Vantaggi
The camaraderie within groups is usualy high while interactions or cooperations with other departments are very sparse. The operations department is seriously understaffed with a high turnaround rate and an institute of this size and impact deserves and needs more resources in this mission critical team. This is especially pronounced if you want to compete on the same level with other European partners.
Svantaggi
Salaries are quite low, especially when compared to similar European institutes. There's always excuses being made using the governmental salary freezes, but somehow if you negotiate well there is the option of extra payments or some voluntary bump of the salary. That said progression is generally non-existent and you will be stuck with what you negotiated until you leave. It is a great place however to making contacts for your future career and with reason is called a "trampolin" by many BSC folks. There are almost no options of progression or long term career development as the group structures are very static. Once senior people leave they are normally replaced with noticeably less experienced colleagues that are not in the same position of bringing value to the institute. Processes are bureaucratic and time consuming. Contracts and payments of expenses for example take months to complete.