Anonymous said...
Would you recommend LLNL as an employer now?
May 12, 2009 7:29 AM
Would you recommend LLNL as an employer now?
May 12, 2009 7:29 AM
Tri-Valley Cares needs to be on this if they aren't already. We need to make sure that NNSA and LLNL does not make good on promises to pursue such stupid ideas as doing Plutonium experiments on NIF. The stupidity arises from the fact that a huge population is placed at risk in the short and long term. Why do this kind of experiment in a heavily populated area? Only a moron would push that kind of imbecile area. Do it somewhere else in the god forsaken hills of Los Alamos. Why should the communities in the Bay Area be subjected to such increased risk just because the lab's NIF has failed twice and is trying the Hail Mary pass of doing an SNM experiment just to justify their existence? Those Laser EoS techniques and the people analyzing the raw data are all just BAD anyways. You know what comes next after they do the experiment. They'll figure out that they need larger samples. More risk for the local population. Stop this imbecilic pursuit. They wan...
Comments
But my worst enemies are all in ULM, so there really is no point.
More Management positions at LLNL should be opening up, as more insiders learn the future.
(Sure glad you didn't ask if this job was for a friend.)
I can answer that. LC has a high percentage of thirty somethings that form a clan. Once you are in, you are it. Well, they are afaid that, individually, they cannot stand alone outside the Lab.
Between you and me: none of the ones I know would last a week at Google, Yahoo, HP and the like!
For a career beyond that, no.
If someone were just starting out in the job market and didn't know there might be better places to work, it would be OK. For those of us who were at the lab in its glory years we can tell them stories of how we used to get things done.
I had a career, now it's just a job. When I retire, I will not look over my shoulder wistfully.
However, it is important to note that this is exactly what NNSA and LLNS want to see at this lab. This saves them lots of money in terms of future benefit payouts and rising salary costs. Plan on seeing more layoffs in the future that will, as before, target the mid-career and old timers who are still hanging around.
Over the past year I have looked around, and I can say that there is incredible mediocrity everywhere- at LBNL, at ORNL, at PNNL, at universities, at companies-- startups with phony products and large companies with the same bureaucracy as LLNL and less respect for scientific methods. It really doesn't get much better elsewhere.
The key at LLNL will be for LLNS to fix the upper and mid level management and identify a unique niche for LLNL. We keep losing ground to SNL and LANL, who appear to be continually broadening their customer / program base.
"...5 years, most of the problems with mediocre management will probably be fixed..."
"The key at LLNL will be for LLNS to fix the upper and mid level management and identify a unique niche for LLNL."
How will this be accomplished? Who will do this? Since the contract transition we have seen flight of talent, including many of the top scientists and the most talented middle managers. And we have seen few talented scientists hiring on or staying for long. I disagree with your statement that mediocrity dominates at universities. Quite the contrary, I think. LLNS has been slow at best in addressing improvements to the business model. Your statements sound like a hope and a prayer. Please help me understand your thinking.
In my current position, I could easily have my son work here--but I would wish such a fate only on my enemies.
I want some of the same drugs that 10:14 PM is taking. They must be really good stuff!
We've seen several years of decline at LLNL under NNSA. Their installation of lab management by the for-profit Bechtel cabal (LLNS) is only the latest part of the evolving mess. It's also been made clear by Congress that the weapons budget is going to decline in outlying years.
I see no reason to expect things will be "fixed up" within the next 5 years unless by "fixed up" you mean essentially shut-down.