Just doing some reading this weekend and came across this. Sure sounds familiar
"
And what was the result? Brain drain. Why stick around and be the victim of a political witch hunt when you could escape to the private sector: a fatter paycheck, decent hours, and maybe, just maybe, a little respect and appreciation by the people you work for. We lost a lot of good men and women, a lot of experience, initiative, and priceless analytical reasoning. All we were left with were the dregs, a bunch of brownnosing, myopic eunuchs.
But that couldn’t have been everyone.
No, of course not. There were some of us who stayed because we actually believed in what we were doing. We weren’t in this for money or working conditions, or even the occasional pat on the back. We were in this because we wanted to serve our country. We wanted to keep our people safe. But even with ideals like that there comes a point when you have to realize that the sum of all your blood, sweat, and tears will ultimately amount to zero. "
26 comments:
"But even with ideals like that there comes a point when you have to realize that the sum of all your blood, sweat, and tears will ultimately amount to zero. "
If that's what you believe your career has become, just go kill yourself !
How ridiculous ! You got your salary, a generous pension, sent the kids through school, bought the nice home, nice cars, on and on ...
How ridiculous ! You got your salary, a generous pension, sent the kids through school, bought the nice home, nice cars, on and on ...
May 31, 2016 at 3:11 PM
If that's what success in an intellectual career means to you, so be it. To many of us it means more than money and acquisitions. It means intellectual accomplishments and professional acknowledgement, a career that is recognized as meaningful in your chosen profession. All the rest will follow. Providing for your family is important, but career success as recognized by peers, and leaving a serious professional legacy is priceless.
"How ridiculous ! You got your salary, a generous pension, sent the kids through school, bought the nice home, nice cars, on and on ..."
You completely failed to understand the point. Sigh
Natural cocerns.
The drain can be prevented by a well designed pension with longevity incentives.
But we knew that when we discarded it and replsced it with contribtions without vesting. Another brillaint Contract 44 clause brought to you by the foolish charlatan Tyler Pryzbylek.
You can get your salary, nice house and toys, etc. by selling used cars, too. Most of us in this business expect more, and only the unemployable lifers fixate on those aspects of work life. It would take a lot more than bringing back pensions to fix the mess NNSA created at LANL and LLNL.
"You can get your salary, nice house and toys, etc. by selling used cars, too. "
I doubt that you could get the $100K+ salary by selling used cars. Maybe if you sold new Mercedes, Porches, etc.. high end stuff.
"Most of us in this business expect more,..."
Those that expected more should really have tried to work in Academia. Unfortunately, an academic career rarely pays more than a scientist/engineering job at LLNL, Sandia, LANL or Lockheed-Martin.
Get real here !
If you worked at LLNL, Sandia, LANL, etc... for the last 30 years you did real well for yourself.
I do sell used cars. I am pressured by lab management to hawk 2nd rate proposals for government contracts that should be done by the private sector. The result is 75% of taxpayer dollars are spent just trying to get the money from one part of the gov't to the other. And when the money does come in, the result is usually science that could be done a lot cheaper or better by a university, or a prototype based on outdated technology that doesn't work, which should have been done by the private sector.
June 2, 2016 at 6:30 AM
Bitter much?
Are you doubting June 2, 2016 at 6:30 AM's veracity, or just denigrating his feelings about the situation?
Are you doubting June 2, 2016 at 6:30 AM's veracity, or just denigrating his feelings about the situation?
June 2, 2016 at 7:44 AM
Veracity? I think not. The only "situation" appears to be that he is so bitter that it has made him utterly crazy and delusional.
The trend line shows employees at LANL and LLNL will continue to have their benefits and work environment eroded, and their work contributions devalued. The "employees are a replaceable commodity" business model will stay in place. There is not a single organized employee effort to alter these downward vectors at either Lab, and prospective LLCs know this.
9:04 am must be that bitter LANL guy again.
9:04 am must be that bitter LANL guy again.
June 2, 2016 at 4:43 PM
What? How do you see that from the 9.04AM post, if anyone seems is bitter it is 6:30AM.
And when the money does come in, the result is usually science that could be done a lot cheaper or better by a university,
While I agree with the statement "a lot cheaper by university" I am less sure about the better. The scientists at the different labs are mostly first rate (there are always sub par people; like dead wood in Universities) and they are doing excellent work.
The problem comes from the bloated administration and safety and security restrictions, which are a lot tighter at the NNSA labs than at the regular DOE labs. I have reached the point where I go to the University I collaborate with , to perform the actual experimental work since at LANL it is almost impossible to get it done in a timely fashion. Even with travel and per diem this is a lot cheaper, than working at LANL.
I am sure I will now get the usual shouts of cowboy, but I can live with it. While I have no problem with establishing a safe work environment and enforcing it, I wonder why in the NNSA lab a culture of risk aversion is so pervasive.
Maybe if we can find a better balance between risk and success, we could become cheaper again. No risk means in essence no work.
While I agree with the statement "a lot cheaper by university" I am less sure about the better.
