Illumina Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Illumina full-time for more than a year

Pros – Lots of freedom when working on a project. Had little difficulty getting resources needed, and lots of freedom on choosing how to approach a problem.

Cons – If you need a lot of direction, not the place for you. After you finish a project, expect to have to find your next one. Several times I would volunteer for a project, and be told to find something else to do. certain aspects of company culture are very elitist.

Advice to Senior Management – Need younger people in the company. Also need better direction from managers.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Illumina full-time for more than a year

Pros – The company is very innovative so you never feel bored learning the same products...the team is very interactive and great support. The company offers high salary and compensations, and there are lots of trainings on place.

Cons – The management team is not very present on the field and there are too many call meetings and huge amount of admin work. The FAS position is pretty much "Do Everything in 1 job" and the trainings tend to be done too late which brings frustrations in front of the customers.

Advice to Senior Management – Be more present on the field with the FAS mainly on hot situations and separate the role clearly between FAS and FSE...More staffs meetings could also be nice and individual meeting once a month would be beneficial.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Illumina as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – The people here are super helpful. As a younger employee the everyone wanted to teach me somthing new.

Cons – There is nothing bad I can say

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Illumina full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Illumina is a fast-paced and exciting place to work with bleeding edge product development. There are a lot of great people still working there which can help make it a fun environment.

Cons – Illumina has lost quite a bit of what made it special in their growth from a little start up to a dominant genomics company. They hire very good people, but then management doesn't trust them to make their own decisions. Top level management is still trying to tightly control everything.
The transition to a diagnostics company, while important, is not really going anywhere. It likely won't until they make a radical move (ie, buying a diagnostics company or getting bought by a diagnostics company).

Advice to Senior Management – Trust the people you've hired. Establish a path for career development and give the middle managers more authority to go along with their responsibility.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Illumina

Pros – Compensation is good, don't know about benefits

Cons – Heavy Micro Management. To many levels of supervisors, managers, directors. Terrible employee onboarding.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Illumina

Pros – -Latest, greatest and coolest technology.
-Flat level hierarchy – your voice is heard.
-Great perks and facilities.

Cons – Growing pains and lack of structure as the company grows.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep allowing your employees to speak up and have their voice heard to grow and strengthen the company.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Illumina full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Great people and fun work

Cons – It has changed from a start up to bean counter central

Advice to Senior Management – reduce the number of projects. Effort is too scattered

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Illumina full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Cutting edge technology, motivated and hard working employees, great people on a personal level

Cons – Same management team since early in the companys growth. Transitioning from start-up to small company to medium sized company with same management team has been challenging since they started as a Life Sciences company and are currently transitioning to add diagnostics and medical devices which are regulated by the FDA. Management often "doesn't know what they don't know". Without former experience with the FDA, sometimes management has overreacted to minor observations and not reacted enough to the need for more robust quality system needs. They are getting better but it has been more painful than it should have been.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to the people who have former experience with the FDA and other regulatory agencies. It may not seem needed initially, but will pay itself back ten fold if 483 observations are minimized and product recalls are prevented.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Illumina as an intern for less than a year

Pros – Great atmosphere, very relaxed and transparent. The company has a lot of potential and has grown exponentially within the past few years.

Cons – Since the company is still growing, there are processes and procedures continuously changing.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Illumina full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Illumina has a very entrepreneurial spirit. The company has the resources to support it's employees and does so. Work environment is great. You will work some of the smartest people around.

Cons – Illumina is having some growing pains. The company is eager to transform into a large company, but at what cost. Not a ton of opportunity for career enhancing moves.

Advice to Senior Management – Seek out and encourage the managers/directors that are finding the right balance of process infrastructure and aggressive, entrepreneurial spirit.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company