Pros
It’s the people that make the place great. I got to work with some of the best professionals on the planet; from the management and Ph-D’s to the technicians. There is so much that can be learned at BNL if you are interested. It was a cooperative effort to make the facility function well; which makes a great environment to work in. I would even visit other departments to ask questions, and everyone was very eager to talk about what they were working on. It is a great place for innovation, and as an engineer I had plenty of opportunity apply creative solutions to new situations. There was also interdepartmental cooperation which added to positive atmosphere of the facility.
Cons
Working for a facility that gets its funding from the government can get a little annoying. The government had a tendency to jerk BNL around when it came to deciding on a budget.