SLAC Computing Division is completely dysfunctional
Pros
Weather in Menlo Park, California is great. Most of the staff and management at SLAC are extremely talented, hard-working, honest, and collaborative. Benefits are pretty good.
Cons
Since the new CIO came a year ago the Computing Division has been divided and is being progressively destroyed. He spends less than 2 days a week in the building where the Computing Division staff resides. He created his small core team and he only interacts with them. Leadership position interview panels have interviewers that do not understand the position qualifications or they are never asked for their opinion. He will just choose the one that will fall in-line with his tight group. There is no accountability for his small core team. Their deadlines are just blown through all the time. His team is more about marketing to Lab top level leadership than about really getting things done. They make arbitrary decisions without talking to the staff who actually know how things work. Outsourcing is happening even when it costs the Lab more and provides less support. He shares his OCIO Strategy with the Computing Division by placing a stack of "Strategy" flyers in the lounge. Allhands meetings are rare and he is yet to explain his vision or direction to the organization. There are empty "vision" slogans but no substance. Repeating a slogan doesn't make it so. Posters are placed all over the building telling us how to think and how to act. What does that remind you of? People that have spoken out against him have been laid off. SLAC's HR always supports leadership side of any conflict and the Lab Director has done nothing to help either. Don't work here if you want transparent, collaborative, positive leadership. You won't succeed.
