Pros
Leadership: Universal Mind's leadership is very strong. They care about their employees and are working hard to make a company that people can work at for their entire career. They have a strong vision for the future of the company, but aren't afraid to pivot as the market changes. Consulting services of any kind is a tough business to be in as you're subject to the whims of the entire market, client's needs change and mature, and your key competencies (tech, design, strategy services) are in danger of being commoditized by other firms or off-shore resources constantly. UM's leadership gets that and is always working to find new ways to meet the market. That pace of change or willingness to try new things isn't for everyone, but it's the core reason why Universal Mind is still around and independent when so many other agencies have died or gotten aqui-hired by large consulting or advertising firms. Low-drama: There's very little drama or in-fighting among the leadership. They solicit feedback and look for input from the team, but they also know how to make decisions, and the entire management team gets on the same page when they do. Challenge / competency mix: I've never felt as valued or trusted by a boss than I do here - I feel like I'm working in that sweet spot where I'm constantly challenged but also still effective at my job. I'm able to make an impact, but my boss is also always pushing me into things I haven't done before. It's uncomfortable at times but it's made me grow leaps and bounds. Stability: Universal Mind is not a body shop, and anyone who says it is hasn't worked at another agency before. Universal Mind uses a mixture of contractors and full time employees. The contractors are regularly on multiple contracts or long term contracts, and in my time hear we have never had to lay folks off due to a lack of work (and I've never heard about us having to do so in the company's history.) The company is a stable place to work where folks are paid on time and can trust that they're going to have a job quarter after quarter, which is quite a lot to say about any agency. Hire slow, fire fast: They do that. Universal Mind spends a lot of time making sure they hire the right folks. If it becomes clear that someone isn't working out, they make the decision to let that person go and don't let a bad situation linger. Remote-first: Universal Mind, as a company, is designed around remote employees. The remote experience is fantastic. Everything important in the organization happens online. Every meeting has a dial-in option, and the majority of employees are dialed in. The company makes great use of online tools to keep people connected. Most organizations that offer remote work are the opposite: they offer it, but since the organization was designed for in-office employees, the remote experience suffers. Universal Mind is the exact opposite of that, and working remote here is awesome. Perks: There are also the fabulous things listed by other reviewers: total flexibility in your schedule, work from anywhere, sabbatical at five years, company offsite every year, and tons of other smaller perks.
Cons
Clients. Agency work is tough. Regardless of how good a company Universal Mind is, at the end of the day most employee's experience will be determined more by the client they are working for. No matter how good your sales or account team are, there will always be difficult, boring, frustrating, etc. clients. Hopefully there are great ones too, but depending on which clients you get your experience here can be very different. Change. The change of pace in the market is also hard on some people. Many folks love particular points in the company's history when we did X or Y, but our client's needs and the market are constantly changing, and to stay afloat Universal Mind has to change with it. To really have a full career here you have to join to be a technology consultant; not an iOS designer or Android architect or any other specific thing that can be commoditized and go away in five years. Some people hate that and want to do the same thing forever, and in that case agencies aren't a good fit. Maturity. In the past UM was a company full of young men in technology, and it's company events in those days reflected that culture and included a lot of drinking. In the past three years since I've been here I've seen a much more mature and grown-up Universal Mind. Today most people have a great time at company events without embarrassing themselves, but not everyone. Enterprise-centric work. Enterprises are more stable than start-ups, so they're attractive to agencies - they sign bigger checks, sign longer engagements, and are much more likely to pay. Enterprises also do less "exciting" cutting edge work than startups. If you want to make a neat IoT toy like a water bottle that tracks what you drink, Universal Mind probably isn't going to get that client. If you want to re-architect or design a customer service portal that 7,000 people around the world rely on to do their jobs every day and get it done inside of a complicated large company, Universal Mind is likely to have what you're looking for. Some people hate that kind of work and can handle the instability of start-ups better than others. Bench time / self-management. When we don't have client work to keep the entire staff busy, full time folks are "on the bench" and asked to contribute to internal projects, support sales and marketing, or otherwise spend their time productively for the company. Some folks are not good at managing themselves or taking initiative in times of ambiguity and would prefer to have a steady stream of work set up for them and UM, as an agency, can't deliver that.