Life Technologies Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Life Technologies full-time for more than a year

Pros – Good collaboration atmosphere, good inter-team respect, new, clean building, cafeteria is amazing, yearly bonus, friendly people

Cons – Managers have a good-old-boy thing going on, pay for my position is below industry standard, annual reviews are a joke - worked my tail off this past year with no raise, little bonus, healthcare is not so good

Advice to Senior Management – Train your managers in leadership, management, team building

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Life Technologies full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – This is not for the feint of heart - this is a competitive company where hard work and smart people tend to make the difference. It's not always fair but in the end the company is always driving to move forward in an exciting field(s) - which is all I ask for out of my employer to keep me happy. There's some great people here.

Cons – There's too many "idea people" which results in too many things to do and the cycle never seems to stop. If you can say no, you'll be fine. People who feel a need to always please are in trouble as you'll never please everyone here.

Advice to Senior Management – Well - good luck as TMO seems to be much different. I think a lot will change.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Life Technologies full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Competitive salaries, work life balance (unless you are in IT)

Cons – Too many re-structuring in a short time, poor health benefits

Advice to Senior Management – Too many disgruntled employees, if market improves they will exit.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Life Technologies full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The pay and benefits are competitive with the rest of the industry. Employee stock purchase at 15% discount is available.

Cons – Not a classy management culture. They encourage a start-up mentality ("inovation" and "outside-the-box thinking", along with long hours, unrealistic workloads, constant changing of strategies and priorities), without any of the benefits of working at a start-up (flexible environment, listening to feedback from team members, direct financial benefit if the company exceeds financial goals). They will also let go of everyone and anyone at the drop of a hat. Through several "reorganizations", dozens of my managers and co-workers were let go, some after having spent almost 20 years at the company.

Advice to Senior Management – Get classy, San Diego.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Life Technologies full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – fast paced , some cutting edge technology, change is way of life

Cons – short staffed , too many things to handle , business dictates and IT is a mere cost center.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Life Technologies full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Dynamic, always changing, opportunities for lateral moves are encouraged, smart people, opportunities to travel to different locations and relocate, culturally diverse.

Cons – Too many acquisitions, integration headaches, Oracle shop, benefits have been steadily cut over the years. If one is not in CBD or at Ion one would be pretty much worthless.

Advice to Senior Management – Try taking some lessons in empathy and please don't imagine that you can b.s as much as you do. Scientists aren't that stupid.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Life Technologies full-time

Pros – You get to learn a lot while you are at job. There is never a dull moment. Life Technologies take care of well being of the employees.

Cons – Work life balance is at stake, people work for late hours. But, it is fun as well as challenging.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Life Technologies full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Strong focus on product development and R&D.
Decent (competitive) benefits.

Cons – Organizational changes can be more business/management focused and not always functionally relevant.

Advice to Senior Management – Life Technologies has an incredibly strong (but still disjointed) product portfolio (Ambion, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Ion Torrent, Gibco, etc.). Build more value for our customers by offering more integrated, complete workflows and solutions.

Improve website functionality (better search, descriptions, product photos).

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Life Technologies full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Easy to move up to new opportunities

Cons – Salary doesn't increase much with the promotions. Lacks compensation

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Life Technologies full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Dynamic environment, cutting-edge technologies, strong teams, and clarity of vision help make Life Technologies a great place to develop a career. Life Technologies is doing some very exiting things with cloud computing, application delivery, bioinformatics, and big-data analysis.

Cons – Fast paced environment, this is not the place to work for people who like to keep a static routine or are unwilling to learn new technologies and modern processes.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep the vision, focus on delivery.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company