Pros
- Nice people and lot's of socials (with a good amount of the cost covered), good chance to make friends.
- I developed my skills during my time there.
- From what I could see the graduates went through good technical training.
- Exposure to a variety of corporate clients.
- PM's are really nice and helpful.
- Able to work from home a large majority of the time.
- Paid overtime for Google Slides projects is offered fairly regularly.
Cons
- Feeling burnt out is very common with designers there, leading to a high turnover. Studio projects rarely last more than 8 hours, meaning you're on a new project everyday with tight deadlines everyday. I think the benefit of these short term projects is exposure to a variety of clients and variety of work. However after a period of time I felt exhausted and like I was on the 'conveyer belt', with very little time to conceptualise projects.
- As there are no long term projects in the studio the chance to develop conceptual skills and deep thinking/research for design is very limited. Therefore I would not stay too long if you're looking to develop in this area.
- It seems management take on any work they can get their hands on rather than being discerning. This leads to the feeling that there is no creative outlook for the agency and demotivates the designers.
- Very rigid 9-6 hours with lunch from 1-2 everyday.
- Pretty much no benefits other than cycle to work and season ticket lone - no health insurance, no death in service, minimum pension contribution, no bonus.
- A lot of formatting Powerpoint work.