to find jobs more suited to their plans. It is simply a matter of personal career planning.
I would definitely recommend any young researcher who is interested in that field to seek a job there. The group has a very large number of collaborations which gives young people the opportunity to grow and see the true picture of the current university world.
I worked at NaCTeM for over 2 years. In that time, I was involved with two projects, both of which completed ahead of schedule and yielded good publications :-)
In my experience, there are many positives at NaCTeM:
- I was strongly encouraged to publish
- I was guided and supported in my work throughout
- I was allowed to decide my own timetable
- I found that the management was open to new ideas and research directions, i.e., I was encouraged to initiate my own projects
- The research team was one of the strongest that I have ever worked with. Moreover, everyone was very friendly and supportive
- The work environment was professional but relaxed
The only negative aspect of my experience was to do with a fellow researcher, who was somewhat disgruntled and was not interested in either the completion of the project or the publication of results. The unprofessional behaviour of this particular individual caused some distress to me and the others. This person eventually left the organisation, but I had to pick up on their work. However, the management was very supportive and understanding, and I was given the time and resources to complete the project.
I was extremely surprised to see any positive comments about NaCTeM when I saw this page.
Having worked there and been in the hostile and unprofessional environment created by management, I can reassure people that those positive comments are fakes.
NaCTeM management works hard to create a positive outward facing image of the group. Inside the group, however, it's anything but positive. My fellow colleagues were miserable in their jobs. Management used to scream at us in public. Can you imagine that? As a professional who has a PhD, suddenly you are made to feel like a bad school child.
You must think that I'm exaggerating. Unfortunately, you need to work here to actually believe how bad it is. Since I can't
Why would management do such a thing you might wonder? Believe me, I still wonder to this day. The one positive thing that came out of working there was that I learned how it feels to be mismanaged and will always try my hardest to be a good manage to others.
My advice:
- avoid NaCTeM
- send this review page to anyone who is considering working there
- do not enter any collaborations that involve NaCTeM
- inform funding bodies that NaCTeM's mismanaged is resulting in a waste of public funding
Since NaCTeM is part of a university, management can't just be sacked because it's doing a bad job. NaCTeM needs someone with lot of courage to stand up and to file a formal complaint. This complaint will result in the dismissal of 1, maybe 2 members of management. Unfortunately, going through such a formal disciplinary procedure is highly stressful and not good for the complainant's career.
I hope that the University of Manchester reads these reviews and conducts a enquiry even without a formal complaint being filed. The health of your employees should be of critical concern.
Pros: Good location near the City Centre in central Manchester, close
to numerous eateries and pubs, in a vibrant student area. Located in a
safe neighborhood, in an area with a large student population.
Cons: Management provides little opportunity to do serious
research. There is a strong focus on short term contract
deliverables. Applying standard techniques to new problem
domains does not result in publishable original research.
I found Nactem to be a difficult place to do productive research. The
focus is on short term results to satisfy many small contracts. I was
not given the time to develop any sort of research program, as the projects
and goals changed too often. The work required of me turned out to be
very different from what was discussed in my job interview.
I worked at NaCTeM for two and a half years, and have recently left to go back to my home country. It is an excellent place for career researchers with a great work environment, plenty of support and motivation for publishing, and a lot of freedom to pursue new ideas. I have learned a lot during my time here, and it has propelled me into a senior position back home. In hindsight, it was an excellent career choice :-)
Good location and better-than-average salary package.
Excellent research environment, good management, great leadership, amazing colleagues, extensive publishing opportunities and caring senior managers.
Salary is above average, good holiday package, good location and plenty of opportinities for training and publishing.
NaCTeM has a terrible work environment and embedded culture of bullying from the management that is overlooked and ignored completely. If interested in working for this organization, request for a staff turnover statistics from the HR and you will know the truth.
Avoid this place like a plague. You will save yourself from insanity, damage in career and humiliation by the management staff.
Pros - after working here you will learn to avoid working for such organisations. Cons outweigh every pros you can think of. Best find somewhere else where you can contribute, get recognition for your work and be treated humanely.
Working at NaCTeM has given me the opportunity to conduct interesting research and vastly improve my research profile. The work environment is very good, with a great deal of support from the management and the opportuntity to work and socialise with friendly colleagues.
I moved from my country to work at NaCTeM. The working environment was focused with great potential. I published a lot and it was great to see that my research was used in real applications. Good technical support and encouragement to pursue my research ideas.
At times high pressure but for a good reason.
I made many friends from different parts of the world so overall a great working place. This is the place to work if you want your research to be implemented in real life systems.
Supportive research environment. Linked with real applications.
I published a lot with great support from management.
Lead to permanent post in academia.
I changed country coming to NaCTeM and I have regrets. Here is a place that has been very bad for my carere. I worked very hard but my job changed often so I did not finish enough. In research, you need to finish and to publish : this is not true for NaCTeM. Here it is obligatory that your work is finished for clients ; to publish is not so important. Now I work in another university. Here, they like that I publish and they me give support.
My sincere suggestion for any prospective employees: Please look
elsewhere, there are plenty of other opportunities. Trust me this
job isn't worth the trauma.
Work atmosphere:
If you think not being appreciated for your work is an issue...think
about the poor souls who work here who are constantly bullied and
shouted at. This is a place where the use of foul language, sarcastic
comments, tantrums and extreme control is considered to be normal. It
is unbelievable but true....the turn over of staff members are so high
that it is almost like hot desking.
Learning experience:
You can be guaranteed that you wont gain anything useful from working
here apart from the constant stress which drives you to feel free
again when you quit! You will be ordered on who you can speak and who
you cannot speak with and you'll be driven to either succumb to all
these nonsense or you may quit like the many others. We realised after
several months of hard work that it is hard to please some people and
that some cannot be pleased whatsoever.
Conclusion:
Time to quit and learn that some places are not worth having talented
individuals. Hopefully, will never get myself into this sort of work
atmosphere again as I'll look out for these types of boss at workplace
and avoid them like plague. Only motive is to save those who havent
yet had encoutered this sort of experience from hell.
I was attracted to NaCTeM by the quality of the research. What I didn't know was that much of the research presented on the NaCTeM publications page was actually conducted at a partner lab in Japan.
I would not recommend NaCTeM for a post-doctoral research position. Researchers are not given significant freedom to pursue their own ideas, and the environment is not conducive to research productivity.