Great Mission Under Serious Chaos - Individual Contributor Illumina Employee Review

1.0
Jan 15, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Company mission Employee benefits Life balance (Flexible time-off) Beautiful campus and location-San Diego

Cons

Political, unorganized, and sometimes toxic work environment. Attractive company values only in writing but NOT in practice: - teams do NOT collaborate deeply: extremely" cliquish" and political with tons of closed-door meetings for upper management only; - NOT open – transparency? Not at Illumina! Promotion is mostly based on networking or friendship with managers rather than the actual performance. (some PhD level scientist make less than $45/hour, women specially) Lack of diversity across teams. Lack of recognition for hard work. Lack of resources and red tape for any request that costs the company nickels and dimes. Very poor management. Managers lead from behind and are not trained or encouraged to prepare their teams for success, often look down on subordinates. It is common for managers to come to work by 10am, leave by 3:30pm, and spend the rest of their “work” scheduled for “meetings”. Morale is very low as the company continues to layoff great people

Explore other reviews about Illumina

5.0
Jan 21, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing industry doing good in the world, super smart and friendly people, what else can you ask for?

Cons

None, really. It’s a big company to it takes a bit to get to know process, etc but that’s to be expected.

4.0
Jul 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Stuck with them for 7 years because it was good back then. Comp is good, benefits are good, and if you're on campus its a nice experience. If you find the right team it can be a dream, but the flipside can be awful. Overall they have a lack of direction in what is turning out to be a highly competitive market.

Cons

Corporate bureaucracy and internal politics are strong but could be worse. The benefits were better in the past and all the perks are winding down with time as they tighten the budgets and try hard to pivot away from dying segments

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