post-doctoral fellow

department manager

analyst

software engineer

administrative assistant

Idaho National Laboratory

I had the privilege to enjoy working in the areas of purchasing, material requisitions, supplier evaluations and supplier delivery performance, inventory control and inventory and cost analysis.  

Within the past five years, I was given the opportunity to be the project manager for an infrastructure expenditures project valued at $200 million.  This entailed directing project engineers and other business associates to establish schedules for completing Statements of Work (SOW), coordinating acquisitions with procurement staff, and receipt and inspection.

I was given the opportunity to develop an Approved Supplier Performance Evaluation System.  The System measured the supplier's delivery performance, shortages or overages and product damage. I was asked to present the Evaluation System at two Idaho governor’s conferences and to several Department of Energy (DOE) Managing and Operating contractors.  My presentations have been informative and gratefully appreciated.

I enjoyed working with the people in the Procurement organization.  We were in many respects like a family.  I especially enjoyed meeting and working with suppliers.

In March 2013, I was laid off due to the INL's Restructuring In Force Program.  The INL management required a 25% reduction in G&A workforce.  

Even leaving employment under these circumstances, I enjoyed the many years at at the INL.

As a multi-purpose laboratory supporting the US Dept of Energy the Laboratory attracts many highly skilled and driven scientists and engineers, which provides a dynamic environment where multi-disciplinary groups can work together to solve complex problems--that's the intent. On the other hand, while several larger programs have consistent funding and clear direction, smaller groups are often used sporadically to solve specific problems and later left to secure funding as it is available from outside sources. This leads to rapid scope changes depending on the current external funding opportunities and an apparent lack of internal direction for these supporting organizations. These changes make it difficult for staff to acquire depth in these disciplines relative to researchers in an academic or commercial R&D environment. For many, this provides an opportunity to practice a diverse set of skills and can be a stimulating and rewarding technical challenge. However as a result of these frequent changes, many competent and driven staff members have left to pursue careers where they can focus more intensely on their chosen technical fields.

While INL is the top pay in the local economy, they are careful to not be over-achievers in a national scale.  Overachievers must move to keep ahead of salaries being normalized to the job.  

Typical corporate bene's package.

Not plagued by hire-and-fire mentality.  Go ahead and buy a house.

The distribution of promotions, or lay-offs for that matter, does not reflect the cross-section of the INL population, but rather, reveals an activist "affirmative action" element in the HR department.

The INL is in process of "finding itself" - and has been for more than a decade.  It's nothing that a good mission would not fix.  But in the interim, with the current U.S. trends away from nuclear energy, the lab suffers an identity crisis.

The DOE customer does not help a lot, as the current INL management team has persuaded them to stop acting like customers.  And because it is easier that way, they seem to have agreed.

Needs an enema from the top down, but that can be said of many places, eh? 

Overall, a good workplace for personal life balance.  Seldom requires overtime.  Unless you have children and both parents work at "site" facilities.  The long bus ride and early a.m. departure time are not conducive to attentive parenting.

Job locations can be at site facilities or town, depending on what you do.

S. E. Idaho is a polarizing place.  Night-clubbers will HATE it.  Families like it.  Outdoor types are in heaven.

Fantastic place to work, great compensation and with relatively low cost of living in the surrounding area compared to the COL at other DoE sites the compensation is very generous. Idaho is a fantastic state too super close to lots of places to go hunting/fishing/skiing in the winter.

Upward progression is entirely dependent on your own work you can put in a lot of effort and climb very quickly or drag your feet and sit at the same position for 10+ years. 

Managers are very good and understanding and at the very least seem to care about their employees. Been here for a while and can pretty confidently say out of the numerous managers Ive met Ive gotten along with them all fairly well.

The commute can be very rough especially if you are working the 4x10s out at site but the 3 day weekends are very nice. The commute out to the site is the most dangerous part of the job people drive like absolute morons.

Workplace culture is very focused on safety, things progress at about the standard pace for government work nothing moves exceptionally quickly as to be expected. The work we do out at the site is really awesome though, Ive seen and handled things that would blow the mind of an average person.

