工研院 _財團法人工業技術研究院

The work is fairly good. Basically, things are busier from May to July, while during the rest of the year you can pursue further studies or work on your own projects. It is somewhat like a school: the President’s Cup competition is taken very seriously, the sports culture is thriving, and the fitness facilities are considered first-rate among companies in Hsinchu.

Compared with salaries in the Science Park, the pay is toward the lower end (though compared with industries nationwide, it is toward the higher end), so you need to budget carefully and spend sparingly. Given the cost of living and housing prices in Hsinchu, supporting a household is basically somewhat tight if you are not a dual-income family.

The environment is pretty good, like a campus, and during onboarding they also created a very friendly atmosphere here.

I have over 10 years of career experience and had three jobs before this, all at large publicly listed companies. The Industrial Technology Research Institute is absolutely the place that opened my eyes the most. I thought I would take a pay cut to come here for the convenience of picking up and dropping off my child, but then I encountered a direct supervisor with emotional-control issues who bullied subordinates at the slightest opportunity. The pay isn’t much, yet you have to endure a lot of blame, as well as frequent crude, gender-related jokes. I’m really curious why no one has filed a complaint or lawsuit. I heard that someone previously reported this to HR, but in the end nothing came of it... It’s simply a place where people protect one another and prioritize keeping the peace. People considering applying might think, “I won’t be unlucky enough to encounter that,” but it’s actually very easy to run into. There are a bunch of old-timers who have lived in an ivory tower their whole lives, brainwashing everyone into rationalizing bullying! And then these older employees all start work at 8:30, leave at 4:30, and take a two-hour lunch break.

The Taipei office environment and relationships among colleagues are quite good. Mid-year and year-end bonuses, as well as salary raises, steadily increase the longer you stay.

As for project managers on government projects, really, do not try it lightly. You have to somehow navigate among the employer, the client, and external partners. The employer is even more bureaucratic than the client, specializing in factional politics and competing for favor like members of an imperial harem; the client is addicted to outsourcing and wastes time all day, taking pleasure in spending the project’s money; and external organizations know exactly how each party operates and understand how to delay and refuse to cooperate. In particular, positions requiring foreign-language skills need foreign-language expertise the least, while supervisors who demand international experience are completely uninternational.

It’s relatively relaxed; you can do your own thing, and people generally don’t interfere much.

1. Here, you absolutely have to pretend to be stupid, pretend not to notice anything, and pretend to be incapable. They won’t lay you off anyway, and as for performance reviews, just leave it to fate. The performance review system here is bizarre: your review is conducted by a supervisor you only see once a year, and performing well doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll receive a good rating. Taking your work seriously only puts you at a disadvantage, and you may end up doing all the work for someone else’s benefit.

2. Among the dozens of supervisors I have encountered at different workplaces since entering the workforce, the supervisors here are among the least capable. They usually don’t participate, help, or provide guidance on projects, and when problems arise, they pretend nothing happened and ignore your messages (see point 1: pretending nothing happened is the survival rule here). When a problem is discovered by a higher-ranking supervisor, they may even stab you in the back in front of senior management and everyone else. It feels like everyone in the office dislikes one another, creating a very poor atmosphere, but the supervisors also turn a blind eye and have no intention of addressing it.

3. Personally, I feel that several small and medium-sized private companies I previously worked for were far more capable than ITRI; the quality of their project results was even better. I don’t know why the government insists on investing taxpayers’ money here ==

3. In any case, I plan to leave as soon as I receive my year-end bonus. I advise the public not to make the same mistake I did by letting ITRI’s name blind you. When all is said and done, it is merely a good-sounding name.

Very relaxed; the pay is just about okay.

1. The hierarchy is very pronounced, and supervisors in the unit target new employees. When I first arrived, I had nightmares every night.

2. Anyone who is too efficient would probably be driven crazy here. The work atmosphere feels slow-paced and like a place to coast until retirement. For example, something that could easily be confirmed with a simple message has to be turned into a long, pointless meeting where everyone sits down so the senior managers can give lengthy lectures and make their presence felt.

3. Why do the senior managers need to make their presence felt? Because normally they do not manage anything at all. They can draw a high salary while shifting all the responsibility onto their subordinates. How convenient for them—bravo.

1. It’s very busy when things are busy, but very relaxed when things are slow. You can use the institute’s resources to learn things you’re interested in. Once you’ve learned what you need to, you can start using your new skills to look for your next job, making this a good stepping stone for a career change.

