Pros
- Very dedicated workforce. Have worked with some excellent colleagues from headquarters and have made professional and personal friendships for life here. - The technology and services that this company offers truly are state of the art. Regardless of how the company functions, Illumina is providing valuable tools and services to the scientific community. - Very nice perks for U.S. employees, offer more than other tech companies I have been at.
Cons
where to start? Very disorganized with no structure, no respect for overall workforce from management, and extremely unfair and unethical treatment of employees. Company is very top heavy with blatant favoritism being common practice amongst upper to senior management. No regard for one's personal life, as that is seen as nothing more than an obstacle that doesn't allow you to perform as best you could. Global operations are nothing short of a joke, as there is zero global cohesion with managers running amuck and treating those under them as unethical and bad as they want since no one is looking. Suffice it to say, overall treatment of employees is something that needs work here. It is possible to get ahead in this company, but at a high cost. If you pander to management, play their ridiculous games, and kiss up to the right people, you may make it. Can be a long road depending on how much your willing to throw people under the bus and backstab, which are examples of very common tactics here that most legitimate good employees grew tired of (and therefore walked). Hard work and effort put in may get you an occasional compliment, but will get you nowhere in terms of your career. Company is run like a start up, but has been around for 10+ years. You often hear people boasting about the "lack of process due to crazy growth." May have worked for the first few years, but really it is time that this place grew up. Also, not having structure is nothing to boast about, it's just saying that you are proud of being disorganized (and yes, it behooves some people to have this place stay disorganized, as disorganization can make a good cover for incompetence).