This workplace was damaging to my mental health. I also have been held back in my career and feel as though I’m starting from scratch as a result from working here. It's quite sad thinking back to how naive I was when I first started as this was my first design job, therefore I had no other experience to compare to this. I assumed this was typical for a design agency for a small amount of time.
In my first week I did start to experience red flags, as the projects I got given gave me uneasy and unethical vibes. I did not study visual communication design for 4 years to end up creating unethical, scammy and just morally wrong websites. I felt like all my knowledge on the design process, design thinking and ethical design was ripped apart and thrown away. This company designs websites including ‘dark patterns’, which is a huge designer no-no and quite frankly, should be an illegal marketing scheme in this day and age.
I was told off for spending too long brainstorming and sketching, yet told off for not doing this enough. I also had my design projects passed to other employees as the they didn’t think I was capable (even though I’m a professional designer?) I never received any praise or confirmation that I was on the right track, let alone, doing a good job; and never received a legit review. I also didn’t have the ability to make design decisions, and have any control over that process, as these things were dictated by the boss (Who isn’t a designer)
Learning and personal development was strongly discouraged. On a couple of occasions I suggested allowing time for self development, having brainstorming sessions, or even…collaboration (wow designers collaborating?? How bizarre and out of the ordinary!!) Every time, this was completely disregarded or they would just come up with some pathetic excuse as to why we can’t do these things. Basically we were treated like machines and were expected to stare at out screens for 8 hours straight, keep quiet and pump work out as quickly as possible.
During the pandemic I received emails asking about my billable hours. Long story short, after I replied, I then received threatening emails and a Skype call accusing me of losing the company money and lying about my hours. (This was smack bang in the middle of a pandemic for christ sakes.)
I felt like I was targeted and picked on during the time I worked at this company, which took a huge toll on my metal health, along with many other factors within this workplace (the main thing being how depressing the environment was.) I also got picked on when we ALL attempted to liven the dull atmosphere up by playing some music. I’ve also witnessed the boss yelling at other employees to the point of tears.
There’s so much more I could get into, but then I’d be writing a novel rather than a review.
My new workplace is the complete opposite to Codeclouds. I’m now treated with respect and am encouraged to use my design knowledge and have ownership over my own projects. I’m given constructive feedback and am also learning and growing as a designer. Spoiler alert: everyone actually speaks outloud and even collaborates! Good, fun vibes exist. How shocking. I know.
God it feels good to be out of that prison.
