1. As project staff at National Tsing Hua University, you can enjoy the university’s related benefits and use its facilities.

2. Like most civil servants, you receive your salary at the beginning of the month. If you take leave or have other deductions, these are handled afterward. The payday is fixed, except in cases involving project-year transitions, administrative procedures, and similar issues.

3. Senior colleagues will help you become familiar with the existing systems and code, after which work will be assigned for development. You will not be left on your own. There are standardized development guidelines and internal/external testing machines. Testing is handled by dedicated personnel, and there is a bug-reporting system.

4. There are many opportunities to communicate and discuss matters with system analysts, testers, and even customer service staff, which helps develop communication skills.

1. This is a project position with a one-year contract. If the review and approval of funding for the new project year is delayed, the first month’s salary will be paid late. When you are hired for the first time, you may also receive your salary later because of administrative procedures. The probation period is approximately two months, and during probation your salary is based on your academic qualifications, which is noticeably lower than the official salary listed on recruitment websites.

2. Since this is a position in a university project office, this work experience is usually discounted when looking for jobs in the private sector, and your ability to handle pressure and manage schedules is often questioned.

3. In terms of team operations, engineers are expected not only to develop software but also to participate in some planning and specification discussions. A certain level of communication ability is therefore required, so this job may not be suitable for people who want to focus exclusively on development. In addition, because this is a government project, many issues involving considerations from senior management will arise.

4. Because of the nature of the project, confirmed development schedules are difficult to adjust. However, it is common to discover during the discussion stage that the planning was inadequate, or for users’ responses after launch to differ from the actual situation. Correcting these issues requires additional working hours and is usually urgent. There is no clear process for reporting overtime, nor any definite method for paying overtime compensation or granting compensatory leave.

5. This point reflects my personal experience and concerns the work atmosphere. Please consider it in light of your own circumstances, as everyone may have a different impression.

First, the team atmosphere is acceptable outside peak periods. However, once a peak period arrives, customer-service requests and bug reports pour in like a tidal wave. The testing and customer service teams work overtime intensely to handle these matters. At such times, engineers are very likely to be blamed for being unwilling to cooperate with overtime, not fixing bugs, or failing to think things through when writing code, making it incompatible with users’ operations and real-world needs. Engineers, however, often feel that the specifications were not detailed or accurate enough. These complaints tend to continue, which can make people feel as though they are being held accountable after the peak period has passed.

What dissatisfied me personally more was that, based on what I observed, departing employees were often criticized behind their backs. For example, they might be accused of slacking off and doing nothing after announcing their resignation, or of failing to make sufficiently detailed plans or handovers before leaving, causing considerable difficulties for those currently carrying out the work and making it hard to continue, or even affecting the launch schedule. However, after verifying these claims with the departing employees themselves or with third parties, the answers were often completely opposite. This inevitably gives the impression of a Rashomon-like situation or of deliberately spreading rumors.

Furthermore, if someone bears important responsibilities, even when they announce their resignation early, every possible effort may be made to delay their departure. This ultimately leads to an unpleasant separation, with both sides complaining repeatedly, and the behaviors described above recurring.

Of course, this is purely my personal impression. Some people do part on good terms; it is just that unpleasant separations do not seem uncommon. The unit also has a relatively high turnover rate, with most employees staying no more than a year.

Overall, I believe this job does have an important mission, but the work atmosphere is not particularly healthy. Specifications are also prone to repeated revisions, so this is not a job well suited for long-term employment. It is emotionally exhausting.