What am I missing out on other than the obvious way higher TC? I actually quite enjoy working at the lab. Pros of working at a national lab: - Lots of flexibility in what you work on - Really interesting projects if you're cool with defense stuff. All of the interesting engineering and research work in government goes to the labs. Once its at a stage where it can be "manufactured", it goes to contractors like Raytheon. - Highly interdisciplinary. Work with a lot of other engineering and science disciplines to get the job done (potentially also a con). - Amazing WLB. I work 4/10s but realistically I work like <30 hrs/wk with every friday off. - 1st line management is totally off your back and leaves you tf alone - Permanent remote option since covid - Very good job security. Takes a lot to get fired. - Will pay for grad degree and give you leave to do it. - University partnerships allow you to work with professors at leading unis and the profs pander to you because the labs give them grant money. Cons: - TC not remotely close to tech (still good for LCOL area) and tops out quite low even for very senior people (compared to big tech) unless your like lab director or something. - Lots of administrative BS - Needing to maintain a top secret clearance (may be seen as a pro) - Mentoring can be pretty lackluster and I don't see any really strong engineering here on the SWE side. You're kind of on your own a lot of the time even as a newer hire. - Having to deal with funding sources for your projects and budgets (its kind of like a university with grants and stuff but from govt agencies) especially if you are in any sort of project lead position - Entering hours - People higher up seem to just politic their way up vs. actually coming from a place of being strong ICs. My managers manager is a prick especially in a smaller group or 1on1 setting. - Promotions happen like never and raises aren't even that great when they do and the hierarchy is very flat regardless. Most of the time I wouldn't even be able to tell if someone is level 1/2/3/4 unless someone told me. All those cons being said I think that the pros way out many of them. The TC I think is obv the biggest one. EDIT: added a couple more pros and cons as I thought of them TC: 120k YoE: 2 #software #engineering #swe #mlengineering #machinelearning
Money. But national labs are great and work on challenging problems the same level that MANGA would Maintaining a top secret clearance is why I wouldnāt do it. Because I like to smoke weed. Oh and I like money. But my dad is a senior engineer at a national lab and works on really interesting projects
You arenāt in an environment where you are doing as cutting edge and large scale work, plus having access to mentors and learning resources.
They are absolutely doing cutting edge work at a national lab. Where did you get that from?
National Labs do not do cutting edge work most of the time. Cutting edge work is done in private industry but they keep it secret and don't advertise it as much.
I donāt know what to say. Everywhere has its pros and cons and for high tech TC to really make a difference, you need to be careful about where you live to make up for COL and taxes. Iāve worked in labs and non profit and i can tell you that tech isnāt what itās cracked up to be. Usually you will have bad work life balance in SV/Bay area and people arenāt necessarily that great at their jobs, though of course there are tons of smart people. Some companies can be just as political as gov or lab the higher up you go, and some of the larger companies have a ton of corporate fluff that you wonāt see doing work in a lab. Not to mention, 120K with 2 YOE is actually really good for LCOL area and only slightly below average for Bay Area depending on the company.
You canāt smoke weed with clearance
Been doing it for 4 years š
Money. Perks like free food, free busses, 401k matching, career growth (which also leads to more $$$), but these can mostly be substituted with more money. I worked as a research oriented Defense contractor and the work wasn't that different, but pay was 1/4. I like both my jobs, but $$$ wise big tech is no comparison.
I did work at both places. Companies provide more social structure so u have more fun and opportunities across multiple teams and areas. Obviously Money is great at companies. Labs do cool stuff but mostly for publishing. The quality of software or research isnāt leveraged and often doesnāt become a product where millions or billions of users use.
Maybe the TC difference wasn't as high 10 years ago - maybe 2x at senior levels - but these days it's easily 3-4x. So depends on your life goals really. I'd like to work in big tech until I'm 35-40 and then either just do side projects, teach or go back for grad school / academia.