Overall highly recommend working here its a very great place to work and extremely rewarding.

INL has some good and some bad. If you do nuclear or cyber, this is a great place to be. If you do not work in cyber or nuclear, gaining career traction here can be harder. 

INL is one of the very worst labs at data science. The only DOE lab with fewer data science jobs posted right now is the Ames lab, which has about 10% as many employees. Zero data science culture or emphasis. No substantive efforts to grow their data science presence. 

The benefits are good. Health care has good coverage and is reasonably priced. If you put 6% into 401k, INL puts in 9%. (So $1.50 for every $1 you put in, up to 6% of your salary). Some people make really good money here. Although HR has no qualms paying someone with a BS in Computer Science almost as much as someone with three more years of experience and a PhD. 

Weather is really bad in the winter. 

The lab is large so my experience doesn't translate to all of INL, but for me (non-research) this place feels like where ambition goes to die. Lots of riding the gravy train - low productivity, minimal to no accountability, lack of performance management. Issues/needs/problems do not get resolved, they persist. Slow to make changes and slow to make progress. Very compliance oriented being a nuclear research lab. Lack of cohesion/alignment of goals, lack of role clarity and lack of ownership of roles and responsibilities. There is a lot of "lip service" in terms of values and initiatives but not much follow-through/effective execution. Seems a chronic lack of strategic planning and operating with that government mentality of spend it before you lose it, rather than fiscal responsibility. 

I have been working at INL full-time (10 years)

Pros
The location is excellent for outdoor activities and two seasons: Mud and dust.

Cons
The INL is a nuclear compliance driven national laboratory. Many of the people come from the old Nuclear Navy - and that means you'll have to set your clock back about 20 years. A lot of the people are locals who wouldn't make it on the "outside" - and it shows. These people attended local private schools that don't count as actual "Universities" - and it shows. Coupled with the fact it is within a maligned and neglected Federal Agency that is hemorrhaging funding especially under the current political climate and administration... Get out while you can.

Advice to Management
Check your ethics. Pop your head up and look around outside of your itty-bitty state with the WORST education in the nation. Diversify your portfolio and diversify your talent. Winter is coming - and your current management stack is rotten.

I've worked at the INL for more than two decades. The work was steady and usually engaging, but I rarely felt like I was making a big difference. There are thousands of bureaucratic rules that have to be followed when working at a national laboratory, so it's hard to finish projects or implement new ideas. Most of the management team are engineers with little formal management training who are more interested in protecting their span of control than in promoting their staff members. The pay and benefits are good, and Idaho is a great place to raise a family, but INL is not a place that supports a fast track career. Keep your expectations low, and your head down, and you'll do fine there.

The management disconnect from the employees is staggering.  Unless you are a first class engineer or doctor you will receive no recognition for your efforts.  If you don't work in town expect a 2 hour daily commute on dangerous over crowded 2 lane roads.  There are cliques at every facility and nepotism is rampant.  Most management is incompetent and has little or no relevant experience in the organization they are in charge of.  If you are are free thinking,hard working individual you can forget about that.  Common sense is frowned upon in favor of procedures written by people far removed from the actual work.  Expect a cut throat environment where people shine by making others look bad.  Don't let the money blind you and be aware of the over crowding and rapid growth of the surrounding communities.  The area is not equipped to handle this rapid growth.

This is a highly educational environment. I had help whenever  I needed it but was allowed to figure out problems and progress for  myself. During this time I learned about the creative process, having to communicate with people from my peers to my divisions director. I learned how to find my own work and that any job no matter how small is important. My management or my mentor  was a very caring person who help me figure out how to function a highly productive environment and to give back to the community if I can.  The work culture is group orientated and values everyones opinions. The hardest part of my job was learning how to find work for myself and take on multiple projects. The most enjoyable part of the job was developing materials that are being used today to help advance the future.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Post-doctoral fellow 24 salaries reported	$98,507 per year
Department manager 9 salaries reported	$190,569 per year
Analyst 3 salaries reported	$135,340 per year
Software engineer 1 salary reported	$112,146 per year
Administrative assistant 5 salaries reported	$29.59 per hour

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