Pros
My review is about the Janelia Research Campus. Janelia is a wonderful place to work: It's the most beautiful workplace ever, it has beautiful architecture, there's artwork everywhere... The servery and the pub have delicious fresh and more or less cheap food and there's a gym with free group classes. There's a wonderful daycare for employees. Bob's pub is the center of it all, the best coffee all day long and a great place to focus or to have casual meetings. Janelia organizes great events as well and supports local charity. Overall, it has a very open culture, the camaraderie is high. It's an organization where great science is done and that works very efficiently with as little bureaucracy as possible. Also, management is taking effort to listen to the employees by organizing round table discussions.
Cons
- The location (Ashburn) is remote, 45 minutes to DC is not next door. Once you go off campus, you leave the beautiful bubble. Ashburn is very suburban and for people coming from a big city/Europe/..., it can be very difficult to adjust. You're lost without a car. - It can be hard to see when investments are made on things that don't seem necessary (mainly on the building's appearance like painting the walls over and over again, parking light system) while we're told there are budget cuts. - It is noticeable that the bureaucracy does tend to increase a bit, but still nowhere like in academia. - Management should show more appreciation towards employees. - This place is full of bright scientists, but when you're just less lucky and it seems you won't get that Nature or Science paper, the environment might be intimidating or even demotivating.