2. My favorite part is probably the swimming pool at the Youhuo Recreation Center. An annual pass is much cheaper than those elsewhere.

3. It seems quite suitable for people with children, but I don’t have children myself, so I can’t comment.

1. As many senior colleagues have said, the Industrial Technology Research Institute operates in an extremely bureaucratic and rigid manner. Many matters require consideration of supervisors’ preferences and connections, making things that could clearly be resolved simply unnecessarily complicated. Many projects are also outsourced to mediocre external vendors (I only later learned that a vendor may have had some connections with the supervisor). Supervisors occupy high positions and receive the most money, yet push all responsibility onto frontline staff. They don’t understand the project’s execution, completely ignore the project during its day-to-day implementation, and provide no clear guidance on its direction. Figuring out what supervisors are thinking mostly requires mind reading; it’s only the day before an external presentation that they start nitpicking and expressing dissatisfaction in all sorts of ways.

2. The Industrial Technology Research Institute was my second job after entering the workforce. Personally, I feel that if you’re new to the workforce, it is extremely, extremely, extremely unsuitable to make ITRI your very first job. You won’t be trained here in basic skills such as report writing, presentations, or administrative work, and the quality of the reports produced here isn’t even as good as at my previous employer (which was just a small company with 10 employees). I developed many of these skills at my previous job and continued using them here.

3. Perhaps because the organization has become too bureaucratic, both horizontal and vertical communication are very difficult. Problems frequently arise because supervisors’ instructions and the division of responsibilities among colleagues are unclear.

The managers there include capable ones who are bad at leading people, moderately capable ones who are good at bluffing but will protect the team, and incompetent ones who leave you to clean up their messes.

The Department of Materials and Chemical Engineering doesn’t know when it will finally face up to a certain battery laboratory. That laboratory runs an operating deficit every year, yet I’ve heard that at departmental meetings, each person gets a meal costing over 1,000; does the group leader approve these expenses with their eyes closed?

The managers there include capable ones who cannot lead people, moderately capable ones who are good at bluffing but will protect the team, and incompetent ones who leave you to clean up their messes.

I don't know when the Department of Materials and Chemical Engineering will finally face up to a certain battery laboratory. That laboratory runs an operating deficit every year, yet I hear that at department meetings, everyone eats meals costing over 1,000 each. Does the team leader approve them with their eyes shut?

The managers here include those who are capable but don't know how to lead people, those with average abilities who are good at bluffing but protect their teams, and those who are incompetent and leave you to clean up their messes.

I don't know when the Department of Materials and Chemical Engineering will finally face up to a certain battery laboratory. That laboratory runs an operating deficit every year, yet I heard that at department meetings, everyone eats meals costing over 1,000 each. Do the group leaders approve these expenses with their eyes closed?

None

1. Managers like to use workplace manipulation tactics against subordinates. They do not clearly explain the work objectives and methods beforehand, then harshly criticize you after you have started working. (P.S. This is not because the employee is new to the workplace or does not know how to manage upward; the manager genuinely does not know what needs to be done either @@)

2. The direct manager cannot conduct performance reviews, while the senior manager has no direct contact with the work and may not even have spoken with you, yet directly evaluates your performance.

3. The “cherry-picked” work (compared with labor-intensive work) is assigned only to favored employees. Favored employees take credit for their helpers’成果; senior managers only see the favored employees and, based on impressions, give them good performance ratings and bonuses, then ask the helpers where the results of their efforts are.

4. Middle managers may falsely invoke senior management’s authority. Senior management may not actually have asked for certain work, but middle managers make it unnecessarily complicated. Only afterward do you discover that this was not what upper management intended.

5. Companies outside may not recognize all of your years of service.

6. Pay is very low and growth is slow, so think carefully.

Besides the prestigious-sounding title at the Industrial Technology Research Institute, there don't seem to be any advantages.

I don't know when the 54th Institute of Materials and Chemical Engineering will finally face up to the fact that a certain battery laboratory's electric scooter promotion project in Taipei is losing money, damaging its reputation, and unable to deliver the project.

If you get in through connections, your supervisor will help you find a wife among your subordinates and ensure that you are well served. As for tuition and training, as long as you are a regular employee, many of them can be paid for with public funds; dispatched and contracted employees will be required to pay for themselves.

