Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Employee Reviews about "facilities"

Pros

LLNL is involved in the leading edge of technological research. If you love R&D activities on high tech activities, this is the place to be. Upgrading facilities and infrastructure create a great working environment. Management encourages innovation. There are lots of opportunities for growth as there is a large percentage of the workforce that will soon be retiring.

Cons

One of the drawbacks at time is all the red tape involved in government sponsored work, but in the end you can work through it. The only other issue is the location being in an expensive area to live, and most people have to commute through the CA traffic, but it is California.

Pros

Great facilities and research tools

Cons

The average age of employees is higher than most other places

Pros

Opportunity to conduct high quality scientific research in wold class facilities

Cons

The management are huge, expensive, and inept! Experienced scientists with million dollar research grants are let go in order to preserve the overpaid management. Meanwhile the management knows nothing about the science and provide no implementable vision.

Pros

Excellent diversity of expertise and knowledge among staff Good access to facilities that are on site Good support and linking between experimental and theory/high performance computing

Cons

Some standard lab tools are strangely absent takes time to adjust to lab culture, which is different to academia or industry

Pros

Excellent group of peers and colleagues working to support a mission. Opportunities to grow and expand within the lab with various opportunities. Benefits are top tier and employee friendly. Networking groups and events frequently. Incorporating new technology and current market practices. Alternative work schedule has been amazing for my mental health and keeping me sharp. Compensation is competitive and opportunities to grow. Knowledgeable individuals all around that help you understand and explain things.

Cons

Ranking process is a little murky and could use touching up / changes on ranking groups. Too many stakeholders or cooks in the kitchen.on projects at times. More streamline processes but understand some of these are dictated by mandates. Older facilities / buildings / workspaces

Pros

Great people all committed to protecting our country and advancing our programs/achievements/inventions. Programs and opportunities are around every corner if you're willing to seek them out.

Cons

Facilities and infrastructure are old and aging; Support systems aren't resources appropriately to support the needs of a growing laboratory; technology in non-STEM areas is outdated and ineffective. The lab suffers from the age old issue of STEM getting all the gold and infrastructure.

Pros

LLNL hires some of the world's smartest people and lets them work on the world's hardest problems. It has cutting edge-research facilities that provide access to conditions analogous to the most extreme in the universe. Computation is also a key capability at LLNL, and it possesses some of the world's fastest supercomputers. The location is a great one, and the people are great to work with.

Cons

Red tape: LLNL is a government contractor, and the delays and bureaucracy associated with such work are certainly present. It is generally isolated from the more partisan politics, but budgets can be influenced by what is currently in favor.

Pros

Bleeding edge science and technology with access to the greatest minds on the planet in your STEM field of choice. Salaries are competitive, benefits are excellent, and bonuses are common. Strong sense of job security and job satisfaction.

Cons

The clearance process is very slow and most jobs require them. There is a government-wide backlog. Post-docs should initiate the clearance process as soon as possible if they're interested in a long-term career at LLNL. Also, Job descriptions are often vague and don't always reflect the composition of the interview panel or their expectations for a particular role. Cafeterias are inferior to the Argonne cafeteria (but is much better than LANL's). The gym facility is small. There are over 6000 employees here and we need a modern gym comparable to facilities at a private college. This would definitely uncomplicate the work-life balance for many employees.

Pros

I've been able to build a multi-decade career at LLNL. I've been able to fill many different job roles over the time at LLNL. So, the work is always fresh and interesting. The ability to build a career at one organization while also working on something new/different every five years is freeing. Beyond that, I've worked with exemplary colleagues. Nearly everything we do, we do as a team. We don't work on projects small enough to be handled by one individual contributor. So, we're all pulling together to achieve some great things. It's a great feeling to collaborate with my colleagues, which has a multiplicative effect on our individual efforts, and push forward the state of the art in fields like high-performance computing and high-energy sciences. As great as that is, I'm allowed the flexibility to work both from home and onsite and flex back and forth as needed. This allows me to work from whatever location suits each day the best. And it allows me to better support the needs of my family. Speaking of family, I'm able to be present with my family because work at LLNL isn't all-consuming. I get to have dinner with my family on a regular basis. I get to have time to exercise, attend functions at the kids' school, and many other "regular life" sorts of things. Not once do I feel pressure that I should really be setting aside these things in favor of more work. The current senior management team is top-rate. Refreshingly, they come across as genuine and transparent. I always feel like I'm getting it straight when the senior management team communicates with us.

Cons

I work on software development at LLNL. There can be many hurdles for software developers, especially in comparison to other Silicon Valley firms. From how our laptop/desktop systems are provisioned and imaged, how rapidly they're replaced, and barriers to using some common contemporary software tools (mostly involving cloud services), it can sometimes be frustrating to be a software developer at LLNL. For me, though, we work on such cool projects that these frustrations seem to melt into the background. Onsite facilities are hit or miss. You might have an office in a new building with all sorts of lovely amenities and a great view. Or you might have a worn-down cubicle in an old military barracks building where the HVAC and cooling never really work correctly. Your experience with facilities and access to the latest and greatest laptop can sometimes have to do with what part of LLNL you work for. If you work for one of LLNL's Crown Jewels departments (like high-performance computing or the National Ignition Facility), you get the good stuff. If you work for a software development effort with a little less flash, you might find yourself in a crummy location with an old computer. It just depends — it's certainly not uniform. It's overall tough to compete with Silicon Valley — just over the hills from LLNL. From trendy Silicon Valley benefits like beer on tap and free meals to stock options and bonuses, LLNL can have a hard time competing. In my view, LLNL more than makes up for it with amazing opportunities to advance scientific/computing state-of-the-art, amazing work/life balance, and other non-traditional benefits.

Pros

Everyone is super friendly and helpful. They have some really great programs and special events they offer to their employees. College like campus environment and they make it safe and easy to get around. LLNL really goes the extra mile to accommodate flexible schedules for those who want them. GREAT Benefits! I feel like I found a home.

Cons

The buildings are older and some of the facilities could use some upgrades . Some of the resources are slower to come by like IT and janitorial services.