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Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

As someone who has worked at JHU/APL for over 10 years, I would say that pay is okay at the beginning but will not remain competitive with industry.  Every year the group supervisor is given a small amount of money to hand out as raises to the employees.  The amount given is never enough and forces the group supervisor undervalue their employees.

Another problem with JHU/APL is the fact that people are not hired or promoted based on merit.  They have a diversity initiative going on that makes them hire and promote people on their checklists.  Being an intelligent, hard-working employee will not get you very far at this company.  All the employees know that it is unfair but management thinks they are doing a great thing for the company.

The one thing that is probably good about JHU/APL is for getting a higher degree.  If you are thinking of getting a master's or PhD the company may pay for your degree.  However, you are not required to sign any agreement with the company to continue working with them after receiving your degree.  So the best thing to do is to get your degree quickly and leave as fast as possible.  I was even told "your degree will help you with your next job..."

The retirement matching is probably the only decent thing about this company but since most other places will pay more, it will most likely balance out.  Overall, if you decide to work here, you have to accept the fact that the compensation will be lower compared to your peers.  Some people with a lot of kids will like to work here because they give out a scholarship to the kids of parents who work here.

One other thing, JHU/APL values PhDs because they can use that to charge more to the government.  There is a weird rule in the government that PhDs can bill the government for more money so JHU/APL will use them to get more money.  Whether this actually provides value to the customer is debatable.

Overall, it's a mediocre place to work.  You can always find something better somewhere else.  If you want a place where you can just sit back and work on your degree this may be the right place for you.

The experience varies depending on what department/sector you are in (and likely even which group), but I personally have had a really good work experience here. I have enjoyed it so much that I have often thought that I would work here until I retire. The work/life balance and benefits are great; the work is interesting and incredibly varied with lots of opportunities to learn; The job security is generally great.

However, this is not the place to work if competitive pay or advancement/recognition is important to you. APL does not really have an advancement path for the technical track, and that combined with a matrixed management (both line and program managers) means that you have to go into management of some kind to "rise" in the organization. "Promotions" do not come with any pay increase, and bonuses are much more rare than in industry.

Additionally, upper-level management has made some very short-sighted decisions lately that have marginalized a minority of the employees and frustrated/disconcerted many more.

APL is not the place to work -- at least at the moment -- if a particularly flexible/hybrid work environment is important to you post-pandemic.

Working here is excellent for early career professionals that aren't sure how they'd like to specialize in the incredibly broad fields that STEM careers encompass.

Projects worked and day-to-day life is highly dependent on the Group that hires you, or that you choose to work for if you get multiple offers. Each group is almost a small company unto itself due to the Lab being a Matrix organization where technical professionals are in their own hierarchy and program management is orthogonal. Line leadership then help make the match between technical and program staff.

Having said it's easy for one to explore many realms of Engineering and Science that you wouldn't have considered otherwise. There's quite a breadth of multidisciplinary work, and there's also more focused work. It truly runs the gamut.

The retirement match is one of the best I've ever encountered, and their benefits in general are near jaw-dropping. It's quite a stable job if that's your dig.

Last thing to note is that salary compensation is a bit on the lower end compared to other comparable employers; however, they pay for higher education (e.g. Master's, PhD, etc.) completely with no obligation to stay on, which is partly why the salary is lower. It's something to consider if one has a Bachelor's with no intention of further formal education.

Speaking of, outside of formal education they also have Strategic Education courses hosted typically by fellow staff members in incredibly specific fields of study that you'd be hard-pressed to encounter elsewhere.

APL is overall a good place to work, but suffers from many of the same problems that plague any of the other major defense players.
- Management is typically technical staff who were promoted. A strong technical background doesn't necessarily imply the person has the soft skills required to be a good manager. 
- Pay starts out high but yearly raises are small and non-merit based. Bonuses are non-existent. Compensation is based on a band system, meaning promotions and reclassifications do not translate to salary increases until your next review cycle. Promotions and reclassifications are typically based on years of experience, rather than merit. 
- Staff makeup is overwhelming junior (0-3 years experience) and principal (25+ years experience). There are very little mid-career staff at the lab, likely due to the pay. 
- There are a lot of cool projects and technologies being worked on at the lab, but overwhelmingly the bulk of the positions at the lab can be categorized as systems engineering - much of which is quite boring.
- You are expected to record your time worked on individual projects down to the tenth of an hour precision, and required to submit timesheets daily.
- Bulk of the work is classified, meaning full time remote options are slim to none. The lab overall has had success in its hybrid form and I think a hybrid work environment will be here to stay.

