Applied Research Laboratories Reviews

most of the managers have only ever worked at ARL, having hired in to ARL right out of college, as a result the in-bred management over 6 decades has left ARL lagging other research organizations by at least ten years restrictive operational requirements imposed by their US Gov sponsors creates significant impediments to performing work ZERO communication from upper management with rest of staff

The organization structure is very flat, so promotions are rare. On top of that, raises are just a standard 3-5% every year. Since many of the projects are classified and for the government, the experience gained doesn't typically translate well to other fields, which would make it hard to change careers after working at ARL for any significant period of time. Dealing with classified projects is a pain. Also, many of the project are really not that interesting. Despite being secret work in defense applications, many labs at ARL just maintain legacy systems that were developed decades ago. One of the biggest issues I had was the complete lack of company culture. There's never any sort of company organized social event, collaboration between labs is rare, and the general culture is one of mediocrity - 'Just do enough to get your work done and don't complain or ask for additional work'. Pay is below comparable positions in the private sector. The pension is a ripoff for new employees. Overall, I'd recommend against working here.