Feigning Corporate in an Academic World. - Systems Administrator III Fermilab Employee Review

3.0
Aug 21, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Vacation and Medical Leave are separate and accrue at equal rates. Laid-back, academic atmosphere. People enjoy sharing what they are working on. Vast melting pot of cultures from around the world. Cool tech on the frontier of physics.

Cons

Communication between Sectors, Departments and Groups can be rather problematic. Too many islands. Too much budget tension from year to year. Despite being employed by Fermi Research Alliance, the purse strings are held by the US Department of Energy Office of Science (thus DoE...thus Congress) Salary freezes and furloughs do occur when Congress refuses to function. It seems that Cronyism runs rampant in the (shallow) ranks of Management. There is a lot of dead wood which should purged. There are MANY working groups which tends to make the Management structure more broad than deep. The problem is that a non-physicist has a difficult time moving up the rather short ladder.

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Pros

best working environment I have ever worked

Cons

There are no cons for this.

2.0
Apr 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

It is a place with strong potential, good technical infrastructure, and a beautiful natural setting. It offers a diverse mix of people and professions, and it typically provides more stability and flexibility than industry, along with a fair salary.

Cons

Professionals outside the physics discipline are often not given full recognition as subject-matter experts in their own fields and are frequently overridden by individuals in senior or privileged positions. In many cases, decisions are driven more by influence, convenience, or personal preference than by operational needs or technical best practices. As a result, non-physicist professionals may be relegated to routine or less desirable tasks, while higher-visibility projects and decision-making responsibilities are concentrated elsewhere. Basicaly non-physicist professionals are hired to support or maintain systems that were implemented without sufficient planning or domain expertise, leaving significant room for improvement. This dynamic can lead to underutilization of specialized talent, reduced efficiency, operational challenges, frustration among staff, and, over time, burnout. Definitively not a good place to work for non-physicist professionals. NOTE: The actual CEO is Norbert Holtkamp

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