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Illumina


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2015 Mar 10, 10:08pm   2,734 views  20 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (55)   💰tip   ignore  

name:Illumina
street address:499 Illinois St
SF zip:94158
home page:http://www.illumina.com/
jobs page:http://www.illumina.com/company/careers.html
owner:
SF employees:
description:
Genetic analysis instrumentation. Relatively new to DNA sequencing but essentially running their peers out of business with disruptive technology developed over the past several years.

Headquartered in San Diego but their primary technology was from the purchase of Solexa in Hayward, CA. Other bay area locations:

Mission Bay (SF)

Foster City - they purchased the old Applied Biosystems site, have demolished the old buildings and are building a very large campus there. It would not be a surprise if headquarters eventually moved to this location. The SF bay area is key for this tech.

#sftech

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1   curious2   2015 Mar 10, 10:39pm  

I've been reading about Illumina. They have probably the best technology in the world for full genome sequencing. The issue is price discrimination, related to subsidized medical insurance. They can do a full genome sequence for less than $2k. (Some reports claim $1k, but that omits some costs, much like cellular phone plans that headline a low number but then tack on other costs.) But, they don't allow their best technology to be used for retail sequencing under $2k because that would cannibalize and undermine their revenue from their existing clinical deals where they charge much more than that.

Competing technologies may soon enable even cheaper gene sequencing, but meanwhile Illumina has the best, and if it were possible to buy your genome sequence under $2k I would suggest it. Certainly I think it's a much better use of resources than the destructive ionizing radiation that ppl are buying for "preventive care", e.g. mammograms and full body C-T scans. Frugal though I am, even I would pay $1k for a full genome, though Illumina's refusal to retail the service will compel me to wait a few years, when someone else will offer it for even less.

2   just_passing_through   2015 Mar 10, 10:51pm  

I worked there for several years and what you say is accurate. I'm waiting for costs to drop myself but it will probably be a short wait and unless some vaporware solidifies it will probably come from them. Or, alternatively they'll buy the tech from someone else next time some promising disruptive tech threatens them. Best senior management I've worked for when it comes to having an eye for that. I still own a lot of stock. Basically similar to a picks-n-shovel type company during the gold rush.

Besides the price there are many other improvements that need to happen. Much longer reads to get through homopolymers, phased data ( did it come from mom or pop? ), random error if any etc.

3   NuttBoxer   2023 Aug 23, 10:04am  

A reminder of the forensics project I worked on at Illumina and what my dev lead said - "I never want my DNA near any of these systems".

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/were-all-suspects-dna-lineup-waiting-be-matched-crime
4   just_passing_through   2023 Aug 23, 7:06pm  

deleted... I always delete my personal career info that I sometimes post for short periods.
5   just_passing_through   2023 Aug 23, 7:25pm  

just_passing_through says

I'm waiting for costs to drop myself


I only waited until 2017 to sequence my full genome. A company I worked for did it and offered employees free sequencing except we had to pay the taxes to our corrupt govt of course.
6   NuttBoxer   2023 Aug 24, 10:51am  

The team I was on had a dev lead, three devs, a BA, and two QA(including myself). Were you on the Assay team? My dev lead shaved his head, had back problems, and reported to Mitch.
7   just_passing_through   2023 Aug 24, 7:15pm  

No I was the genetics scientist (bioinformatics) writing the algorithms and tertiary software that ran on the MiSeq. Basically after the DNA letters come off of the machine what it does with them.

Mitch had blonde hair? If that's the guy I'm thinking about he was a pretty cool guy. We used to use him as an example of a good manager that didn't yell at his team but still got shit done unlike some others. I was never under any of them though.

Do you remember approximate dates?
9   richwicks   2023 Aug 24, 7:26pm  

just_passing_through says


Gxxxxx Txxxxxxx or something like that...


@just_passing_through - be careful with exposing names. It allows you to be found, and people who are entirely innocent to be found.
10   just_passing_through   2023 Aug 24, 7:30pm  

@richwicks

I'm taking your advice but now it's on you...
11   richwicks   2023 Aug 24, 8:25pm  

just_passing_through says


richwicks

I'm taking your advice but now it's on you...


What do you mean it's on me?

Edit: oh - removed it.

I'm just saying, be careful with names, especially people not on here. You're trying to hide your name, I'm not, still I won't use people's real names here and I've met up with people here, I never insisted on knowing their true name. None of my damned business.
12   SunnyvaleCA   2023 Aug 24, 10:57pm  

I guess this dreck passes for a normal "Careers" web page nowadays:

Committed to inclusion
Inclusion is core to our mission of making genomics useful for all. Accomplishing this requires our teams to reflect the diversity of the world around us.

Our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) extends from our global workforce to our manufacturers, our suppliers, and the genomes we sequence. We set meaningful goals, invest in programs to drive improvements, and ensure transparency of our data.

At Illumina, we encourage everyone to share their unique perspectives and experiences and learn from one another. We are creating an inclusive and diverse culture where everyone belongs and feels valued.

