So I'm a technician at a research lab. 8/10

The benefits are absolutely amazing. We do a lot of government work and have one of the highest budgets, so very good job security.

The work does get pretty technical, but it's all OJT. And they give plenty of time to get qualified. The work is a lot of setting up expirements for scientists. Lot of mechanical installations and a hefty amount of computer operations for gas operations and cryogenics.

We work 24/7 (the lab). I work 13 hour shifts 3/4 days a week. One week is 3, the next is 4,the next is 3. Rinse and repeat. So i get a 3 or 4 day weekend every week. That's absolutely beautiful to me.

My main complaint is that we don't have enough work to actually fill 24 hours a day. I work the night shift, so I have quite a bit of down time. I don't like downtime personally. If I'm gonna sit and watch YouTube, I'd much rather be in the comfort of my home. But I'm hourly, so I can't leave. For some people, that's the fucking jackpot, but I like staying busy.

Im prior military so it's very nice seeing how much they care about making our jobs easier. There's schedule pressure, but management does an extremely good job about not letting that trickle down. So i never feel rushed to get stuff done. It's lots hours but fairly stress free.