Stanford University Reviews in Palo Alto, CA

Current Employee – been working at Stanford University as a contractor for more than 3 years

Pros – It's a great university with a nice work environment at a beautiful location.

Cons – It's in a fairly small city, so access to non-academic things is limited.

Former Employee – worked at Stanford University full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – The campus and the weather is wonderful. There are many activities that are available to the staff and the benefits are very generous. There is always something exciting going on. Once you are in the Stanford organization, changing positions between departments is rather easy.

Cons – There is a lot of silly decisions made due to the policial nature of the organization. Since this is a nonprofit organization no one in the administrative side is really accountable for their spending or effectiveness. This probably accounts for the high cost of tuition.

The HR department is really ineffective. The policies protect the staff and the faculty. Middle managers are always at risk of getting into trouble. The HR people do not do a good enough job of explaining this at orientation.

Many administrative postions are filled by individuals who are not qualified for their job. They were hired as assistants and just "grew" into the postion. I was surprised by the lack of professionalism.

Advice to Senior Management – The hotling needs to be staffed by an outside service. Too many valid complaints are not investigated while invalid complaints are acted upon. This depends on the manager of the unit not a standard process.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Stanford University full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Creative, collaborative culture in an intellectually stimulating environment. Great access to great thinkers and to the tech industry nearby. Thriving start-up culture.

Cons – Expense of living in Palo Alto for graduate students and post-docs, who are paid just enough to survive in the area.

Advice to Senior Management – Experiment with research structure so that post-docs are not taken advantage of (very cheap, highly skilled labor).

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

Current Employee – been working at Stanford University full-time for less than a year

Pros – the work experience is good.

Cons – The salary is not that good

Current Employee – been working at Stanford University full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great employee benefits, beautiful campus, good work environment. Great opportunities for employee career advancement. The campus has a lot to offer, great activities, and events. Comfortable place and you work with really enthusiastic and diverse people.

Cons – Limited means of going up in certain projects; possibly to expand career with employee benefits (pay for school tuition, additional classes). There is a bit of the elitist attitude, but around only a few people. Overall, a lot of people tend to be more down to earth.

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

Current Employee – been working at Stanford University as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – great library collection,special collections in Green is outstanding, great and productive academic community, absolutely wonderful climate, good food, focus on research, many opportunities for research and academic career, international environment, fantastic outdoors - great fro hikers and swimmer,

Cons – high living costs, rents are very expensive

Former Employee – worked at Stanford University part-time for more than a year

Pros – You're surrounded by brilliant people, everywhere. People are both laid back and extremely helpful and approachable, very realistic advice--even giving long term career advice outside of your position

Cons – Hierarchy often comes into play and the atmosphere can be a tad political at times but that's bound to happen anywhere

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Stanford University full-time for less than a year

Pros – I love working at Stanford. There are great scientists here, very collaborative, interactive, high level.

Cons – It is big, hard to know of everything that is going on. Also, the salary, though relatively good compared to other universities is not high enough to live comfortably in the Silicon Valley.

Advice to Senior Management – Pay better postdoc salaries. It would make your employees a lot happier.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Stanford University full-time for more than a year

Pros – very good and friendly colleagues to work with. Lots of americans on the department that I worked for and teammates help other team members a lot. At times, tasks are very challenging, and it will be good experience to learn rapid multitasking and improve productivity. monthly get togethers with the team, free drinks and lots of snacks during the afternoon time that is shared by other team members. overall, a very different experience to work here.

Cons – Framework developed is used internally, and learning the framework takes time. lots of dynamic setup of the code, understanding all the pieces will be difficult for new developers, so networking with colleagues is really important here. Lots of multitasking on a single day, and compensation is low for the new developers with less experience. salary increase is low for developers.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Stanford University full-time for more than a year

Pros – BeWell program - employees have monetary incentive to stay fit. Great retirement benefits. HR is very responsive. Free Caltrain Go passes.

Cons – Bureaucratic, feel like a small fish in a big pond. I work off-campus, so there is a disconnect with the central community. Parking can be a nightmare.

Advice to Senior Management – I wish there was more community bonding for all Stanford employees, across departments.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend