Lincoln is truly invested in the happiness of its employees. The culture varies a lot group to group, but overall is good for work-life balance. Lincoln is particularly invested in helping its employees with long-term career goals, especially furthering their education.
Lincoln is a great opportunity to do academic-style research, with group leaders dealing with funding and sponsors so you don't have to so much.
Cons
Working for the government, and especially defense, can mean wading through a lot of bureaucracy and protocols for things that seem like they should be quick.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory Response
9y
Thank you for taking the time to review your experience at Lincoln Laboratory. It hope that you have benefited from the focus on education. As you have seen, the funding mechanism at an FFRDC is is somewhat different but is also advantageous to most employees. Working for the DOD can create a layer of extra considerations but overall it is well documented and readily navigable. For those instances where you get stuck, we have plenty of experts available for guidance. Thank you again.
Explore other reviews about MIT Lincoln Laboratory
It can vary a lot from group to group, but in general, wonderful place with wonderful people and lots of interesting work going on. Excellent benefits and lots of flexibility to explore different projects.
Cons
Little opportunity for advancement in terms of rank and compensation once you reach technical staff. Additionally (again varies from group to group) expectations of what a staff member does can be unclear and there can be a light sink-or-swim nature to the work, again depending on the group you're in.
Worked with some of the smartest people I’ve ever known.
Great opportunities to learn from your coworkers and an atmosphere that encourages learning, including a well-run technical education program.
Fabulous support staff and technicians that can get seemingly impossible things done quickly.
Great resources and lab spaces (if a bit dated).
The nature of the work encourages good work/life balance.
Fantastic benefits (though the pay is low).
Cons
No/limited opportunities for advancement makes this a hard place to work mid-career.
Good engineers are promoted to be mediocre managers.
Every program is under-funded, under-staffed, and over schedule.
Bad managers are shuffled around but rarely fired.