Opportunities and challenges working in a national laboratory

There are many opportunities and challenges working in a national laboratory. The opportunities include independence, flexibility, creative/scholarly work, own group/team, publications/Patents/conference presentation, solving big problem/science, working with large team, working with the scientists who are best in the field, bridge between academia and industry, both basic and applied research, world class best research facilities, well compensation, moderate work-life-balance, better job security. The challenges are: need to pursue funding opportunity, complex funding mechanism, need to work on multiple projects with different directions, high demand of productivity (both quality and quantity), multitasking (experiment, writing, proposals, idea generating, project management), need to adapt in a highly dynamic environment, complex bureaucracy, no tenured position.