Don't walk, RUN away, if you actually want to do science. - Research Scientist ExxonMobil Employee Review

-Scientists do very little science. Most of the scientists are mired in tons and tons of bureaucratic nonsense. It is very frustrating! Brilliant people with Ph.D.s are spending the bulk of their time filling out forms in a database, jockeying samples and working the financials with vendors. -Most research isn't research at all. It's mixology and filling out forms. Nothing is very new, certainly not "cutting edge." -Bureaucracy is debilitating. 95% of the work comprises filling out forms, getting approvals and fighting with a database in order to actually get something fairly simple accomplished. -Performance expectations are vague; the rating system is not fair and pits peers against each other. People on wildly different assignments, doing wildly different jobs are ranked against each other. -Forget doing any kind of team research. Researchers pretty much work alone which means there's no constant banter and exchange of ideas with respect to what research actually is going on. -Sections need to be broken down into smaller teams so people don't end up working in a vacuum. -Technical expertise is not rewarded. Very political. Corporate clone-hood rewarded as opposed to fresh ideas and innovative thinking. -Culture is extremely dominated by white guys. Females are subtlely marginalized, given projects which are less technical; given more administrative tasks etc.