SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory reviews

It is difficult to rise by means other than joinging the management and moving over to a desk job. Since the science is the life blood of the facility, it would be good to feel as appreciated as a scientist as presumably the management feels. Career development for scientists and engineers seems to be lacking, probably because we are generally happy and intellectually engaged and so we tend not to leave even when we feel under appreciated. Work life balance goes as a "con" but that is largely because we are self driven so hard that we overwork ourselves. Can't blame management there, but it would be nice to feel more appreciated for the weekends, nightshifts and general scientific effort that sacrifices family and recreation so that we can make our hobby our job.

relatively low pay (especially in the peninsular of the bay area), strong competition between co-workers, unexpected over time work (sometimes night shift required)