Defence Science and Technology Laboratory

[DaveB]

Anyone worked there?

Views on the culture/working environment?

[northernladuk]

Sound an interesting place... but then I thought that before I went to work in Sellafield and never left a blue portacabin right on the edge of the site

[xisystems]

DaveB,

I finished a 2 year stint back in December, where are you going to be based?, there is a large difference between the sites and the various teams, some are highly political, others are just laid back.

Flexible working hours and you are largely just left to get on with it. Exceeding expectations is not difficult as a lot of the perms are going through a huge re-org.

Simon.

[DaveB]

DaveB,

I finished a 2 year stint back in December, where are you going to be based?, there is a large difference between the sites and the various teams, some are highly political, others are just laid back.

Flexible working hours and you are largely just left to get on with it. Exceeding expectations is not difficult as a lot of the perms are going through a huge re-org.

Simon.

Hi Si, agent is saying Salisbury so I'm assuming Porton Down. Main query is whether it's still heavily MoD orientated in terms of mentality i.e. full of ex squaddies who think they are still in the job. I've done that and it gets wearing after a while.

[northernladuk]

Hi Si, agent is saying Salisbury so I'm assuming Porton Down. Main query is whether it's still heavily MoD orientated in terms of mentality i.e. full of ex squaddies who think they are still in the job. I've done that and it gets wearing after a while.

Oh, do they still have monkey burning day down there?

[xisystems]

Hi Si, agent is saying Salisbury so I'm assuming Porton Down. Main query is whether it's still heavily MoD orientated in terms of mentality i.e. full of ex squaddies who think they are still in the job. I've done that and it gets wearing after a while.

Daveb,

PTN is not too bad, although again depends what team/area, yes it has its fill of ex forces, however more emphasis is placed on good engineering and science. They are heading towards something like 30% contract staff now. Again depends on your background/role, however Dstl is a nice safe port for a while now defence procurement is going through change and budget cuts.

[bassy]

I worked there last year but in Portsdown. I had a friendly team (but didnt sit with them due to differing security) instead I was given a desk near a completely different team who even though I didnt work with them were all very nice to me (I got xmas presents too off them).

I found the place very nice - even though a lot of navy people were there the balance was mainly science orientated. The navy guys were all intelligent and polite. Most people there are very flexible on their working times. Be careful though in that they have a habit of not transferring your clearance unless you have taken on a 9 month contract. I would have gone back as was asked to return but the travel distance for me was quite a lot and I prefer to stay closer to home.

[Netraider]

Hi Dave,

I'm in and out of there on a monthly basis with my new contract. Seems a nice place, good food etc. The DSTL folk I meet with are all very focussed on delivering quality services which seems a nice change from other some other places you might have contracted at.

[DaveB]

Cheers for the info guys. All good stuff.

[Apox21]

They always pay on time (via the cipher framework) cant say fairer than that!

As it is public sector be prepared within a month or so of starting to be asked by commercial to confirm your rating on the business entity test