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MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Part of MIT

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Like living in a Dilbert cartoon - Anonymous employee MIT Lincoln Laboratory Employee Review

2.0
Aug 12, 2013
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good benefits (same as MIT).

Cons

Management is dysfunctional. Career growth is limited to non-existent. The Lab is of all engineers, overwhelmingly male, with little respect for any field outside of technology and engineering. Ethically challenged. A strange resemblance to a 1970s workplace and culture. Support staff are treated very poorly. Difficult to work with all the security, and location at an Air Force base.

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MIT Lincoln Laboratory Response
12y
Thanks for reflecting on your experience. The Laboratory is very mindful of the composition of its workforce and maintains active outreach to women and other groups who are under-represented in the technical fields and other employment. The challenge of finding and retaining highly qualified women and minorities is an ongoing challenge, but one that we take seriously and are heavily invested in. I believe that our long term support of SWE and IEEE Women in Engineering are examples of this. We are actively pursuing continual improvement in this challenging aspect of hiring. Some of the strictures of maintaining a strong security system can be inconvenient, but I think that you will agree that physical security and cyber security are critical to most businesses. We are very proud to have been recognized numerous times with a superior rating for our security systems. Our successful partnership with the Air Force is a big part of the success of the Laboratory. Hopefully you are raising any ethical concerns that you have with appropriate internal contacts.

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5.0
Jun 3, 2026
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Pros

It can vary a lot from group to group, but in general, wonderful place with wonderful people and lots of interesting work going on. Excellent benefits and lots of flexibility to explore different projects.

Cons

Little opportunity for advancement in terms of rank and compensation once you reach technical staff. Additionally (again varies from group to group) expectations of what a staff member does can be unclear and there can be a light sink-or-swim nature to the work, again depending on the group you're in.

4.0
May 26, 2026
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CEO approval
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Pros

Historically a very stable job, interesting work, great people

Cons

There can be a lack of mentorship for people early in their careers, although your experience will depend heavily on which group you are in. There are only 3 main levels of engineer with very limited group leader positions, making upward mobility limited.

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