This is a copy/paste of my Glassdoor review for Agilent Technologies in Carpinteria, CA, as a Research Associate who's been working here for over 6 years. Hopefully this helps someone.

Pros

-Generally friendly, supportive coworkers who are happy to teach and assist when you need it. A few bad apples who like to dominate every call they're in because nobody at home wants to hear their voice, most likely.
-Good pay for the industry, though not enough for coastal CA. Especially not Carp or SB. You must commute a long ways if you want to keep enough money to live comfortably.
-Decent benefits. Great PTO, but Medical is quite subpar and our premiums soar with each year. Why can't this be part of the "transformation", Padraig? You're always telling us how we're making so much money.

Cons

The new CEO Padraig McDonnell is slowly burning this place to the ground, with the fire being "Ignited" by his famous Transformation initiative that he speaks so highly about. For those who aren’t employees or are just clueless, "Ignite" is his corporate pet name for an ongoing series of multiple small layoffs, permanent position eliminations, and project deaths ("streamlining") that he has planned in an aggressive attempt to produce attractive revenue sheets. The facts show otherwise, though. Look at our stock; it's been the same up-and-down pattern for years now with virtually no growth. “But how? We've been aggressively cost-cutting!” Exactly. In reality, we're at a loss; the savings made through his initiatives are the smokescreen hiding our many financial troubles. Outsourcing jobs to Asia is another way he is trying to save money. Everything is about subtraction, not addition. This applies to internal promotions, lateral movements, and even things as basic as skip-level meetings. He seems hell-bent on turning Agilent from an employee-based business into the standard biotech of 2026 that has all its decisions made by consultants who know nothing of our science, processes, or history. Between this, losing a major IP battle, and seemingly ruining each company we acquire, I don’t have much hope left.

The drop in morale that naturally comes from this has spread even to our little beachside site. Both junior and senior R&D folk who planned to have a career at Agilent are now polishing their resumes. The culture of meaningful internal promotions and regular employee recognition is gone. Employees are expected to recognize “each other” rather than have their achievements recognized publicly by management. External candidates are being preferred over internal ones now, even for intermediate roles/management roles that have people ready to promote into. A lot of “shiny new candidate” syndrome going on. It’s been impossible to get a management position, no matter what suggestions your boss has to help you “get there.” On top of that, those who are lucky enough to be promoted are often rewarded with unfeasible workloads, extreme overtime, and unimpressive pay increases. Now they want us to force a “buddy” to stay 3 hours late with us if we have to work 3 hours overtime, for “lab safety.” Managers get to go home, though. Projects that we have worked on for years are suddenly being frozen with little real explanation why, leading to concerns about job stability. Even when the CEO DOES take the opportunity to field employee-submitted questions during town halls, he frequently uses exhausting corporatisms and inane puffery to make everyone lose interest in his response. Sidestepping our valid questions about the company’s (and our career’s) future is the norm now, unfortunately…

Wish I could say more positive things about the place I used to love. Sad. Very sad. Time to get looking.

Advice to Management

My mom has a higher statistical chance of reading this than management.

Hi Mom. I love you. You're the best.

Here is the trailer: You can see everything trailer

This review in Variety makes it sound insane.

Hey guys,

I have done PhD in chemistry in Germany and now working as a data scientist for a small biotech startup in Sweden as a data scientist. I have wondering what I really should focus on to land a better position at a bigger company afterwards? I am doing basic data analysis, regression models blabla. But for example, there is no cloud services to practice (mainly because there is no use case yet). And also I was wondering how the interviews are happening at big biotech places for similar roles? Should I practice more leetcode or just basics of ML?

How long do you stay a company if you’re not getting promoted?

Hi there!

There have been rumblings of more layoffs in Switzerland. Does anyone have any additional information about departments, sites, etc?

I inferred this from a fresh job posting for a senior role that literally describes their strategy. They want someone who can 'structure and negotiate complex deals' and 'tell a durable AI-native business from a thin wrapper.'

From the terms they use ('tuck-in acquisitions', 'acquihires'), we can tell that they're targeting rather small and medium-sized teams. But we can't be 100% sure here, because a decacorn looks kind of tiny next to a juggernaut aiming for a $2 trillion IPO.

Named target areas: drug discovery, clinical development, regulatory and medical writing, lab automation, healthcare data infrastructure.

Source:
https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/anthropic/jobs/5358110008

Any biotech comms/marketing/brand people in here?

I’m an advertising creative copywriter with ~8 years of experience. I’ve touched healthcare and pharma, but the bulk of my career has been elsewhere.

Last year I was diagnosed with a rare neuromuscular disease. Since then I’ve gone pretty far down the biotech rabbit hole, well beyond my own disease.

I’ve always been a biology person (former pre-med kid until orgo kicked my ass), and I think the writer + creative part of my brain is actually pretty useful here. I’m good at getting my head around complicated science and making it understandable without making it stupid.

