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    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Reviews

    Updated September 19, 2017
    320 reviews

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    4.5
    StarStarStarStarStar
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    Recommend to a friend
    Approve of CEO
    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Bill Goldstein
    Bill Goldstein
    110 Ratings

    320 Employee Reviews

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    Pros
    Cons

    • Being a government job, there's a lot of red tape (in 25 reviews)

    • High cost of living in the area (in 9 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons
    1. Featured Review

      Helpful (2)

      "Veterans in Energy Technology & Science"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Livermore, CA
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Livermore, CA

      I have been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time

      Pros

      I was an employee at LLNL from 2008-2013. I was laid off with several other co-workers. The outreach Officer from the Veterans group at LLNL reached out to me and assisted me in finding a new career at LLNL. Even though I am not a Veteran, I still feel that there is very much a family atmosphere at LLNL and I am very grateful to be apart of that family. Thanks VETS!

      Cons

      No cons at this time.

      Advice to Management

      Love my career!

    2. Helpful (1)

      "Mechanical Engineer"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Mechanical Engineer in Livermore, CA
      Current Employee - Mechanical Engineer in Livermore, CA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Leading edge technologies, large scale projects, $1 billion budget, and great benefits and employee resources.

      Cons

      Real estate in Livermore is too expensive/risky. To own on a single income, commuting is almost a necessity.

      3. Join the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. Helpful (1)

      "Very stable and people friendly company"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Senior Software Developer in Livermore, CA
      Current Employee - Senior Software Developer in Livermore, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      Excellent benefits that are hard to match anywhere else, great life/work balance, competitive pay, and a real "people" company

      Cons

      Hiring process is slower due to government security checks, campus is very large and could be hard to navigate

    4. "Very good life/work balance in a family friendly town"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Mechanical Engineer in Livermore, CA
      Current Employee - Mechanical Engineer in Livermore, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Interesting work, good retirement benefits, and a stable job

      Cons

      Expensive area to work in.

    5. "Best"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      Cutting age research in many fields
      World class research
      Teams of pros where working together in multi discipline approaches encouraged at all levels

      Cons

      Cost of living in area is high but close to San Francisco and other culture and outdoor activity

      Finding your places or where to begin is daunting at first but finding others gets this right

      Advice to Management

      Keep employees first

      Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Response

      Sep 18, 2017 – Employee Relations Program Leader

      Thank you for your review. LLNL is definitely working on cutting edge science and research in various disciplines. It takes a little time to learn the Lab culture and resources available as it does... More

    6. "intern"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Former Employee - Intern
      Former Employee - Intern

      Pros

      challenging but an amazing place to work

      Cons

      difficult to adjust at first because its so large

    7. "Great place to work!"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      Very interesting research/work being done here. Huge campus, over 1 square mile in size. Good work life balance.

      Cons

      Can be slow at times as this is the Federal Government.

    8. "Vets Groups is Awesome!!!"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Directorate Security Officer in Livermore, CA
      Current Employee - Directorate Security Officer in Livermore, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time (More than a year)

      Pros

      I had the privilege of working with the LLNL vets group in obtaining my current position as a Directorate Security Officer (DSO). The vets group helped me find positions based on my military skill set and also walked me through the entire application process all the way through the actual offer. Since I have been employed, the vets group has been a great resource to use and to meet other vets and to further expand my professional network. I am now very happy to be employed with LLNL and now a member of the LLNL vets group. If you are a veteran looking for employment with the lab, please reach out to the vets group. Thanks

      Cons

      no downsides that I have seen

      Advice to Management

      Continue to support the Vets group

      Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Response

      Sep 5, 2017 – Employee Relations Program Leader

      Thank you for your review. The VETS group, which is one of LLNL's Employee Resource Groups, has a new leadership team whose focus continues to be on supporting veterans' activities both internal... More

    9. "Happy to be here!"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Office Assistant
      Current Employee - Office Assistant
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory full-time (Less than a year)

      Pros

      The lab so far has been a very easy going and enjoyable place to work. It offers many amenities to its employee to help them succeed with a work life balance.

      Cons

      The hiring process takes anywhere form 2-3 months.

    10. "LLNL continues as a great place to work."

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Senior Project Engineer in Livermore, CA
      Current Employee - Senior Project Engineer in Livermore, CA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory part-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      * Very interesting work of great variety. If you feel you're getting stale, you can take another assignment in a different technology without having to move/change employers.
      * Good work/life balance. LLNL offers fitness classes, farmers market, technical and non-technical speakers, occasional on-site luncheon entertainment, babysitting, etc.
      * Great continuing education support.
      * Good pay / very good benefits.
      * Generally promotes from within for lower and middle management.
      * Relatively stable and secure.
      * Friendly people.
      * Nice campus.

      Cons

      * No equity. Formerly, the generous pension compensated, but that's no longer available.
      * Not very dynamic. Definitely not a start-up. You give up a rapid upward potential for the stability and work/life balance.
      * Bureaucratic. It is government. But this bureaucracy has helped it maintain an impressive record of safety and security.

      Advice to Management

      I've spent nearly my entire career here and am now semi-retired. Ten years ago, LLNL went from public management (UC) to private (consortium) and dropped its super-generous pension to instead a 401K. (Employees current at the time were grandfathered to the pension if they wanted.) At the time, I thought that this move would increase turnover and ruin the culture. After ten years, I haven't seen it - it's still a very nice, friendly place to work with low turnover. I credit the senior management.

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