intern

engineer

research associate

procurement specialist

physicist

Fermilab

Given that Fermilab employees over 2000 people, people's experiences range wildly. In my case, I was placed in a role that couldn't have capitalized more poorly on my experience and skills. The truth is, almost everyone new hired at Fermilab is overqualified and underpaid for their positions, guaranteed by the strict and cumbersome regulations that the Department of Energy Office of Science imposes on this beleaguered and top-heavy National Lab. Its best days are behind it.
If time isn't valuable to you, Fermilab may be the perfect fit. Even the most mundane and matter-of-fact decisions take weeks to finalize and months (or years) to purchase with their broken procurement system and opaque and paradoxical budgets. You'll find even the lowest levels of Management plagued with Zoom meetings almost every hour of every day, with little to no time to actually supervise their group or even contribute to their subordinate's development. 
Even technical positions are best characterized as a 20/80 split between actual work and writing procedures, reports, requests, or waiting for something to happen. My supervisor did a stellar job at being a slow, discouraging and excuse-making contrarian that did his best to hold the department back as long as it meant he could keep consolidating the technical aspects until his role. Fermilab will turn even the most optimistic and forward-looking ambitious individuals into slow-speaking risk-averse bureaucrats terrified of trying anything new.  And if you so much as reach out for help or explanations outside your immediate group, there will be snitches to undermine your good-faith communication. 
Maybe your experience will be different, but Fermilab is no place to build a career or make friends if you already come with experience in the Private Sector. 



I worked as a summer student, it is a fun job and awesome facilities to explore for a short time, but not sure it would be great long term. The facilities are so old, outdated, and run down, outside of a few brand new buildings, most of the lab is incredibly dated with seemingly no plan to try and update facilities. It seems as though the lab died with the Tevatron and is desperately clinging on to try and stay relevant. A lot of this could be changed by simply cleaning out old facilities which have tech from 30 years ago just rotting away, and going around with a paintbrush and making the buildings look presentable. 

In terms of compensation; I feel I was compensated well for my small job, but from what I’ve gathered, higher positions do not have great pay when compared to other industry jobs. 

With all this being said, it is still a great place to work and management/coworkers always seems to support you/each other, which can be hard to come by. Working on incredible projects and seeing all the discoveries that have been/are being made at the lab is something to be excited about, and proud of if you have your hands on even the smallest of projects. However, I think I would be apprehensive to taking a long-term position here. 

Also fighting off snakes, rodents, and massive bugs while trying to complete every day tasks is nothing out of the ordinary around the lab, so that’s something to be aware of. 

The ability to gain knowledge grows only restricted by the effort you put forth.  Management willing to work wit any individual who is willing to put in the necessary time to succeed.  Most co-works will assist you in complete assignments or steer you in a direction to get the assistance needed. This is an organization where you must never and I mean never be afraid to ask question or for help. The intelligent level of most personnel is way above average so if you don't understand something ask because if you attempt to fake your way thru you will be devoured not a place for the weak of heart.   I would highly recommend this organization to anyone who has the skills and time to dedicate to a organization that will be on the cutting edge of technological aspects.

Compensation and benefits are VERY good.  There is a chance for transfer to other departments and currently new projects being developed for the future, meaning more opportunities.
However, management is lacking in business knowledge.  This is a federally funded DOE facility and therefore ease and efficiency are not employed here.  Managers seem to be appointed to fill a quota and not chosen by their skills and abilities.  Constantly making decisions that workers must implement without asking how it impacts schedule or if it is even possible.
Not much chance for yearly increases since there is no profit/loss.  LOTS of paperwork (electronic forms) required, but the chance of layoff is slim even in hard times.

This lab is stuck somewhere in the 70s or 80s. Roads are terrible. Buildings falling down. Paint peeling. The management is stuck there too. New management, same problems only worse. Gone is any job flexibility or site access. Anything that made this place a good place to work is gone. Layoffs are common as of late and the good old boy network is impeded in their culture. Working remote is long gone. Fishing gone. Pay is low.  You're expected to do way too much in the time you're aloud to work. Layer upon layer of ridiculousness and all they care about is if your vehicle is locked while on a "secure" government site. Don't waste any of your precious time at this place. 

Zero OPPORTUNITY for Growth 

Not a place for a younger Generation 

Benefits are lacking compared to the “REAL WORLD”

Average age of workforce is 55 or older

Poor Retirement options very conservative 

People are stuck here for 40-50 years of service because pay is lacking 

Poor Retirement Benefits, No RETIREMENT MEDICAL, AS THEY RECENTLY PULLED THE RUG OUT FROM “Thousands of people who worked many years that were BANKING ON THAT BENEFIT, MANAGEMENT DID NOT EVEN OFFER “BUYOUT” FOR THAT BENEFIT——POOR CHOICE 


Fermilab is a great place to work if you are looking for job security and constant career progression, nothing too wild thou. The jobs that are closer to the actual science are much more engaging than say...procurement or HR. There's generally a lot of latitude for learning new things here you just have to want it. 

I worked at FNAL for 4+ years, I found it to be a great place over all. Each department has its axes to grind with each other, and is controlled by the DOE. Most of the people I worked with and for were great! Most physicists were "hands on" and good to work with. Opportunities are limited, that is true and departmental prejudices run amuck, but the work was great, the campus is great and activities abound all year round. I had hoped to retire from there , but not to be.

Interesting work with a lot of new scientific projects on the rise. Benefits and PTO are above and beyond.  Depending on the group you work in, it can be a difficult\stressful work environment ( i.e management, coworkers, project). Unlike anything in the real world of industry. If you find the right group and actually put in effort, you can go far at Fermilab for the rest of your career. 

Fermilab is working on becoming more diverse and innovative but the rate at which this seems to be occurring is too slow. I see a lot of commercially ran companies making stronger more bold efforts to cultivate an innovative culture, bring in more diversity into all work environments, and explicitly aim to provide working environments that supply one with all the resources they might need to be efficient/successful.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Intern 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour
Engineer 9 salaries reported	$101,970 per year
Research associate 11 salaries reported	$81,849 per year
Procurement specialist 9 salaries reported	$129,085 per year
Physicist 8 salaries reported	$105,488 per year

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