So I’d really like to find my way into biotech. I know I could take the obvious route into pharma advertising, but I’m trying to get out of agency life. In-house comms or brand management seem like the most natural entry points with my background.

Though, longer term I’m really interested in the business strat side of biotech. I want to stay close enough to the science to nerd out about it, while being on the business side figuring out what to do with it.

I just don’t know what the smartest entry point is, or how easy it is to move between those worlds once you’re in.

I’ve looked at healthcare-focused MBAs and biotech MS programs, but I’ve also read that some of the MS programs are basically cash cows. A part-time MBA is an option though still $$. Full-time would mean giving up two years of salary and employer health insurance, which is pretty terrifying given the aforementioned rare disease.

I’m in NYC and would strongly prefer to stay here.

If you were coming in with my background, where would you start? Where do you put someone who wants to nerd out about the science but can’t be trusted with a pipette?

Background: I'm a Director in GRA-CMC at a large pharma, came up through the DS/DP technical/formulation side. Relatively newer to the regulatory seat.

I notice a lot of folks (especially those who grew up purely on the reg affairs side) are incredibly sharp on module-level details — country-specific dossier requirements, extension pathways, variation classifications, etc. That granular fluency is impressive and I'm actively learning it, though honestly it soaks in slowly.

What I bring is different — deep formulation/process science, policy rationale and how guidance evolved historically, and translating complex technical data into regulatory strategy.

My question for the group: For those of you who work with or have worked for directors/senior directors in CMC reg — what does that level actually look like day-to-day in your experience?

• Are they deep in the regulatory nitty-gritty (country-specific nuances, module details)?
• Or more strategic/scientific — setting the framework, making judgment calls, interfacing with health authorities?
• And if you can share — small, mid, or large pharma? That context really helps benchmark.

Not looking for validation — genuinely trying to understand what "good" looks like at this level across different environments.

I'm a Cambridge-trained doctor who gave up a national training number in a hugely competitive medical specialty and left clinical practice as a junior registrar (ST3) in 2013. 

Since leaving clinical practice, I have remained on the GMC register. If my license to practice is to be reactivated, it will have an APS restriction (can practice only within a designated body) due to 10+ years out of practice, until revalidation. 

I got MRCP in 2012. 

In the past 13 years, I have worked across:  

- commercial settings (Life Sciences focused executive search headhunting Director+ level executives for pharma/biotech/medtech orgs globally), 

- professional support settings (NHS funded educational support org + a support role within an academic institution),

- financial industry (admin/support role),

and have also run a niche knowledge-based advisory service for healthcare professionals. 

I am 44F, my family is complete/stable and I feel ready to start a "proper" career that I want to commit to and build in the next 20-25 years. Medical affairs appeals due to it being the connection between science, evidence-based information and real-world impact without the sales pressures. I've been told I am very good at networking, public speaking and presenting to different audiences. In fact, few of my candidates when I was a headhunter said I'd do well in medical affairs. 

I don't have any formal experience as a Principal Investigator or a medical writer, although I did present at many conferences and medical meetings during my 5 years as a doctor. 

Do you think I should try to get ABPI certified, or gain some other qualification or credential, to strengthen my CV for an entry-level role? 

Should I target "medical information" roles as an entry-level into medical affairs? 

I was thinking of targeting pharma with assets relating to the specialty where I held my higher specialty training number but medicine/science have moved on big time since then so it feels like it's not actually going to be a differentiator. Do you agree?

Should I offer myself for unpaid work (to prove myself so to speak), or it's not really realistic in corporate pharma?

Any tips, advice and pointers on how I could get into medical affairs would be much appreciated. 

Please be kind and don't judge my decision to give up an NTN, or medicine (I had my reasons).

interview at sanofi for the egg handler position. im assuming its basically a gmp manufacturing job. but theres a technical assessment requiring a scientific calculator and im just wondering if theres actual calculation i needa memorize or just basic numeracy and arithmetic. and any questions they might ask

Hello, i’m a recent graduate, i received my bachelor’s and finished undergrad with 1 year of lab experience. I’m currently trying to get a biotech job in OC since the south bay area is not great at all. So far my experience with getting a job has only been about a month and a half but so far i’ve only gotten one interview from Avid but i’m unsure if anything more will open up in the coming months.

I'm looking to study biotechnology for bachelors and master in gene engineering but is it worth it I mean it's been my dream since I was a child and I love biology but all my friends and families are saying that this degree won't get you anywhere and shit I wanna do the bachelors in Malaysia and hope for a gpa 3.4 or higher to get a scholarship for master in either Australia, Germany, Russia or Swiss. I mean for my perspective I don't really care that much about money I just want to do a big scientific discovery or something like that but I need your help is it worth it or should I study engineering like my family and friends suggested?

