Sandia National Laboratories

"Sandia is very big and your experience depends mostly on which department you are in. There are many women at Sandia, mostly in managerial roles and support roles. Only 20% of technical positions are held by women. The work is novel and interesting. Collaboration, mentoring, and learning are valued. Employees have flexible work hours, sick leave, maternity leave, and a medical clinic onsite. Scientists and engineers have to conform a certain stereotype to fit in. It's a boys club. You can succeed if you work harder than then men around you. At the corporate level, they say they want to hire more women, but there are no policies to make it happen. Sandia is a much better place for women in business, HR, and management than it is for women in technical fields."

"While my management is great and seems very female friendly particular in their flexible scheduling policies, my coworkers (lab techs/engineers) have a lot to learn in how to work with females. I would put it as above average for an engineering environment (read: mostly old, mostly white, mostly male). Much of the older infrastructure was never meant for women (for instance, some buildings don't have female bathrooms), but things seem to be improving even in the short time I have been here."

"Male dominated but fairly supportive of women. Three different people at the lab assumed I was male before they met me (I even have a feminine first name). I believe all three of those people were women, coincidentally (some were admin assistants). Other than that, seemed fairly supportive. I was just there as an intern"