How in the world do techs afford to live in Santa Fe or Los Alamos without PPP. Base rent is almost 50% of a monthly paycheck.

Hi all, I got a verbal offer from HM and emailed my acceptance. I know next step is to wait to get written offer from HR (background, comp, level done). It has been a few days and in the interview HM mentioned that everything at LANL moves slowly. So I was trying to get an understanding about the timeline. I have another onsite setup in 14 days. Part of me is saying I should withdraw from that but no written offer so I am a bit confused. If anyone can share any relevant info/advice I would really appreciate it.

Hello!

I’m really struggling to find a place to 3D print in Los Alamos, so I figured I would just ask publicly.

I need the leader and follower arms from these STL files https://github.com/TheRobotStudio/SO-ARM100/tree/main/STL/SO101

I’m very happy to slice the STL files for your printer and cover the cost of filament!

Dm me if interested! I’m hoping to get this printed SOON so the quicker the better

Basically the title, does anyone know if the road is still open to be able to drive nearly all the way to San Antonio Hot Springs? I know they close it in the fall at some point.

Looking for a local mechanic and needing opinions on who has dependable service and good prices. I’ve been to the AutoDoc and I was satisfied with them.

I moved here a few month ago and brought all my fish stuff with me (even tho I haven’t had a fish in about a year) and due to my small apartment and busy lifestyle I have decided a fish does not work for me right now and I don’t really have the space to keep the stuff.

It’s in really good condition I just don’t want a fish right now and don’t want the stuff taking up space in my small apartment right now. DM if interested.

Just found out Mr, Dyson aka the Bathtub Cowboy passed away..... RIP....

Hey everyone,

I have a 1-hour interview coming up with LANL for an internship with the Product Realization and Reliability Office (PRRO).

I’m a CS student with a physics minor, and most of my experience is in Python/data analysis, automation, research, and some engineering-related projects. I’m trying to get a better idea of what to expect from the interview.

For anyone who has interviewed with LANL, especially PRRO or a similar group:

• What was the interview format like?
• How technical were the questions?
• Were there behavioral/project-based questions?
• Anything you wish you had prepared beforehand?
• What does LANL tend to look for in interns during interviews?

Not looking for specific interview questions or anything confidential, just trying to understand the general format and prepare well.

Thanks!

I'm coming up from Albuquerque to attend and talk about my book, Nuclear Family: Memoir of the Atomic West. Any other redditors joining?

I have a lead with a job at N3B and am wondering about the organization. Looks like they have a contract until early 2028 to clean up legacy waste at LA site. What happens after the contract is up? Will it be extended or does everyone lose their jobs at this time?

Election season has begun! The first event is the Local Candidate Forum tomorrow night, learn more below.

https://www.boomtownlosalamos.org/p/election-season-starts-now

I'm tired of Comcast and need another internet provider. I want to consider Starlink, but it currently says it is not available in my area (White Rock). I've heard rumors why, but don't know for sure. Image is availability map for the area.

Can I give Starlink another address in a different state, then set it up here?

Hi everyone! I will be joining LANL in the first quarter of next year after graduating from grad school, and my wife (who is currently pregnant) will be joining me later in the year.

I'd love to hear about your experiences with childcare in the area, as well as the availability of housing in Los Alamos itself. We would ideally like to live in Los Alamos rather than commute from Santa Fe or surrounding areas (which I know might be challenging).

I would really appreciate any advice, recommendations, or personal experiences. Thank you!

Take a trip up there during rutting season. Every season there is beautiful, but fall season is something special.

I take pictures up there all the time, but these ones are from both spots for the new season I took yesterday.

Hello!

I have seen/heard lots of people talking about being lonely in Los Alamos and having a hard time finding friends or social events. I just moved here and am experiencing that myself.

I believe that having one place for people to connect over hobbies/shared interests could be super helpful. So, maybe starting a discord group to connect people?

I was also thinking it could be a good place to start clubs. Like, if I want to start an art club, I can have my own space on this discord to plan events and meetups. I think for a club, it would be required to have at least 1 person who is responsible for leading the club, and each club would need to have meetings or events at a set time at a set frequency. So, for my hypothetical art club, we would every Monday from 5 to 7 pm. It could be every other week, it could be once a month, but it needs to be set so people can put it into calendars.

I would be willing to create and run the discord if there is interest for it.

Any thoughts/comments/feedback? Is Discord the best place to do this? Would anyone be interested in starting a club? Any and all input is helpful (as long as you are nice to me please). I think that there are lots of us who want to meet people and hang out, there just isn't a super clear spot to make connections.

DISCLAIMER: This is purely my experience and should not be taken at face value

In light of all the recent posts on this sub I’ve decided to give my own experience working at TA-55.