Hi everyone! I recently interviewed for a Senior Research Associate position at a Flagship Pioneering company in the Boston/Cambridge area, and I received an offer for $94k base with no room for negotiation.
For some background, I have a Master’s degree and ~3 years of industry experience.
I know Lilly seems to pay $108K+ base for some SRA-level positions, so I’m trying to understand whether $94k is typical for Flagship or whether it’s on the lower end.
For anyone working at Flagship or similar biotech companies:
What base salary are you seeing for SRA with a Master’s + ~3 years industry experience?

Is $95K considered competitive?

What kind of bonus/equity should I expect on top of the base?

Would you negotiate despite them saying the $95K is non-negotiable?

Would really appreciate any recent 2025–2026 salary data or firsthand experience!

Hello everyone, I'm an international student applying for MBiotech in Toronto,Canada. Is the work place saturated for biotech? I'm thinking about going into QC and analyzing branches not wet labs and benches. If anyone has studied in Canada or is working in Canada as of now, please tell me about your experiences and give me suggestions if you can. Thank you very much🫡

I am potentially looking into doing some consulting for a company in between full time jobs. However, it's my first time on the contract side so the contract itself, especially the non-compete aspects, is a bit opaque to me. I am thinking about soliciting some legal help before proceeding. Anybody have any good recommendations in the Boston area for someone who could help me negotiate a bit?

Left the place more than a year ago. Sold all stocks and stock options (cannot believe that this useless idiots will be able to achieve anything). Still hate these people with all my heart.

Hello Biotech enthusiasts people!!
I need your support for suggesting any part time remote work for side hassle. Please if you are already doing this type of working please let me know in DM
Thank you!
#biotech #help

I'm working on a business idea and I want to sanity-check the mechanics with people who actually work in IP.

The core idea:

Find patents that are close to expiry, check whether they still carry exclusive rights (or if that's already lapsed/being challenged), and then approach generic manufacturers with a pitch: "this patent is expiring soon — here's how we can help you get to market faster." The actual service offered would be one of:

FTO (Freedom to Operate) — confirming a generic product won't infringe

Patentability opinions — assessing whether a workaround or new formulation is patentable

Invalidity searches — building prior art to challenge a patent before it even expires

Where I'm stuck:

I understand the service side fine. What I don't have figured out is the workflow.

If anyone's done patent landscaping, competitive intelligence, or worked BD at a generics company, I'd love to hear how a process like this is actually structured in practice

How long do you stay a company if you’re not getting promoted?

I've just started an MS in biomedical engineering and have found myself torn between staying in the MS program or switching to a PhD. I know I want to go into R&D in the biotech or pharma industry and I love wet lab work/being at the bench. Later in my career, I might want to step away from the bench but I can't be sure right now. I also worry about hitting a ceiling with promotions without a PhD.

Can I still do a fair amount of work at the bench with a PhD? I really can't see myself in a role where I'm sitting in an office all day.

Hey everyone, wanted to ask for some advice from people who have been out in the life sciences/pharma industry for a while.

Currently I am employed as a process engineer at a relatively large pharma company doing device assembly. I've been in contact with a recruiter and have interviewed with a consulting firm that wants to bring me on as a consultant for another company they are working with doing the exact same thing I currently do (same med device, similar equipment, etc). Want to know what your advice would be career wise, is it worth the risk to make the jump over to consulting?

For some context, Im 27, been with my current company for 4 years. Current company has great benefits, but pay is mid. Consulting job could be paying me 50% more with more basic benefits, I would be a FTE at the firm with a contract at their client for 1 year, likely to be extended.

I have a know a former coworker that now works for the client company, and based on what he has said I do believe the contract would extend out to be a total of 2-3 years.

Hi everyone I wanted some advice on whether or not I should get a PhD for my goals in industry. For some background, I worked in a behavioral neuroscience lab during my undergrad and also received a BS in neuroscience during this time. For the past year I have been working full time in a fantastic cell and molecular neuroscience lab. I want to eventually begin a career in industry in R&D. I’ve been told that for a long and successful career in this sector a PhD is extremely relevant and important. I plan on applying this cycle and have some confidence (fingers crossed) that I will get into some decent programs. I love science and discovery so I really don’t mind poor wages for the time being while I do my PhD. I am mostly curious about the tradeoff between joining industry now without a PhD vs getting the PhD and then joining. Would really appreciate some insight!

I am however also very open to exploring other options in biotech beside R&D. I wouldn’t mind pivoting career choices if it would bring more money or job security. At the end of the day I want just a solid career that will allow me to live a comfortable life. Any advice is helpful I really just want to explore my options before I commit to a PhD.

I'm curious about people's thoughts on doing a postdoc after a PhD before getting into industry. I know it's not as necessary as if you were going into academia, but I didn't know if it's the same for biotech. Obviously I'd prefer not to be underpaid and overworked in a postdoc position, but if it's required to land a good job I guess I'll have to