Understood it can't be compared to FAANG, but what does the TC look like for a government laboratory in the bay area? Recruiter reached out for an interesting opportunity, but unfamiliar about gov agency. And how's growth and mobility? TC 300k, L4
Around $170-$180K base for a physicist. Some of them left for tech cos. Safe job but Livermore is expensive. Idk if working at a national lab is worth it though. Poor growth prospects, publishing industry is dead, dog eat dog and favoritism in academia. Pretty much a pyramid scheme for getting citations that no one really cares about. And yeah get ready to get hammered by the old school who spent their entire lives building half-assed models that are being beaten up by ML.
It’s very political.
Good people with good work there but I think it depends on the team. They just had ignition and lots of news recently. Suggest having a chat and see who you might work with.
National lab system is really the place to be if you want to do research in the physical sciences. I studied nuclear engineering in school and a lot of really bright people from the field end up in the DOE system after PhD Doubt they can match private sector for software engineer comp in bay area but would generally be a higher paying employer in most parts of the US