The company may not be as favorable toward female employees, who are expected to serve male employees. You have to accommodate the preferences of regular employees in your work, and sometimes the company expects you to use your salary as public funds.

1. The department offers highly flexible working hours, making it suitable for people with family and caregiving responsibilities at home.

2. Some positions allow remote work, and some supervisors are open to discussion, making it possible to balance work and family.

3. Parking for cars and motorcycles is free. Private companies outside generally charge for parking, or only offer free motorcycle parking, and some employees have to compete with the public for spaces in nearby parking lots.

4. The large lawns on the premises are suitable for exercising with children on weekends.

5. The lunch meals are neither particularly good nor bad, but they are suitable for keeping expenses down.

6. Clocking in and out is barely monitored. Just remember that you must finish your work before leaving.

1. Salaries are considerably lower than those in the industry, making it obviously difficult for employees with family expenses to make ends meet.

2. In recent years, the proportion of outsourced and dispatched workers has been relatively high compared with regular employees, while there are relatively few core regular staff members.

3. Some departments have excessively high turnover, and work handovers are incomplete. Outsourced workers are unfortunate enough to inherit unsuitable assignments, which clearly reflects poor communication.

4. There is a divide between project contracts handled by departments and outsourced personnel. Problems with project planning only come to light after regular employees resign, at which point former outsourced workers are urgently asked to rejoin the project. The overall project is concerning, with excessive changes and poor communication.

5. In recent years, the turnover rate among young people in the department has been high, while too few new employees have joined. The department's workforce is relatively old, and the high frequency of business trips is unsuitable for people who live far away.

6. There is a lack of long-term workforce planning for departments. Recruitment only begins when a project requires a large number of people. This neither effectively addresses the excessive talent attrition rate nor provides sufficient preparation for project work, which often requires people to be ready to go into action immediately. This is clearly inconsistent with the original concept of having research staff develop engineering capabilities. With the same qualifications, industry salaries are higher; with salaries and benefits like those at ITRI, it is difficult to attract talent.

7. There is a lack of funding for government-sponsored technology projects. To maintain funding from industry collaboration and support projects, the department often promotes externally ambitions beyond its own capacity. It relies on polished presentations that are too exaggerated and does not adequately verify research feasibility, effectively creating a project that only puts on a fireworks show and causing considerable distress for project members.

Although there are plenty of snacks and appliances that look nice and are available for use, they are unwilling to pay overtime in accordance with the basic requirements of the Labor Standards Act. I do not think the company offers good benefits. The only advantage here is probably that it is very easy to transition from a temporary worker to a permanent employee, because the turnover rate is very high XDD. So if you are willing to be sufficiently subservient and cater to what they like (become the kind of person they like), you should be able to become a permanent employee quickly. However, you will then have to face many illegal and unreasonable practices. It is also said that after becoming a permanent employee, transferring to another department requires going through tremendous difficulty—or is easier if you know someone there.

1. This position is primarily a project staff role under the Industrial Development Bureau’s electric scooter promotion program. In addition to handling the KPIs within the project, you also have to deal with a pile of ad hoc assignments from the Industrial Development Bureau. These often take up an entire day, leaving no time to do your actual work. The workload is extremely heavy. Whenever the Industrial Development Bureau asks for information, it is always urgent and rushed—for example, they may ask for it at 9 a.m. and require it by 2 p.m., and you often still have to revise the materials after work—so you frequently have to stay late to handle those requests as well as the work you were originally supposed to do. However, there is no overtime pay.

2. The department is extremely proud of its preparation of meeting logistics and reference materials, and takes it to the point of overdoing things. For example, they record the supervisors’ food and beverage preferences, and orders must follow those preferences; if you do not order according to them, you will be harshly reprimanded. We also often have to bring drinks when we go elsewhere for meetings XDD (I thought we were Uber Eats). As for the reference materials, sometimes the document format is considered more important than the content (to an almost obsessive degree). The content is basically just recycled from old materials, and overall, I feel that my professional skills did not grow much during my time there.

