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    Sandia National Laboratories Reviews

    Updated September 22, 2017
    370 reviews

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    4.0
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    Approve of CEO
    Sandia National Laboratories Laboratories’ Director Steve Younger
    Steve Younger
    9 Ratings

    370 Employee Reviews

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    Pros

    • Most of the time a good work-life balance is supported and there is a lot of resources to draw from (in 105 reviews)

    • 9/80 work schedules are very personal life friendly (in 43 reviews)

    Cons

    • My personal (and private) annual goal has evolved into not becoming depressed and demotivated for several months after the annual performance review (in 19 reviews)

    • Lots of red tape when it comes to unions and non-union work (in 11 reviews)

    More Pros and Cons

    1. "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 Sandia National Laboratories full-time

      Pros

      Great staff and very supportive management. Great work-life balance and job security.

      Cons

      Rules, paperwork, and politics can be overwhelming. Lower pay then comparable jobs in industry for exceptional candidates (higher pay for mediocre candidates).

      Advice to Management

      Keep being supportive of your staff and continue to trust there judgement.

    2. "Good"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee

      Pros

      Casual and very inviting work environment

      Cons

      Collaboration between teams is a little disorganized

      3. Join the Sandia National Laboratories team
      See Our Latest Jobs

    3. "Great Laboratory that values work life balance"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Manager, R&D Science and Engineering in Livermore, CA
      Current Employee - Manager, R&D Science and Engineering in Livermore, CA
      Recommends
      Neutral Outlook
      Approves of CEO

      I have been working at Sandia National Laboratories full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      True impact on challenging technical areas with National Security impacts. Upper leadership value work life balance, i.e. Lab employees as the true differentiator from other companies, as well as deterrent against uncertain geopolitical future. Competitive salary and benefits although top tier (3 or so) tech companies are not part of the calculus. One of the broadest mission space within defense and space company, thus affording the potential (encouraged actually) to move disciplines and support areas while staying within the family.

      Cons

      Most funding and processes still tied to the department of energy, so there's the inherent uncertainties and slowness there. Unless you come in with a Masters degree at a minimum with 3.5+ GPAs from both undergraduate and graduate schools, it would be an uphill battle for you to be truly valued at the top tier Member of Technical Staff job category (they're starting to relax this). If you have personal (moral) issue with working on the United States Nuclear Deterrent mission spaces (deterrent being the key word here), the laboratory may not be for you.

      Advice to Management

      Continue with what makes Sandia National Laboratories the family success story that it is. Please continue working on honest and fair hiring processes and staffs career upward mobility that takes into account implicit bias and greater respect for diversity and inclusion.

    4. "Sandia is a diamond in the Albuquerque rough"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Albuquerque, NM
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee in Albuquerque, NM
      Recommends

      I have been working at Sandia National Laboratories full-time (More than 8 years)

      Pros

      Lots of project opportunities that you really won't find anywhere else (outside of a national lab). Work-life balance is as good as you will every find.

      Cons

      Sandia feels like it moves at a snails pace at times. A combination of uncertain funding and no profit-driven pressure can make pace much slower than it should be. On top of that, the career path is somewhat skewed towards people who are leads (set up meetings, run the budget, etc...). If you stay purely technical, your chances of promotion are much harder. There are principal members/project leads that aren't adding much value, but they tend to get promotoed. Albuquerque is a crappy city.

    5. "World class R & D lab"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Former Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I worked at Sandia National Laboratories full-time

      Pros

      Large variety of job opportunties.

      Cons

      Some jobs require extensive travel

    6. "Cumbersome work environment"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - Engineer in Albuquerque, NM
      Current Employee - Engineer in Albuquerque, NM
      Doesn't Recommend
      Positive Outlook
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Sandia National Laboratories full-time (More than 10 years)

      Pros

      Work life balance, casual environment

      Cons

      Cumbersome work environment-gate traffic, badge/computer login difficulties, no personal email access....it has gotten virtually impossible to get anything done because of the administrative hassles

      Advice to Management

      Reduce the overhead & make it easier for people to do work. Work with the base on gate hours and traffic, mitigate the hassles of badge login, allow personal email access-reduce the administrative overhead so people can focus on the important things. This is especially important with the Honeywell transition, since the busy work is increasing dramatically.

    7. "Couldn't imagine working anywhere else"

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

      I have been working at Sandia National Laboratories full-time (More than 5 years)

      Pros

      - First and foremost, Sandians get to do very impactful work that isn't done anywhere else in the world. I feel a lot of pride in the projects I work on.
      - The pay and benefits are great for NM
      - The bureaucracy is minimal compared to industry

      Cons

      In the past, raises were significantly dependent on how hard your manager will fight for you. It's unclear how the new contract will affect this.

    8. "R&D S&E, Computer Science"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      • Work/Life Balance
      • Culture & Values
      • Career Opportunities
      • Comp & Benefits
      • Senior Management
      Current Employee - R&D S&E, Computer Science in Livermore, CA
      Current Employee - R&D S&E, Computer Science in Livermore, CA
      Recommends
      Positive Outlook

      I have been working at Sandia National Laboratories full-time (More than 3 years)

      Pros

      Great working environment. Sharp people. Awesome work/life balance.

      Cons

      Salary may be low for the area (SF Bay Area) and type of work people are doing, but this is largely offset by work life balance. Not that big of a con.

      Advice to Management

      Make salaries more competitive where possible, probably by splitting out job areas by function.

    9. "Best place to work in Albuquerque"

      StarStarStarStarStar
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee
      Current Employee - Anonymous Employee

      I have been working at Sandia National Laboratories full-time

      Pros

      Good salary for Albuquerque, good benefits, incredible employer contribution to 401k for those hired after the pension was closed to new hires. Hands down the smartest people I've worked with in Albuquerque. A corporate culture that generally values work-life balance.

      Cons

      Nowhere else to go in Albuquerque once you've been making Sandia money. Few opportunities for advancement internally.

    10. "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
      No opinion of CEO

      I have been working at Sandia National Laboratories full-time

      Pros

      Great place, great benefits, great people.

      Cons

      Lots of red tape when it comes to unions and non-union work.

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