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I worked at LANL [0] for five years and enjoyed the hell out of it. I was a Research Technologist, which is basically an R&D Software Engineer. You will find a

I worked at LANL [0] for five years and enjoyed the hell out of it. I was a Research Technologist, which is basically an R&D Software Engineer. You will find a research group within a division to work for. For example, mine was the Computational Earth Science group (since renamed) within the Earth & Environmental Sciences division. You will be working with a handful (3+) of research scientists as their supporting engineer. On some projects, you may be doing machine learning work in Julia. On others, you may be coding a fluid dynamics simulation in FORTRAN or C++. On others, you might be doing data analytics in Python. It's highly, highly variable, depending strongly on the PIs you're working with, and can change as frequently or infrequently as you wish (within reason). Ultimately, I did the reverse: went from a DOE lab into a FAANG company. My reasons are particular to me, but if you're at all interested in a slower paced, more varied and collaborative environment, you can't do much better than working for the labs. For context, at LANL, I was making ~$100,000 / yr with 3 YOE (circa 2019). This is in northern New Mexico, with such a low cost of living that this amount of money goes about as far as $150k+ up in the Boston area (where I am now). [0]: https://www.lanl.gov/ https://www.lanl.gov/

floren 4y ago
LANL is also in an absurdly beautiful place, and Los Alamos is a very pleasant little town.
- dlivingston 4y ago
  Definitely. The town always gave me 'Stars Hollow' vibes, if you've ever seen Gilmore Girl.
- jessriedel 4y ago
  Strong emphasis on "little". If you're married with kids, it can be great. Much harder for single young adults, especially men since the gender ratio at the lab is unbalanced. Most people in town are employed by the lab or contractors for the lab.
- subsubzero 4y ago
  It is, I was just there this past weekend. The town itself is very small, and like some have said its getting more pricey. I can talk about this area for hours as I had a job offer from a startup spun out of LANL a few years back, I ended up not taking the job and sometimes regret it. But for Los Alamos itself I would consider it on an "island" so to speak as the surrounding communities(except santa fe) are not great, see espanola. There are reservations around the area and they have their own issues(see drugs alcohol etc - the drive from the valley to Los Alamos requires you to turn on daytime running lights due to many DUI's) but the town is extremely friendly and safe just not alot to do if its not outdoor related. Like some have said some LANL employees commute in from Santa Fe which is a nice town, it skews very old and rich(on the north and east sides) and if you have a family is not ideal(almost all the families live on the south side of town). Overall the area has excellent food(northern new mexican food is incredible!) and for outdoor enthusiasts it really can't be beat. Home prices in Santa Fe have risen alot in the past few years like most nice outdoor areas. But I think you can't go wrong with the area if you don't mind the few downsides.
- flatline 4y ago
  New Mexico can be a challenging place to live, Los Alamos even moreso. Like someone else mentioned: married with kids? Great place, but even then Los Alamos is isolated, it’s a 45 minute drive to Santa Fe which itself is not huge. For the national labs you will also need to maintain a clearance, and the DOE is somewhat regressive in its policies around past drug use and mental health treatment. There is very little in the way of night life. There are activities but this is a place where people live their whole lives and you often have to know someone to get involved. There is a paucity of health services. The airport is small and has had its routes reduced dramatically over the last 15 years. Los Alamos real estate is dated and expensive. On the other hand the state is beautiful and there are endless outdoor activities.
ouid 4y ago
>low cost of living Except for the nightly drive to Santa Fe.
- dlivingston 4y ago
  If you live there, sure. There is also Los Alamos, White Rock, Jemez, Española, etc.
  - femto113 4y ago
    It gets only a sliver of attention compared to Los Alamos and Santa Fe, but Española is actually effectively another LANL company town--the lab is the town's biggest employer and a large portion of the lab's workforce lives there, so e.g. sharing the commute up the hill would be easy. And compared to either of the others (or any FAANG city) real estate is cheap (like 3+BR 2000+sqft on half an acre for < $500K).
ianai 4y ago
It’s much less affordable than it used to be. Lots of transplants seem to be driving prices up.
- dlivingston 4y ago
  If you're talking about housing and property prices, that's a long-standing supply issue related to building a town on a mesa...
  - ianai 4y ago
    That just makes it a factor which long term diminishes the labs abilities and people. Consequences priced-in as it were. But the grocery stores and surrounding supportive industries like medical/dental are also going to reflect the towns population. I do love Los Alamos but knowing what a large city is capable of helps, too.

floren 4y ago

LANL is also in an absurdly beautiful place, and Los Alamos is a very pleasant little town.

dlivingston 4y ago
Definitely. The town always gave me 'Stars Hollow' vibes, if you've ever seen Gilmore Girl.
jessriedel 4y ago
Strong emphasis on "little". If you're married with kids, it can be great. Much harder for single young adults, especially men since the gender ratio at the lab is unbalanced. Most people in town are employed by the lab or contractors for the lab.
subsubzero 4y ago
It is, I was just there this past weekend. The town itself is very small, and like some have said its getting more pricey. I can talk about this area for hours as I had a job offer from a startup spun out of LANL a few years back, I ended up not taking the job and sometimes regret it. But for Los Alamos itself I would consider it on an "island" so to speak as the surrounding communities(except santa fe) are not great, see espanola. There are reservations around the area and they have their own issues(see drugs alcohol etc - the drive from the valley to Los Alamos requires you to turn on daytime running lights due to many DUI's) but the town is extremely friendly and safe just not alot to do if its not outdoor related. Like some have said some LANL employees commute in from Santa Fe which is a nice town, it skews very old and rich(on the north and east sides) and if you have a family is not ideal(almost all the families live on the south side of town). Overall the area has excellent food(northern new mexican food is incredible!) and for outdoor enthusiasts it really can't be beat. Home prices in Santa Fe have risen alot in the past few years like most nice outdoor areas. But I think you can't go wrong with the area if you don't mind the few downsides.
flatline 4y ago
New Mexico can be a challenging place to live, Los Alamos even moreso. Like someone else mentioned: married with kids? Great place, but even then Los Alamos is isolated, it’s a 45 minute drive to Santa Fe which itself is not huge. For the national labs you will also need to maintain a clearance, and the DOE is somewhat regressive in its policies around past drug use and mental health treatment. There is very little in the way of night life. There are activities but this is a place where people live their whole lives and you often have to know someone to get involved. There is a paucity of health services. The airport is small and has had its routes reduced dramatically over the last 15 years. Los Alamos real estate is dated and expensive. On the other hand the state is beautiful and there are endless outdoor activities.

ouid 4y ago

>low cost of living Except for the nightly drive to Santa Fe.

dlivingston 4y ago
If you live there, sure. There is also Los Alamos, White Rock, Jemez, Española, etc.
- femto113 4y ago
  It gets only a sliver of attention compared to Los Alamos and Santa Fe, but Española is actually effectively another LANL company town--the lab is the town's biggest employer and a large portion of the lab's workforce lives there, so e.g. sharing the commute up the hill would be easy. And compared to either of the others (or any FAANG city) real estate is cheap (like 3+BR 2000+sqft on half an acre for < $500K).

ianai 4y ago

It’s much less affordable than it used to be. Lots of transplants seem to be driving prices up.

dlivingston 4y ago
If you're talking about housing and property prices, that's a long-standing supply issue related to building a town on a mesa...
- ianai 4y ago
  That just makes it a factor which long term diminishes the labs abilities and people. Consequences priced-in as it were. But the grocery stores and surrounding supportive industries like medical/dental are also going to reflect the towns population. I do love Los Alamos but knowing what a large city is capable of helps, too.