We share our progress and vision in our annual Corporate Social Responsibility report. Take a look to learn more about DEI, philanthropic support, and the many ways we make an impact through our people, in communities, and across the world.
13   HeadSet   2023 Aug 25, 7:27am  

SunnyvaleCA says

We are creating an inclusive and diverse culture where everyone belongs and feels valued.

Translation:
"Whites need not apply."
14   NuttBoxer   2023 Aug 25, 12:58pm  

just_passing_through says

No I was the genetics scientist (bioinformatics) writing the algorithms and tertiary software that ran on the MiSeq. Basically after the DNA letters come off of the machine what it does with them.

Mitch had blonde hair? If that's the guy I'm thinking about he was a pretty cool guy. We used to use him as an example of a good manager that didn't yell at his team but still got shit done unlike some others. I was never under any of them though.

Do you remember approximate dates?


Yeah, you where the guys who were way behind. We waited on your asses for like a month, then started spoofing our own data so we could test the SW we wrote. We wrote the server SW that included the analytics dashboard. We had a tester from your team, and some chick with short black hair, probably the student?

Yeah, Mitch was super cool. I heard he was the main guy who pushed SCRUM at Illumina. My boss who made that statement reported to him. He's now a CTO at another company I believe.

I'm sure we never met unless you played basketball.
15   just_passing_through   2023 Aug 25, 8:00pm  

NuttBoxer says

Yeah, you where the guys who were way behind. We waited on your asses for like a month,


Hey now, no not me. Nobody was waiting on us when I was there. That's why I asked for the approximate dates, was curious if there was a reboot, not to try to figure out who you are. They (not me, because I left) were probably late because I left haha...

NuttBoxer says

Yeah, Mitch was super cool. I heard he was the main guy who pushed SCRUM at Illumina. My boss who made that statement reported to him. He's now a CTO at another company I believe.


Yep, probably. He and I both worked in the SF bay area (Hayward) for years together before moving to SD. Nope no basket ball and I left pretty soon after moving to SD because the culture sucked in SD (at ILMN) compared to Hayward.

Hayward encouraged teams to work together to reach a goal. (they were really another company bought by ILMN) Where SD encouraged teams to compete against each other and lots of back stabbing ensued.

There is a chance we were both in the same building (4) and floor (4) where the toilets always clogged up and stunk the whole floor up. (brand new building too!)

I don't remember who they were but the opposite side had developers elbow to elbow with linux boxes at their feet. We had a lot more space. They may have been basespace devs though I don't remember.
16   just_passing_through   2023 Aug 25, 8:02pm  

Oh and the short black hair: sounds like her yeah
17   just_passing_through   2023 Aug 25, 8:05pm  

HeadSet says

Translation:
"Whites need not apply."


I see the place has gotten much worse since I left in 2014 but no surprise my current employer does the same crap and spends copious amount of time and money on DEI and similar meetings that I get to skip. Or I guess you can call them woke seminars, we always have guest speakers.
18   NuttBoxer   2023 Aug 28, 8:51am  

I was in the old building when I started, moved to the new building, then back to the old building in the first floor right side of the building when you're facing it. I'm not blaming at all on the assay delay, it was completely new, a lot of that stuff was uncharted territory for the company it seemed. Probably should have started assay development earlier on so it would have been more in sync with our timeline for developing the reporting interface we shipped.

I do remember those bathrooms, that was nasty. Illumina was one of the better places I worked at, really great experience overall, but almost no one there understood Software Quality Assurance. A bunch of Science majors with little experience. And some inept middle management.

One thing that was funny to me. I remember talking with Waliid, the SQA director, and he didn't understand why I didn't want the stock when I was hired(I tried to exchange it for higher pay). I told him I didn't trust the stock market, and he said "Our stock always does great.". Then I brought up '08, and he didn't have a response.
19   just_passing_through   2023 Aug 28, 5:31pm  

Oh yeah! Waliid is a great guy too! (Not assay or at least we never called it that: NGS Panel and SW -> there is lab support in that process to help develop the panel, generally that's referred to as a panel of markers but even that is pre-NGS lingo) Anyhow, I'm sorry it annoyed you guys but it makes me happy that it was messed up for a while haha..

Definitely were not good at modern SW dev and QA there and it WAS a bunch of scientist programmers. I had other experience before getting there and even did SQA in my early days. These days I tend to do production level code instead of RND where stuff like that comes from.

I think I heard Waliid became director of bioinformatics at Human Longevity but the place was plagued with General Electric people who fired him to cover the fact that they drove the company under.

It's been a while since I have heard anything about him but we have lots of common connections.
20   NuttBoxer   2023 Aug 29, 9:21am  

He was an awesome guy, really like a lot of the people who worked there, even the ones I didn't get along with as well were still pretty decent. Sarah was one of the few QA managers who was really solid(white chick, brown hair, a little overweight, huge tits). I also enjoyed working with Beth from our internal QA department. SQA used to complain about her being so strict, but to me it wasn't hard to meet her requirements.

That was the last manual QA job I had. One of the better companies I worked for, overall.

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