Pros
Some of the younger people are great to work with and be around
Cons
I’ll start this review off by stating that I worked in the R&D side of the company. Therefore, my review might not be an accurate reflection of the whole company. However, after reading multiple reviews on glassdoor and indeed, and after interacting with multiple people from different departments within the company, I’m inclined to believe that meso scale diagnostics is rotten from the top-down and that the general work culture is uniform across the board. It is awful, unmotivating, cliquey, demeaning, hostile and anxiety-inducing. In a nutshell, it’s an extremely toxic place to work. Like you, I read the reviews on glassdoor and indeed. Like you, I went back and forth with myself, thinking, “surely, these reviews must just be from disgruntled employees who maybe just weren’t performing well and decided to air out their grievances on this site.” I think the review that convinced me to take the offer was the one that stated that the experience the employees have is based purely on luck. My interview experience was great. I was interviewed by some of the smartest and nicest managers within the company. They are the people that I wish I was working under. Unfortunately, the person that I ended up working directly under was not part of the interview process and I didn’t meet her until two months into the job due to her own personal reasons. Not being able to interact with her prior to officially accepting and starting the job should have been a warning sign. If you happen to be part of a great team that motivates you to do your best and expects high quality work from you, yet still nurtures your growth as a newcomer, then you’ll probably be in great company and you might have a substantially different experience from most of the employees. However, if you’re in a team where your direct supervisor constantly diminishes the hard work you do, expects you to know intricate details about a project that you’re new to, does not train you but somehow expects you to know how to do all the assays in the world, expects you to be independent but then turns around and sordidly criticizes everything that you went out of your way to do (regardless of the unrealistic expectations and the fact that you went above and beyond to surpass the minimal expectations), scolds you like a little child, is horrible at communicating and cannot make a counterpoint without rolling her eyes (is this middle school?), then you might want to think twice about working at meso scale. I would try my best to deliver quality work and still get panic attacks from the fear of my work being deemed as inadequate or silly. My supervisor and other people in my team would gossip about me in a different language right in front of me. I’ve been very hesitant to label the entire experience as what it was because I have never had an experience that violently discriminatory at a workplace. I held multiple jobs as an undergraduate; I know what constructive criticism looks like. I can take criticism. I can handle being told that xyz is not enough and more is needed. I am not just some “entitled millennial” that left college and couldn’t handle the workload. If I was, I wouldn’t currently be working for and thriving under one of the most successful and well-renowned scientists in the world. I took the job at meso scale because I figured it would be a good opportunity to work in industry before applying for graduate school. I had another offer at a better research center but stupidly turned it down. As much as I regret not taking that opportunity, I’m still grateful I learned a lot from my time working at MSD. I bring this up to say that if you’re a recent grad looking for opportunities while you take a gap year before pursuing grad school, please know that unless you’re lucky enough to work with *some* of the great minds in the company, this place is not for you and you are wasting your precious time.