If you can work on a great project full time as a technical staff member, you will probably like your job (if you like your manager). If you are hired without a specific project to support, you will probably have a harder time. If you are in management, you will spend most of your time outside of the technical work, being an administrator / business person, even if hired for technical skills and experience. It is a matrixed organization, and this creates many different management challenges as well as strained internal politics - it has been called "cut throat." Most people have been working there since they were interns, so it is the kind of place where you are made to feel "new" until you've been there for five years, as they say - not great for inclusivity and innovation. Promotions have a lot to do with the number of years you have dedicated to the organization, not your competency, accountability, or ability to work with others (I have never sought a promotion myself... this is a common observation). Coming to the organization as an experienced professional from elsewhere is an uphill battle. The mission is great, so if you can get past all of that, focus on your small universe, stay out of/ignore the internal politics... you might like it!

My work focused around system engineering principles, physics, and statistics. A typical workday would include developing architecture designs for the program I worked on as ell as external communications infrastructure desigs and systems engineering principles for the other program I worked on. Ensuring that I read and responded to emails is very important. It allows the personnel who wrote the email that I am available and on top of the situation. I learned a lot about physics and statistics and how to apply them to the programs I worked on. Management was not readily available all of the time and therefore a lot of the personnel in my group would come to me with their questions as I was a SME on systems engineering principles, architecture design, and Project Management Institute principles. My co-workers were a very intelligent group and we worked very well together helping each other and asking questions about certain topics when we were stumped. The hardest part of the job was adapting to constant customer and sponsor regulations on the programs, although this has become much easier. The most enjoyable part of the job were the people and my mentor who had his Doctorate in Physics.

JHUAPL is overall a good place to work that offers great benefits, decent time off and most of the people that you work with are passionate about the work that they do/projects that they support. 

However, there are definitely a few things holding APL back from being a great employer - Firstly, compensation/salary tends to be lower than what is offered for similar positions elsewhere due to their compensation structure, which drives away a lot of younger talent; who are looking for salaries that keep up with the increasing cost of living. While people who have been in the workforce longer may be able to accept a lower salary in exchange for better benefits since they are more likely to be financially stable. Also, they seem to be 'stuck' in the old way of doing things and resistant to change in the way that things are done despite being one of the leaders in technological advancement in engineering and space exploration. Because of this, change is slow and often frustrating. 

Overall, good place to work, with passionate, intelligent, and driven coworkers - but could be much better if they fixed a few glaring issues that are holding back the culture at the lab.

For scientist, engineers, and management JHU/APL truly is a “Best Place to Work.”  However, support staff and other non-professional positions should be leery when considering any offers of employment.

With twenty and even thirty year careers for professional staff commonplace at JHU/APL one question I recommend every job candidate ask during the interview process: “What is the median number of years my peers have worked at JHU/APL?”  If the answer is not ten years or more, it is a warning indicator of excessively high employee turnover.  The likely culprit is management that characterizes support staff as commodities.  Long-term retention is not a goal and therefore providing opportunity for advancement (promotion, recognition, salary, and training) or work life balance is extraneous.

I genuinely appreciate the company and its strong commitment to work-life balance it’s one of the standout aspects of working here. The environment is supportive and flexible; which makes it easy to maintain a healthy personal and professional rhythm.
   That said, the workload can be inconsistent at times.  I often find myself taking on tasks like organizing, assembling equipment, or running wires for various people. While I bring experience from other fields, the core responsibilities tend to be concentrated among the engineering team. As a result, I’m typically assigned more routine tasks such as installing operating systems or setting up new computers, building racks, cable management. 
    The culture here is very relationship driven. Building connections across departments is the only way to finding work and staying engaged. However, there are days when the lack of assignments can feel unfulfilling and make the time pass slowly.

The work can be exciting. To succeed, one must be a self starter and promoter. 

Medical, 401K match, ancillary benefits -- really the best around.  The pay, however, is very underwhelming. The more experience you have, the less likely you are to be paid your market equivalent.  Raises are consistently under 3-4% per year. 

Communication and support between divisions and groups is poor.  The lab does not deal with low performers and/or behaviorial issues, which is very frustrating.

Not much diversity in management. Most are white males over 50, especially upper management. Lots of lip services to D&I. "best minority" awards are supposed to make up for it.

Workplace culture is very clique-y and strange. Very based on science community or govt agency reputation, which doesn't provide a lot of accountability. 

The technical people are very very good.  Most are easy to work with.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Trading manager 590 salaries reported	$119,000 per year
System engineer 236 salaries reported	$157,782 per year
Software engineer 81 salaries reported	$151,735 per year
Engineer 68 salaries reported	$152,875 per year
Intern 31 salaries reported	$33.25 per hour

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