To be honest most universities could not do many of the things that are done at LANL and no university could certainly do everything that is done at the labs. June 2, 2016 at 6:30 AM is just doing his usual crazy talk. He is one very sad, very bitter, very broken person, we should pity him.
June 3, 2016 at 7:18 PM
You are a bit dim, are you not? NIF, MST and MaRie all have relevance to NW. There is huge amount of basic science, strategic science, and applied science that needs to be done for NW, right now, the near future and the far future. Get used to it or the consequences on every possible level could be bad...very bad. You wanna take that risk? Your call, I say go for it. In any case all the smart people at the labs can get great jobs elsewhere just like it always has been and it always will be, and yes get used to it.
Now that we have that out of the way can you please stop posting your whacked out inane babble? I think we have the picture by now, you want us to believe that you are a sad, bitter, crazy, sick, deranged, pathetic POS. We already believe that and got the point, and as for deadwood, you are sure one to talk. Please go away, it will better for us, you, and everyone else that exists, existed, or ever will exist.
Universities, and other sites like Nevada and LBL, are cheaper than LLNL/LANL if you are on the outside and want to pay for something. One way they save money is by not needing as many people to generate mountains of cover-your-ass paperwork that no one ever reads, and more people to check that the paperwork is in place and in order. Another way is by paying everybody less. Another way is hiring fewer scientists and engineers, so their capabilities are restricted and fewer of them are floating and hunting for account numbers. Another way is simply accounting, overhead costs are hidden in other ways so the outsider doesn't see or pay for them, which is how LLNL global security would love to operate (let DOE pay for the infrastructure and the prestige while we charge our sponsors pennies on the dollar and pretend we are entrepreneurs). Another way is relying on junk equipment that is gifted and using almost free graduate student labor to keep it going. But if the apparent costs are low, there is a reason, and either you aren't getting something or someone else is paying for it.
Hey bitter and crazy person "than" lets give it a try. Disappear and see what happens. If you are "soo" much smarter and better than everyone else perhaps we don't deserve your insights. I certainly have seen the Lab fire good people who did nothing wrong but you appear to be incompetent to even use proper English so how much of a genius can you really be?
"English so how much of a genius can you really be?"
Your cowboy arrogance is showing again and that is the problem with the labs. Why are you so "bitter" that you feel the need to criticize the grammers of others, it is because you have no way to argue the real point that you are arrogant lab cowboys. Denial is not just a river in India.
The purpose of the nuclear weapon labs is not nuclear weapons. If it was, then much better results with greater productivity in scientific research would be seen.
The real purpose of these labs is to produce * bureaucracy *.
Highly bloated and well paid management teams, lots of additional "support" staff sitting around doing very little, and endless reams of meaningless paper work. I know this to be true because that is the major product that is produce by these labs.
No. Try again (I need more laughs.)
No. Try again (I need more laughs.)
June 7, 2016 at 12:55 PM
Yes, fits you to the tee.
You people are so so sad, you cling to some silly notion of good work and honest work for pay. We are in a new era, there are no longer values, no right or wrong, no experts, instead we now live in a age of world views and big pictures. There is money to made off the labs and that is all there is to it and once you aspect this, internalize this, and stop saying it is wrong than, and only than you will feel much better about what is happening and be able to live with yourself. In any case there is nothing you can do about it. These are the facts: there is no mission, no higher purpose, no service to the nation, there will no longer be any more 30-40 year careers, no company loyalty, no loyalty to the workforce, and no loyalty to the nation. The world is flat now and if you follow outdated ideas than you can no longer compete. This is what LLNL and LANL are facing, what the management has long realized and what workforce continues to deny, but reality is reality. When you keep using horses to get from a to b and the world is using cars than you are not going to last very long. The workforce is full of dinosaurs from a bygone era, the rest of the world is run by agile mammals, so it is time to switch because dinsours are thing of the past. Yes you can keep saying you are really big and can eat the highest leafs but the rest of the world is eating your eggs. The world is now made up of small fast moving mammals that sweep in under the cover of dark and get the job done. These mammals do not complain, do not whine, do not go on about how they have a "PHD" with specialized knowledge but they can adapt scary fast to every single situation and out do every dam scientific dinosaur that is left at the labs. Oh, by the way, don't let that asteroid hit your ass on your way out. Now this is the exact definition of being essential.
This is simply the way the world works and if you fight that system you will be swept aside but if you embrace the system you may get a chance to become very wealthy and lets face it that is the only way to judge success. There are some contract changes coming up in all three labs and the age of the mammals has begun!
You are such a sad and lonely jerk. What do you know about mammals?
"The world is now made up of small fast moving mammals that sweep in under the cover of dark and get the job done. "
Are you talking about the H1B Visa abuse problem perchance ? I know for a fact that it is pervasive in Silicon Valley. Why pay $120K when you can hire overseas, bring them here, and they are happy to work for $70K ?
you may get a chance to become very wealthy and lets face it that is the only way to judge success.
June 8, 2016 at 8:42 PM
Luckily for the world and the human race, only a small fraction of people believe that, and they are much less likely to be social and procreate, hence they are doomed genetically.
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