Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Reviews
Updated May 16, 2022
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Found 696 of over 888 reviews
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
- "The benefits are great and there seems to be a true emphasis on life/work balance." (in 103 reviews)
- "The people were great to work with and the projects you work on are all very interesting" (in 85 reviews)
- "Interesting work, friendly coworkers, plenty of other interns, lots of intern events." (in 22 reviews)
- "My direct manager does not (in my opinion) approach the hiring process in a fair way, and it is anybody's guess how and why people are reclassified to the next job level." (in 11 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and is not affected by filters.
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- Current Employee★★★★★Featured Review
Pros
APL is hands down the most employee-centered place I've ever worked. There is careful thought and consideration that goes into every decision they make and how it will or could impact employees. The environment is supportive, highly innovative and extremely collaborative. The benefits are incredible and the acknowledgement of appreciation for employee work is second to none. I've never worked anywhere that views its people as integral to the operation as APL does. On top of that, the work is incredibly meaningful.
Cons
I don't have any cons
- Current Employee, less than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
Flexibe work schedule, no micromanagement, great training
Cons
No one leaves because everyone loves working here so it harder to get promoted
Continue reading - Former Employee, more than 3 years★★★★★
Pros
Coming to APL right out of college, the pay is decent and there are many opportunities to gain experience across a wide variety of technologies, which can help narrow down interests within the field. For the most part, coworkers are very friendly and easy to get along with, although this may vary depending on the group. Also, employees can get a free Master's degree with no strings attached.
Cons
After working for some years at APL, your salary will no longer be competitive with other organizations (can easily get a 40-50% pay increase by switching jobs). Also, many projects feel pointless and lack any impact, especially IRADs. Lastly and most importantly, upper management is absolutely clueless when it comes to remote work. Many groups are being forced to show up 3+ days a week to the Lab, and any feedback that was gathered during the pandemic about preference to work remotely seems to be completely disregarded. Remote work was going great during the peak of the pandemic, and employees were incredibly productive. Now employees have to be in the office just to have Zoom meetings while trying not to be interrupted by other employees having Zoom meetings... The most infuriating part is that on-site presence is being tracked via badge swipes. Are we not professional adults that can be trusted? It's frankly insulting and immediately triggered my job search.
Continue reading - Current Employee, more than 10 years★★★★★
Pros
The place has a great connection to DoD funders and the projects can be rewarding to work on. The place speaks directly with DoD tech developers and the relationships are long-term. Contracting with a UARC like APL is very straightforward for DoD organizations, so the place gets funding for a lot of interesting work.
Cons
Run by lifers. Inward-looking. There is a very narrow idea funnel toward external opportunities. They encourage ideas but kill off nearly all of them because the limited number of people who can take in external work all have their own careers to think about. The place is extremely top-down. Its an 80 year old institution with most of the power in people who have been there 30 years, so the casual and internal networks have all the power and the org chart is irrevant. Most of the new staff comes from former interns who are mentored as a way to build personal fiefdoms. This creates a tribal and factional atmosphere.
Continue reading - Former Employee, more than 5 years★★★★★
Pros
Good place to start out your career right out of college. Take advantage of the tuition benefit, it’s pretty good. Right out of college it’s a good place to get breadth of experiences on different projects.
Cons
Upper levels of management are not transparent and they don’t listen to the people below them. There is almost a culture of fear instilled in people who wish to bring up issues they’re seeing. There has been high attrition in the past few years and the key issues causing people to leave have not been addressed. The company has poorly handled COVID and return to work - requiring people to be in the office 3 days a week regardless of their ability to work from home. There was an illusion of “togetherness” during the peak of the pandemic, but that has sense disappeared. Overall the company is very hesitant to take risks, whether that be on individuals seeking leadership opportunities or trying out new organizational ideas (remote work, etc.) This will keep APL from staying level with its peers. APL needs to do better regarding D&I. While this is getting better with new hires, upper management and decision makers are not diverse.
Continue reading - Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
Meaningful work and projects, work life balance, competitive pay, great benefits, not for profit status enables ability to provide unbiased and objective results
Cons
Lack of transparency in salaries and promotion opportunities, decentralized information and processes, lack of diversity in leadership, lack of diversity in technical professional staff, need to prioritize recruiting at HBCUs, HSIs, and underrepresented institutions and professional societies/organizations
Continue reading - Current Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
Since APL a University Affiliated Research Center, it's not for profit. This place is motivated by Science and Learning, NOT profits. They really care about supporting you to be the best you can, via pursuing more education, leadership roles, lisetning to new ideas, exposing you to more work experience ,etc. Compared to other giant organizations in the defense industry, it's way easier to move around and do different work or do different things, because they want you doing work that you are motivated to do so that we all can get the best results. There exists a whole structure for any employee to come up with brand new ideas that APL will fund . And if you begin to show promising results they will continue to fund it even further. This place just fosters improvement all around. Diversity distribution in management positions reflects the diversity distribution throughout the rest of the organization The gyms on site are wayyy cheaper than any gym membership elsewhere. I'd highly recommend any engineer or scientist strongly consider working here.
Cons
Although every one here is incredibly friendly, it's very easy to be isolated. It may be related to my work specifically but there isnt a lot of very heavy team work involved in the tasks. You aren't working hand in hand with other people. Location is not ideal for younger crowds who may want to live in bigger metropolitan areas like DC/Bethesda/Silver Spring or Baltimore. Though its totally feasible if you're willing to make the 35 minute drive. Finally, this is an industry wide issue, and not specific to APL, but it is still dominated my predominantly caucasian males.
- Current Employee, more than 3 years★★★★★
Pros
JHU/APL has great work life balance. There are also tons of cool things to work on. I constantly have to pick between several cool projects because there just aren't enough hours in the day.
Cons
It's a large organization and with the comes some bureaucracy.
Continue reading - Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
Good benefits, history, and place to start your career (get experience and a security clearance then leave).
Cons
No career progression. You will remain an Operations Coordinator with minimal pay raises that do not keep up with inflation. Having to interact with an incompetent and lazy security department is mind numbing. The hiring process takes six months (on average). It would also help if management would stop changing job titles on a monthly basis.
Continue reading - Current Employee, more than 10 years★★★★★
Pros
The work is meaningful and the people are terrific.
Cons
Pay is not as high as some of the big tech companies.
Continue reading
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Reviews FAQs
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has an overall rating of 4.2 out of 5, based on over 888 reviews left anonymously by employees. 81% of employees would recommend working at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to a friend and 74% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -7% over the last 12 months.
According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory employees rate their compensation and benefits as 4.2 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. This rating has decreased by -6% over the last 12 months.
81% of Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory 4.4 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.1 for culture and values and 4.2 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to be coworkers, career development, benefits and the cons to be senior leadership, culture, management.
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APL is committed to fostering a positive, diverse, and inclusive culture. APL is developing technologies that protect our nation and expand... – More
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