3. The colleagues are generally very nice, but there is hardly any time to interact because everyone is extremely busy. As for the supervisor, that is another story. In addition to having an inflated ego, the supervisor refuses to take responsibility and often assigns work mindlessly, leaving employees at a loss. Sometimes even very simple matters are made unnecessarily complicated. Communicating with the supervisor also does not guarantee that your ideas will be accepted. For example, something that could clearly be handled with a simple external response may instead be affected by the higher-ups’ political considerations, so you have to find a way to accommodate the supervisor’s views rather than deal with the matter itself. It feels as though the guns are pointed inward instead of everyone working together against external parties. In addition, the supervisor considers anything that cannot be completed outside working hours to be a sign of insufficient ability on your part, rather than recognizing that there is simply too much work to finish. Overtime is not paid in accordance with the Labor Standards Act, but through a distorted bonus system instead—and even that is not guaranteed, while the amount paid does not correspond to the number of overtime hours worked. Overall, the work pressure is extremely high.

The interview was okay.

During the interview, the position was A, but after joining, I was assigned to position B. Position B has an extremely high turnover rate and many problems, and the manager is also problematic. Just as previous people have said, senior PhDs or employees are assigned the easier work, while position B is the undesirable one. Everyone, please be careful.

The work itself is research rather than development. Compared with jobs at ordinary companies, the work rules are highly flexible, and the institute has good recreational facilities.

The work content of outsourced contract employees is similar to that of regular employees, but there are major differences in leave, compensation, and other benefits. Contract employees receive only the leave required by the Labor Standards Act, and their job title is literally listed as “Other,” making them seem like ghost employees. There are quite a few such contract employees at the Industrial Technology Research Institute, both in research and administrative positions. Ironically, regular employees are not necessarily more capable—perhaps this is not surprising in today’s workplace.

The salary is pretty good. During the interview, they told me I would be hired to work on image recognition, and they were very nice.

However, after I joined, I was assigned to another department and asked to help with a drone project. Without any warning, I discovered that my name had been added to the project personnel list. Yet during the interview, they never mentioned that I would be asked to assist with flying drones, repairing drones, or related duties. On top of that, I already had a project to work on, along with other miscellaneous tasks that consumed my working hours. Details below.

I already had the system design for a project to build from scratch. On top of that, my supervisor inexplicably asked me to manage the department’s servers. When I asked senior colleagues whether there were any user manuals left by previous staff, I found that there were none. The person who had previously managed the servers had already resigned. While I was figuring things out, a toxic colleague who offered absolutely no help would make sarcastic remarks, asking why young people nowadays had such poor breadth of skills, saying that in their day everyone had to know a little bit of everything and could get this kind of thing up and running immediately. If that is so, why not come down and do it themselves instead of bothering a master’s graduate?

Occasionally, when my supervisor’s computer suddenly could not connect to the institute’s internal network, he would ask me to configure it. When I told him that I had work to do, he would say, “Then I can’t work at all either. As an engineer, aren’t you supposed to solve these problems for me?” The point is that I was not hired to repair my supervisor’s computer. Once in a while would have been fine, but this happened several times and consumed my working hours. Around the second time, I discovered that my supervisor had not installed the monitoring software, which was why the computer could not connect to the institute’s internal network in the first place. I asked him to install the institute’s monitoring software, but he said it was his computer and he did not want to install monitoring software. He told me to connect it to the internet without installing it. So I helped him bypass the institute’s rules and used a router to connect him to the internal network. This took up an entire afternoon, and I could not even record it in my work log. My supervisor would still complain that my work efficiency was poor. I could almost only work on the project I was actually responsible for after work. All eight hours of the workday were spent on miscellaneous chores with no tangible results and assisting a PhD colleague with patent experiments. It was extremely unpleasant.

The higher-ups here also know how to make things sound good: “I’ll take responsibility; you just focus on your work.” Then, whenever something went wrong, they would push all the responsibility onto the engineers. When a client called them, they would simply transfer the extension to me and say that I should handle everything. However, some issues involved coordinating requirements, which should have been handled by the supervisor or PM, yet in the end I was asked to step in and coordinate. If I encountered something that could not be resolved and asked for help, I would first be mocked: “Why are young people so bad at communication?” The point is that I did not have sufficient authority; many things were not mine to decide. I wonder whether they ever think things through before they speak.

There were many other idiotic decisions as well—too many to list. In any case, unless you have a PhD, I strongly recommend that you do not come here. You will be treated and ordered around like a dog; they do not regard you as a human being at all.

