Extremely cliquish and clannish, once out of favor with the VP's not possible to become "part of the team". - Senior Designer Design Central Employee Review

1.0
Mar 1, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Pros are for industrial design and engineer interns, they do most of the work because they are cheap. Great opportunity for a quick resume build for a 20 something. Can be fun if you are in the right clique of the moment.

Cons

Cons are there are NO middle managers or mid career employees. This is purposeful, the long term people are waiting to take over the company. They want no competition other than that of the two factions among senior staff. Daily have secret meetings, discussing the not so secret internal problems between owners. It has become an internal joke with us underlings.

Explore other reviews about Design Central

5.0
Apr 1, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great building with a lot of windows, and a very open office space where there is constant collaboration. Great place to grow as a designer, and learn from everybody around you.

Cons

The work cycle can be a little up and down. There are some busy periods through the year.

2.0
Nov 19, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you're in the "in crowd" it's fun... Seems like an okay first job or internship, some opportunities to learn from senior designers. The building is really nice, and they make it seem like a fun place to work, and it definitely can be. But you have to constantly watch your back. Good work life balance. Nobody works over 40 hours unless there is a rare occasion to crunch on a project, which is nice. Super friendly office for moms and parents, people bring their kids to work a lot which is always fun. Pretty flexible around your personal schedule so like if you need to go to the dr. during the day it's fine but you have to sign in/out of the building. Its cool to work somewhere that has so much history, and you can see the projects they have done since the 80's which is a good learning tool.

Cons

There's a revolving door of talented young designers and engineers who work a few years, realize they have no chance to advance their career and leave. There is always a sense of secrecy and backstabbing - lots of secret meetings and whispered hush hush conversations, too much gossip for a very small office. The people who have been there a while are very cliquy and if you don't play along with their fake friendliness and enthusiasm you are shut out of project work and opportunities. proposals are constantly underfunded and there is never enough money for the work we needed to do. You end up not billing a lot of your time spent working, so the new biz team looks good for way under estimating project costs. Lots of micromanagement and very little trust. There is no middle management, just people fresh out of school and people who have been there for a long time. This is because people quit after working a couple of years because they can't handle the mismanagement and drama but don't benefit from being there long enough to be in the "in" crowd. Even some of the people who have been there a long time want to leave. Company has a really bad reputation in the local community. Also the pay isnot good and you won't get cost of living increase. Company seems to be shrinking and the outlook doesn't seem good

4
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