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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Share your reasons
Anonymous asked: 1) Why did you leave LLNL? 2) Why are you staying? 3) Are you better off?
8 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I decided to pull the plug. I'd rather go out on my own terms instead of getting the "perp" walk out the gate like a common criminal. I'm a early career 200series that saw the writing on the wall. I hope I'm wrong for the sake of the many good people at the lab but it's really a shame to see what this transition has done. I've been lucky and I think I've landed well. I wish the same to the rest of the folks at the lab whether they stay or go. Best of luck.
I'm staying until they kick me out, to many years to give away and to old for the job market. For those of you who are young I say move on before it's to late. I would never recommend this pace to anyone since it has no defined pension plan and there's no real benefits. The young can do far better elsewhere and for a lot more money. Until the day comes when LLNL once again has what we had under UC I anticipate they'll have a hard time holding onto good people. The transition from UC to LLNS has successfully destroy the national labs and the nation indirectly. Good job DOE. You've done to America what we did to Russia in just eighteen months and all for personal gain just as any good CEO of a failing corporation would do. I hope the penalty's our congress and senate may soon implement for being a crook apply to you too.
I think LLNL is still a good place to come as a postdoc as there is still good science happening in pockets here so if you're sheltered from the politics, from the need to apply for funding, and from the need to grow your career within the lab, then you can have a good 2-3 years here, at a much higher than average postdoc salary, and then move on.
And that is why I'm moving on. After 3 years as a staff scientist I have grown tired of the politics, tired of the struggle against our own management to bring funding into the lab, and tired of how ineffectual EVERYONE has become as the daily gossip and talk of re-orgs and other pointless management exercises has taken over completely from the excitement over just getting the science done that apparently existed here 5-10 years ago. Since I've been offered a great position in industry, which I might well have taken even if there weren't so many problems at LLNS, I'm moving on to accelerate my career in a way that has become impossible for young scientists here at the lab. It's a position with more responsibility and a higher salary.
So many good scientists have left or are leaving at the moment actually that soon there won't be any good science happening at LLNL and my first point about postdocs will not be true.
I won't start my new position for another month but I'll be sure to come back here and post something about the differences once I've had time to absorb them. Could be 6 months to give an accurate assessment, I suppose. I don't expect completely green grass over on the other side!
I still have WFO funding and the science is going fairly well. However, when the right opportunity opens up I am done with LLNL. I see no benefit in working here other than a few of the people that still remain. The lab may turn things around, but who really cares? Its lost its soul and is now a poorly ran/managed job.
I got frustrated with my division manager's favoritism and treating us like robots. I left to work for humans and with humans and was actually surprised to get 15% raise and far greater benefits. I wish I could name names but it is against the BLOG rules!
I left for academia. Crappy pay compared to LLNL but the cost of living difference gives me more money at the end of the day.
Am I happy I left, yes and no. I am happy that I am, for all intents and purposes, my own boss and my schedule is my own (apart from 3 hours/week when I teach). No more of this 'hero' BS where if ou were the fovorite of the managers you moved places regardless of performance or value.
The flip side is I liked the work I did. Just did not like the politics and what I perceived as, unfair merit raises..
I left COMP because it is filled with clans. If you are part of the clan, you advance. If you are not, you will be stuck where you are. Someone mentioned his/her division manager treated people like robots. That person is right! Time for the S&T PAD head to take a closer look and see for themselves!
I agree with '76', LLNL is a good choice for postdocs, at least compared to the meager pay typical of academia. Beyond that, it is hard to justify staying for any extended amount of time. Get in, work hard, make a decent salary for a couple of years, and get out before the post-UC lab sucks the life out of you.
8 comments:
I decided to pull the plug. I'd rather go out on my own terms instead of getting the "perp" walk out the gate like a common criminal. I'm a early career 200series that saw the writing on the wall. I hope I'm wrong for the sake of the many good people at the lab but it's really a shame to see what this transition has done. I've been lucky and I think I've landed well. I wish the same to the rest of the folks at the lab whether they stay or go. Best of luck.
I'm staying until they kick me out, to many years to give away and to old for the job market. For those of you who are young I say move on before it's to late. I would never recommend this pace to anyone since it has no defined pension plan and there's no real benefits. The young can do far better elsewhere and for a lot more money. Until the day comes when LLNL once again has what we had under UC I anticipate they'll have a hard time holding onto good people. The transition from UC to LLNS has successfully destroy the national labs and the nation indirectly. Good job DOE. You've done to America what we did to Russia in just eighteen months and all for personal gain just as any good CEO of a failing corporation would do. I hope the penalty's our congress and senate may soon implement for being a crook apply to you too.
I think LLNL is still a good place to come as a postdoc as there is still good science happening in pockets here so if you're sheltered from the politics, from the need to apply for funding, and from the need to grow your career within the lab, then you can have a good 2-3 years here, at a much higher than average postdoc salary, and then move on.
And that is why I'm moving on. After 3 years as a staff scientist I have grown tired of the politics, tired of the struggle against our own management to bring funding into the lab, and tired of how ineffectual EVERYONE has become as the daily gossip and talk of re-orgs and other pointless management exercises has taken over completely from the excitement over just getting the science done that apparently existed here 5-10 years ago. Since I've been offered a great position in industry, which I might well have taken even if there weren't so many problems at LLNS, I'm moving on to accelerate my career in a way that has become impossible for young scientists here at the lab. It's a position with more responsibility and a higher salary.
So many good scientists have left or are leaving at the moment actually that soon there won't be any good science happening at LLNL and my first point about postdocs will not be true.
I won't start my new position for another month but I'll be sure to come back here and post something about the differences once I've had time to absorb them. Could be 6 months to give an accurate assessment, I suppose. I don't expect completely green grass over on the other side!
I still have WFO funding and the science is going fairly well. However, when the right opportunity opens up I am done with LLNL. I see no benefit in working here other than a few of the people that still remain. The lab may turn things around, but who really cares? Its lost its soul and is now a poorly ran/managed job.
I got frustrated with my division manager's favoritism and treating us like robots. I left to work for humans and with humans and was actually surprised to get 15% raise and far greater benefits. I wish I could name names but it is against the BLOG rules!
I left for academia. Crappy pay compared to LLNL but the cost of living difference gives me more money at the end of the day.
Am I happy I left, yes and no. I am happy that I am, for all intents and purposes, my own boss and my schedule is my own (apart from 3 hours/week when I teach). No more of this 'hero' BS where if ou were the fovorite of the managers you moved places regardless of performance or value.
The flip side is I liked the work I did. Just did not like the politics and what I perceived as, unfair merit raises..
I left COMP because it is filled with clans. If you are part of the clan, you advance. If you are not, you will be stuck where you are.
Someone mentioned his/her division manager treated people like robots.
That person is right!
Time for the S&T PAD head to take a closer look and see for themselves!
I agree with '76', LLNL is a good choice for postdocs, at least compared to the meager pay typical of academia. Beyond that, it is hard to justify staying for any extended amount of time. Get in, work hard, make a decent salary for a couple of years, and get out before the post-UC lab sucks the life out of you.
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