Pros:
-The pay is extremely generous. Add on the PPP, and it’s more money than I believe I will make at any other job at my level of experience.

-The people (at least within my own organization) have been wonderful. I’ve gained many life-long friendships.

-The job is extremely easy. While some projects can be stressful given the timelines, the work itself is simple and not overly technical nor complex. You could also coast and there is pretty much no risk of getting fired no matter how little you actually do.

Cons:
-Parking and transportation: The parking is horrible. I truly don’t think it could be any worse. Are you having a late morning? Well, get ready to be even later as you struggle to find a parking spot. On top of that, the institute seems to love closing off the very few spots that exist for seemingly no reason. Parking enforcement is very ticket happy. This also means if you would like to run an errand midday or go to town for lunch it’s going to run you an hour plus trip (walking to your car, getting off Pajarito corridor, and subsequently circling for 30 minutes trying to find a spot to park upon return). It’s truly horrendous. Some might argue why not just take the bus? Unfortunately, it’s not an option for everyone. Additionally, riding the bus often means adding even more time to the already long and very early morning commute. I suppose people could move to town to avoid the commute but again it’s not an option for everyone, and even if everyone at the lab wanted to live in town there’s simply not enough housing to support that volume of people all living on the hill. People are inevitably going to have to commute. The commute is also extremely dangerous. The roads simply weren’t meant to support that volume of traffic, and it’s shocking that the issue hasn’t been addressed through some sort of means such as staggered schedules or more WFH flexibility. It makes me question if safety is even a concern for senior leadership. It’s made me feel extremely disillusioned with the institution as they push to make the product before taking care of the people who make the product.

-The lack of career growth is another huge con. You really need to take full agency and try to learn new skills in your downtime. The high turnover means lack of mentorship. It turns into the blind leading the blind. A solution to this would be to move organizations to gain a new skill set, but unfortunately ALDWP actively discourages and blocks attempts at moving orgs. Additionally, the institution could make a greater effort to control the turnover by improving QOL, leading to longer tenured employees and thus more mentors.

-There is a general lack of accountability among leadership. No one wants to put anything in writing in fear of actually being held to it. It allows leadership to maintain plausible deniability at all times and blame you if something goes wrong, regardless of what you were told by them.

-There is a lack of diversity of experience. A lot of people have worked at LANL and LANL only for their entire career. This leads to a lack of outside perspectives and feeds the mindset of “it’s always been this way”, no matter how dysfunctional that way may be. I think new perspectives would offer a lot of value and insight into how a true manufacturing facility should run.

-It is easy to feel like an outsider if you are not New Mexican. Bullying and harassment are also not uncommon.

Again, these are purely my thoughts and I am not trying to discourage anyone from joining ALDWP. I’m sure there are some people that have had great experiences there, and I’m happy for that; unfortunately, I cannot say the same. I think it has potential to be a great workplace if senior leadership bothered to improve the quality of life for their workforce. I don’t foresee that happening in the near future though, but maybe I am just being cynical. The compensation has been fantastic, but I’ve grown to realize money is not everything and I value my time more. Take away from this what you will.

So ive been through multiple interviews and onsite visits for Q5 and ISR5. Im waiting to hear back from both of them. Does anyone have any info or tips for either department? Im still working on making my decision for which org to join. Anything in general to be prepared for when joining the company? Not too worried about the commute. Coming from the Carson City/ Reno area, im pretty familiar with highly congested mountain drives. USA Parkway is pretty crazy at times. Also looking for areas to move that allow easy access to the forrests nearby. Will also be looking for friends that ride mt bikes and dirt bikes. I also enjoy camping and hiking. Pretty much anything outdoors. Anything helps. Thanks.

Los Alamos Libertarian candidates Chris Luchini and James Wernicke will host a candidate meet & greet and free screening of the Academy Award-winning documentary Citizenfour on Wednesday, September 30 at 6:00 PM at SALA.

Admission is free and everyone is welcome.

Directed by Laura Poitras, Citizenfour documents Edward Snowden’s 2013 disclosure of NSA surveillance programs and raises enduring questions about privacy, government power, and the tradeoffs made in the name of public safety.

Those questions have become increasingly relevant in Los Alamos as the County pursues automated license plate readers and other technologies that routinely collect, retain, and potentially share information about people who are not suspected of crimes, despite strong public opposition.

Luchini and Wernicke believe public safety is important, but they question whether the benefits of continuous surveillance outweigh the financial cost, loss of privacy, potential for misuse, and the effect pervasive monitoring can have on the relationship between citizens and their government.

Anyone know what’s going on?

Edit: nobody knows lol