Los Alamos National Laboratory Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Los Alamos National Laboratory full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – * Great opportunities for advancement and movement
* Great people to work with
* Most often, the best equipment you can get for the job (if you can provide a justification/business case)
* All kinds of research being done, opportunities in many fields

Cons – * Very tight budgets for the most part
* Very hard to get training
* Haven't had training in a couple of years

Advice to Senior Management – Knowledgeable employees, up to date on their field are important. Spend to money to make sure they are trained in their field, and you will find you will get a higher quality of work out of them. The DOE has tightened down on travel, but you could bring trainers here if necessary. Your people put out great work - you can make it that much greater by making sure they are current in their field. Fight for your employees.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Pros – higher postdoc salary than universities

Cons – postdoc is not a real job

Current Employee – been working at Los Alamos National Laboratory full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Good location, research environment, good weather, good school, safe

Cons – Constantly looking for funding, too much management

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

Former Employee – worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory full-time for more than a year

Pros – Loved living in northen NM. Los Alamos as a town is not great, but Santa Fe is within commuting distance and is awesome. The pay - as a postdoc - is much better than what you'd get in academia. And the hours are more normal (for security reasons, you don't work much nights and weekends).

Cons – Scientifically isolated. And it is quite possibly a dying laboratory, unless it re-forms itself into a lab focused on the 21st century, not the 20th (i.e., replace its nuclear weapons work with stuff on clean energy).

Advice to Senior Management – Expand and diversify LANL's portfolio of science. Advertise the postdoc salaries and you'd get more interest.

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

Current Employee – been working at Los Alamos National Laboratory full-time

Pros – Top scientists in almost every science subject; excellent salary and benefits, low crime, close to nature.

Cons – isolated area, in convenience to travel to major cities; need to align your research with DOE mission; less chance to establish connections in academia world.

Former Employee – worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Generally Stable
Breadth of technical experiences
A large range of interesting research
bright scientists and engineers
Outdoor sports opportunities
no traffic

Cons – Very few entry level positions filled in past 10 years
Advancement opportunities limited
Not very diverse
Nuclear weapons work makes you unpopular in Santa Fe
Not very many people around. Dating is poor unless you are female

Advice to Senior Management – Managements duty is to make money for their private company by meeting DOE goals. Management does not do a very good job of producing results for customers.

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

Former Employee – worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory as an intern for more than 7 years

Pros – Good pay and job security and good if you are a scientist. There are lots of different types of work if you qualify for them, so you can move around if you get bored.

Cons – Los Alamos is a boring town with very little to do and has created a very strange corporate culture. The lab is large, unwieldy, and generally mismanaged. Not good for non-scientists.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Los Alamos National Laboratory full-time for more than a year

Pros – The lab has excellent benefits and provides a good work/life balance, but their salaries are hardly competitive--particularly if you are a student being converted into a full-time staff member.

Cons – Slow-moving, very behind the curve, extremely political. There is too much focus on hyper-specialization and not enough on being a generalist when it comes to support staff.

Advice to Senior Management – Care more about talent.

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

Current Employee – been working at Los Alamos National Laboratory full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – There are lots of fun and smart people to work with. Lots to learn, and good compensation. It's a great for students who are in school or just out of school.

Cons – Current economic situation has greatly decreased budgets causing many people to leave.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't support your students and then let them go upon graduating.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Los Alamos National Laboratory as an intern for less than a year

Pros – There are great networking opportunities

Cons – Must have at least a Master's Degree to progress in the company.