Sandia Reviews

Pros

they offer flexible work hours for employees.

Cons

benefits declined dramatically in the last 10 years. not much incentives to stay with the company. sandia started to hire less competent folks.

Pros

lot of opportunities to continue your education. Its a big company so you can move around to different types of jobs - also a great learning opportunity.

Cons

too many required meetings and basic training: safety, security, how to fill out your time card 'properly'

Advice to Senior Management

Support getting software that really works, instead of hobbling along because the same code that is supposed to be producing results is also a research project in progress.

Pros

Sandia works on some of the nation's most difficult national security-related engineering problems. The staff is quite down-to-earth and not overly competitive. Salary is competitive and cost of living in Albuquerque is relatively low.

Cons

As a government owned, contractor operated facility, Sandia faces bureaucracy from both the DOE and Lockheed Martin. For example, even though Sandians are NOT federal employees, the federal government was still able to institute Obama's 2-year pay freeze at Sandia.

Also, in my specific work area, certain high-importance programs temporarily restrict certain employee benefits, such as flex time and 9/80 schedule, to meet program timelines.

Advice to Senior Management

The idea of "pay bands" for employees necessarily inhibits true merit-based compensation. Those at the top of a pay band can spend a few years getting the highest ratings but not seeing significant salary increases because they have reached the ceiling. The obvious next step is promotion, but this can take a few years to achieve.

Pros

The DOE national laboratories work on the nation's most important and difficult problems, from stewardship of the nuclear deterrent to chemical and biological protection, to energy and infrastructure security. Many of these problems are by nature ill defined and Sandians take pride in being able to make sense out of apparent chaos for the benefit of the nation. If you want to work on problems that make a difference, the DOE labs are a great place to do so.

At Sandia, the techncial staff have the opportunity to contribute to any or all of the programs - there is flexibility to change your career without leaving the company. The breath of expertise is also impressive - you can generally find an expert in any technical discipline who is able to help you with your problem. While the lab's recapitalization rate has been slower than most would like, the facilities and equipment resources remain strong. As an engineer or scientist you can be in a lab running experiments, at a workstation running a simulation on a high performance computer, or designing new hardware...all in the same day. The work versatility is outstanding.

Work/life balance is a Sandia strong point. Although there are times when deadlines require long hours, those are the exception. Managers are typically concerned with the emotional health of their staff. Job security is higher than in most other companies.

Cons

Having the DOE as a "landlord" means a mountain of process and compliance, a trend that has grown considerably worse over the years. While some is necessary and beneficial, the vast majority adds no value. With time, ones learns how to navigate the bureaucracy, but it must be frustrating for those freshly out of school. The need for a security clearance presents constraints, but is certainly understandable given the sensitivity of the information Sandians possess.

Because much of Sandia's work is tied to the nation's political processes, the control of program development and execution can be diffuse. Until a sufficient base of political support is developed, project support is often inconsistent, which is frustrating for newer employees. Even when projects are well funded, the budget complexities can be overwhelming.

Sandia's benefits package has been steadily eroding over the last several years and is probably now less competitive than those from most other companies.

Managers are generally poor in administering the performance review process. The staff deserves more honest and constructive feedback that they typically receive.

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management should be more communicative and transparent. I believe that most managers are principled and well intentioned, but a lack of transparency leads to staff speculation. Move poor people managers to non-management positions (or let them go).

Managers should also spend more time interacting with their staff and they should improve their performance review processes. Give honest feedback...and not just once a year.

Pros

Overall the benefits are good, while the health insurance gets worse every year they do a great job of other free health benefits like free exercise classes and other free health related activities. The people are very book smart there.

Cons

Working at Sandia is a lot like working at a University. There's a lot of research and engineering done by smart people but the different departments are terrible about working together. It's very fragmented. The raise and promotion process is terrible, whatever you do do not start at a low salary, it will take a decade to get caught up.

Advice to Senior Management

Run Sandia like it was a for profit company. Use actual performance measures to know how you're doing. Start evolving the culture for the new younger staff that have and will start working there.

Pros

Good pay, good benefits, and reasonable job security in some positions. You're helping national security issues and there are interesting projects going on around you

Cons

Management is pretty opaque, and doesn't offer much in the way of feedback until the end of the year. Current "federal pay freeze" means that we didn't get end-of-year bonuses, which instead went to contract (i.e. UNION) workers. Some craftsmen were making more than engineers because of the CBAs.

Pros

The management and staff were very friendly and very helpful in company integration. Projects were exciting and novel, offering a good test of experience as well as promoting intellectual growth

Cons

Being a national lab, security is always a prime issue. Some guidelines and standards seemed a bit excessive but were certainly necessary.

Pros

Getting to work closely with internationally recognized scientists. Plenty of opportunities for collaborations. Great balance between life and work. State-of-the-art facilities and instrumentation.

Cons

Not many opportunities for a postdoc researcher to write research proposals. As a result, many postdoc researcher get no clue how to get their research funded at the time when they are looking to advance into a faculty position.

Pros

- Good work life balance
- Skilled workforce
- Variety of work
- Flexibility in moving from one area to another

Cons

- Very bureaucratic
- Cumbersome security requirements makes it hard to get work done
- Arbitrary performance review and promotion system (been on both sides of it)
- Many people have taken advantage of the laid back culture and are "retired in place"
- Most of the work is gov't funded - some of it with very poor direction within often managed by even more incompetent members of the US government.
- Promotability is largely based on visibility and "bringing in money" even if the projects are meaningless and the money is squandered.

Advice to Senior Management

Prevent Sandia from becoming "just another defense contractor" by providing a lab-wide vision that rewards technical excellence and measurable results that tie back to said vision. This will help fix the current, seemingly arbitrary career progression system that hinges primarily on program development regardless of the program's worth or relevance.

Pros

Median level of financial compensation.

Cons

no career opportunities. No career guidance from upper management. Percentage of befits come out of your salary.

Advice to Senior Management

It would be good if you watched out for your employees rather than your own backs