Illumina reviews

3.3

46% would recommend to a friend

(2,565 total reviews)
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Jacob Thaysen

53% approve of CEO

33% positive business outlook

Illumina has an employee rating of 3.3 out of 5 stars, based on 2,565 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Illumina employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
2.0
May 27, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

One of the largest and fastest growing companies in San Diego. Competitive pay and benefits Innovative products

Cons

I have worked for several biotech companies as a territory manager and sales rep previously. Coming from smaller and medium sized biotechs in the past. I thought I had hit the jackpot with securing a position with Illumina. One of the largest and fastest growing companies in San Diego. Well, the grass is not always greener on the other side. It was the worst sales position and career move that I had chosen. My biotech lab and sales career has been long and really rewarding. Being in sales, I am a people person. I can relate to a very wide demographic of people. Yet, Illumina's company, culture and vibe was just a disconnect for me. It never really felt like a community or even welcoming to me. All the other companies that I worked for, there was transparency and cross departmental collaboration. At Illumina, it was like pulling teeth to get any assistance from marketing, product managers, technical support, customer service, fulfillment, and logistics. Nobody ever wanted to help each other. Each department seemed to be against each other. Never felt a collaborative effort. It was a very self serving or self preservation type of company culture. I guess it is understandable when I saw some colleagues fired out of the blue. If you see something like that, you probably want to keep very busy and your head down. As many other reviews here, I would have to agree that upper management has a deficiency in leading and growing this company. The sales teams were made mostly from people that have no science or biotech experience at all. How can your front line representatives sell an instrument when they have never worked in a lab or have zero understanding of the up or downstream processes that the instrument is going to fit into. There was one week of training but it was more like them turning on a fire hose. Trying to cram everything into one week. Online self training was also idiotic. Those that did not have previous scientific or biotech industry background didn't have a chance.

1.0
Feb 24, 2021
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Nice tech-oriented campuses in SD - Numerous events and celebrations - Perks that rival silicon valley

Cons

For the UXD team, it pains me to say this, but management has created an environment which has led to internal strife and very high turn-over due to - manipulative actions to meet their own career goals and agendas, and if you do not agree with their political motives, expect retaliatory behavior - management using you to settle their personal scores with other people and teams - conflicting management agendas that lead to unrealistic timelines and internal squabbles - you're not promoted based on merit or meeting and exceeding the company's values and mission, but based on your ability to do someone's bidding - multiple employees have gone to several members within HR to investigate , yet they, in my opinion, seem willfully ignorant, biased, or worse Illumina as a whole is a good, solid company that does so much good for the industry and community. The CEO, Francis deSouza, is an amazing leader and will help drive the company forward. Most employees and teams are happy, valued, work hard, and are rewarded accordingly. With that said, if upper management does nothing about the well known malignant cancer, it will continue to grow and eat away at good employees, as there are some within the company who are corrupt to the core.

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Illumina Response
5y
Your comments are concerning because they are inconsistent with Illumina’s policies and practices. We are committed to maintaining a culture that is open, inclusive, and fair. It would be helpful to better understand your experiences. If you are willing to discuss your comments, please contact an HR representative at HumanResources@illumina.com
1.0
Mar 19, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The company mission of unlocking the genome to improve human health is as good as it gets.

Cons

The "fast-paced" company culture translates to frantic chaos chasing impossible goals that is devoid of humanity and common sense. I'm working 60 hour weeks and it's still not enough to complete all the assigned tasks (so far, though, I've gotten good reviews). Recent mergers have created tremendous hostility and infighting. At this point, it's looking like my time at Illumina will go down as one of the worst experiences of my life.

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