I joined this place as a full-time employee immediately after completing my master’s degree because the supervisor here invited me to interview and then hired me. However, I left after working there for eight months. The work environment here is extremely poor. Do not continue believing that the Industrial Technology Research Institute is a place where you can coast until retirement or have an easy time. If you do not have a PhD, you will merely be treated as a slave here. That is all.

The interview felt a lot like having a conversation.

The manager wants me to pursue a publicly funded doctoral degree after joining, but I can only apply after looking at my performance during the first two years. After studying for several years, I would have to repay half of it to the Industrial Technology Research Institute. The 2+4+2 arrangement would bind me for at least eight years, which doesn’t seem very good for a recent graduate.

“Master’s degree graduate” and it is still a “temporary position.”

Guaranteed “12 months of annual salary.”

Like “AIDC,” interviews will ask whether you have any relatives working there.

If you have a “relative” working there, you may get an easy position; if not, you get a long-term temporary hardship position.

Only consider temporary work if you really cannot find a job; otherwise, even offering a monthly salary of 43,000 will be considered too high.

I. Applicants must specifically declare the following:

(1) Are you subject to a non-compete agreement with your former company? □ No   □ Yes; if “Yes,” please provide details:

(2) Do you have any relatives within two degrees of kinship employed by this hospital? □ No   □ Yes;

if “Yes,” please provide details: Name: Relationship: Department:

Name: Relationship: Department:

II. The applicant agrees that your hospital may verify all information provided on this form. If any information on this form is untrue, the applicant agrees to unconditional dismissal or other disciplinary action and shall bear legal responsibility.

Person completing the form:

Good attitude

They asked me to come for an interview, but then rejected me because they required more than three years of work experience. I did say at the beginning that I had work experience, didn't I?

Stable work, a comfortable environment, and so much leave that you can never use it all—well suited for taking it easy until retirement.

If you get into a good unit with a good supervisor, it is basically heaven, but there are not many of them.

People with PhDs or higher qualifications receive more respect; those with master's or doctoral degrees can focus on research here.

All benefits are intended for regular employees, but currently a large number of contractors are being hired to do the same work as regular employees and take on the same responsibilities, while receiving pitifully low pay. Their leave is also limited to what is required by the Labor Standards Act. It is very common for senior employees to oppress newcomers, treating contractors as if they were not people and viewing them as outsiders rather than part of the Industrial Technology Research Institute.

In addition, just like in government agencies, many regular employees are simply coasting until retirement, so they do little work and little management. There are also many parachuted-in appointees who use their authority to force their own people into regular positions...

The work environment is excellent, with lots of trees and beautiful cherry blossoms. There are plenty of holidays; basically, after four years, you will have so much leave that you cannot use it all. If you are willing to learn, you can learn a great deal—not only in terms of technical expertise, but also through many opportunities to develop other skills. You will also have opportunities to interact with outside companies. It is suitable for people with good self-management and high standards for themselves. Everything is handled strictly as business matters; you do not have to worry about your job disappearing after taking parental leave, and overtime applications are reasonable. The work is stable, and if you are willing to change together with the organization, there will be no problems. If you want to start a business, you can also hone your skills here, with many opportunities and resources available. If you are willing to work hard, it is easy to become well known. This is a place where gaining recognition is easy, but gaining financial benefits is not.

It has the common problems of large companies: there are many people, many layers of management, and many opinions. You need to have your own principles and stand by what you believe is right. Salaries are at the industry’s minimum standard, with no stock bonuses, so you can only console yourself with the generous amount of leave. If you want to earn a high salary here, you have to work very hard and also happen to get the right opportunity. It cannot be denied that there are still colleagues who try desperately to avoid work. Even if their performance reviews are very poor, you can still get by steadily, but recently there should be measures to deal with such people.

Salary levels are lower than those in the science park, and the problems that large organizations have are also present here—in the end, they all come down to people. In terms of the employment environment, the benefits are better than those provided by labor insurance, and the environment is stable, so there is no need to worry about the company going under. Those who have or raise children can take reasonable parental leave without worrying about losing their jobs. Those who are genuinely interested in research have room to apply their abilities; those who want to start a business can secure resources as long as they have the capability; and those seeking a stable life can also find their place as long as they proceed step by step and do not slack off.

The work isn't any easier; there are an insane number of miscellaneous tasks, and the salary has been growing only marginally for ages. There are a bunch of brainless managers and PhDs. It really isn't suitable for newcomers to join. All you learn is a generalist education—you never become specialized enough in anything.