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Lawrence Berkeley Lab

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Software - Software Engineer III Lawrence Berkeley Lab Employee Review

3.0
Jan 29, 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Beautiful place to work. Most of the people are bright, competent and friendly. The software projects are interesting. You get to see how your work helps the business partners. Ergonomics of the furniture in your cubicle will be great.

Cons

5.5' x 8' cubicles. Management is kind of confused. They will send you to weeks of classes on subjects like agile projects and then tell you not to use it. They will tell you things in interviews that either don't turn out to be true or that don't happen once you get hired. They put micro-managers in who will tell you to do a project and then try to manage it from above or around you - getting resources involved at inappropriate times, telling others to do something on a project you're supposed to be managing. software engineers will end up with projects where they have all the responsibility for success and no way to get cooperation from the other people/groups. There was no IT function for a long time, so there were people programming who shouldn't have been and there is a lot of 'quick and dirty' stuff in every environment you can name. If you don't have a car, just getting there can be a pain. Plan on spending quite a bit of time standing on a street corner in Berkeley or a BART platform or at a bus stop on the hill. Benefits are good, salaries are so-so and raises are rare and small.

Explore other reviews about Lawrence Berkeley Lab

5.0
May 4, 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Interesting work and beautiful environment

Cons

Space can be a bit tight

3.0
May 27, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Beautiful location, you oversee the Bay, Golden Gate Bridge and SF. Research environment, great bridge for academics to transition to a more applied research. Benefits quite good

Cons

Low wages, especially in the scientific staff. Basically no career progression. Offices are a mixed bags (some departments have brand new buildings, others have very old buildings). Do not rely on their immigration services to get anything beyond temporary work visas.

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