Pros
- Working at TEEM is energizing. Like most agencies, the projects and clients are always unique and your day is spent finding/creating new solutions for them. You get to tackle these with a tight-knit TEEM Team as well as some really fantastic contractors.
- A benefit that you may not realize about the model: When you work with contractors, you get to choose who you want to work with on a project and they get to pick the projects they actually want to work on. That is huge. It means you won't be grumbling about the bad habits of your in-house developer, and they're happy because they chose to join the project for this client. Makes for a happier relationship, and makes your life easier.
- You have every opportunity for personal growth and to work on projects from brand identities, to websites, product launches, and digital marketing campaigns.
- Avoids the common downsides of traditional agencies, like the volatile workload ("oh, we have another website we need to build? Sorry Dan, I guess your October just got a more busy"), egos of people jockeying for their boss's job, and workload-driven layoffs like when your in-house Designer is on edge because he knows he hasn't had billable work for 2 weeks..
- This is where the agency industry is moving, and TEEM is ahead of the game. You get to work with people who want to work with you, have better control over your available skill-sets, and less resource bottlenecks than traditional agencies. I expect other agencies to start dipping their toes into the model, and TEEM has had 8 years to refine it.
Cons
- It's up to you. There are a lot of opportunities, you get to take on a wide range of projects, and you have a really deep pool of contractors that you can work with, but it takes some self-initiative to get up to speed and be comfortable with that. Your experience will be self-determined.