Pros
Brilliant colleagues, curiosity shared and respected, high ethical standards in most colleagues and greater part of management. Beautiful worksite. Belief in ergonomic protections (setups must be evaluated by professional folks who work entirely independently of other units). Many transit support systems—shuttles with bike carriers and wheelchair lifts, bike repair hrs, etc.
Cons
For professional people in operations (includes writers and website managers) you can find yourself in a windowless office, working 50+ hours a week routinely and not seeing daylight. They’re trying to move to a telecommute culture but many managers still believe if you’re not on site, you’re not really working (a false concept, since the manager with windows a couple of floors above never sees you anyhow). There are potentially wonderful education/training opportunities, but my experience is that manager is unlikely to approve requests because it might interfere with work. Oh yes, chronic under-resourcing of non-scientist staff. If you’re creative and have initiative to draw boundaries early on, while demonstrating how effective you are, this can be handled. Be careful of health impacts, though!
