Pros
It's very hard to find anything positive to say about Gilead. It's near the Bay Trail if you like to take walks. They have mediocre bagels on Wednesdays.
Cons
So you want to work for Gilead? Let me tell you my experience: This is the absolute worst company I have ever worked for. I feel sick every day and I can't sleep. I know many other people with stress and sleep problems because they are miserable. I am a scientist and 'research' here is a pathetic group of backstabbing know-nothings. Middle management doesn't have the experience necessary to perform quality research. Post-docs (with no industry experience) are hired to mange associates with 20+ years industry experience then direct these miserable associates to repeat and repeat and repeat the most idiotic of tasks. Research suffers because middle management will not hire experienced people. It's my opinion that management will not hire experienced people because they don't want to be questioned or challenged by people who actually know what they are doing! It should also come as no surprise that all of Gilead's HIV and HCV drugs were purchased from other companies or were 'fast follow-ons' based on other companies patents. There isn't a creative bone to be found any where in research. Research is a farce. Management will make you repeat assays if they don't like the results and, if management still doesn't like your results, it's your fault! Oh so you want a promotion? If you do not sacrifice your family, life, and sanity to Gilead, forget ever being promoted. There is ZERO work-life balance. No matter how hard you work, you will not be rewarded unless your boss is skilled at managing Gilead's politics! Managers have to fight with each other to get associates promoted and, if your boss isn't in the 'in crowd', you will never get promoted or even recognized for the work you do. Also, yearly ratings are based on a bell curve which means someone must always be at the bottom of the curve. It's not hard to pick out which poor sod will be the next to get axed based on 'who is the director's pet'. And then management is applauded for 'getting rid of the dead weight'. To me, as a manager, you can only be as good as your worst performer. So, if your employees are not performing, it's the manager's fault. But that is not how it works at Gilead. Politics is the key. Even if you perform all of your work, someone else will get credit for it. I had the bad experience of showing someone how to perform an assay only to have them get credit for developing it! What a slap in the face! But it's politics, this person's boss was the director's favorite and basically untouchable so there was nothing I could do even though I presented the data to this same group well before this person got credit for my work. Oh - do you still want to work for Gilead? Well here is the kicker - I have NEVER worked at a company where people just up and quit! Like ---> quit without having a new job lined up! People become so incredibly stressed they simply can not take it any more and leave. Please! Do yourself a favor. Do not consider Gilead for employment there are so many other Bay Area companies!