Pros
- The hotel discount provided by the company was beneficial, although it is only applicable for specific nights. However, it is worth noting that the discount may not be as significantly cheaper as initially promised by the recruiters. - One aspect that could have been a potential concern was the lack of a structured or challenging interview process. This could have been considered a red flag for some individuals. - On a positive note, the team members were exceptionally friendly and welcoming.
Cons
- They had a large team, but there was a lack of collaboration among members, resulting in silos. - The Leadership had no prior experience in UX work, which was evident in the tasks they assigned to designers. No joke, every manager level position didn’t have ux experience prior to working at hilton. They often prioritized the needs of stakeholders over the needs of users. - There was no consistent structure or process for designers to collaborate with other product partners. Most of the product partners I worked with had little to no understanding of UX or our work. - It was concerning to see that the team lacked diversity, as all the minority designers either quit or were fired within a short period of time. Despite having 80 or more designers, content designers, accessibility professionals, and researchers, the team did not reflect diversity. - The accessibility and research team was consistently understaffed, and we had to constantly advocate for participation in research and accessibility considerations. - The focus of the company seemed to be more on the business structure rather than the design process or genuinely solving user problems. - I had to take on an excessive amount of work and wear multiple UX hats, often resulting in late nights and early mornings. The work-life balance was poor, depending on the team I was assigned to. - The product team had limited technical knowledge. I spent a majority of my time educating them on agile methodology, sprints, user stories, and creating a UX process document that should have been done by the head of UX years ago. - They often built entire products without involving design, despite the size of the team. - The salaries offered, even at the maximum, were significantly lower than the industry and national average for UX designers.