Great company; poorly-managed division - Systems Administrator III RTI International Employee Review

3.0
Jun 3, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great people, decent benefits, option to telecommute if your job supports it, onsite gym and cafeteria, and a chance to contribute to improving conditions around the world.

Cons

The IT division is a mess, and has been for years. A fairly recent CIO change only made matters worse. IT management frequently joked (in a very negative fashion) about non-IT staff and administration. Was embarrassed most days to be in IT. Almost no chance for advancement beyond the rare grade promotion. VERY stagnant environment, even with the recent reorganizations. For 15 years it was nearly impossible to get fired from IT. Now no one has any job security, unless they are in management.

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5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

RTI has a good mission

Cons

Adaptation to sudden federal funding loss.

3.0
Jun 15, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Remote work and reasonable working hours

Cons

If you're a PhD who enjoys research and hopes to use empirical research skills at a research institute, you'll likely be disappointed as I was. Projects in my business unit were largely implementation projects that required very little creativity or data analysis. I was told by my manager that empirical-research projects are harder to come by and when those opportunities do arise, everyone wants them. Even then, project directors are very unwilling (in my experience) to let you branch out to other projects. Using any overhead time to work on your own research is also discouraged, so I ended up working on manuscripts in my personal time. And there's no funding to attend conferences either. On top of all of this, constant layoffs create an aura of uncertainty and the feeling that you're lucky to even be there even when compensation for similar roles in private sector is far better.

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