Pros
After college I bounced around jobs, looking to get a proverbial foot in the door. Big companies with management trainee programs and tiered systems of seniority, or working 3 mediocre jobs to try to plow out of student loan debt.
I was hired on as an entry level copywriter. My first week here I would get out to my car and just yell swearwords. I was drowning. There was/is not much of a system in place for training – I did it wrong and then did it again with a little feedback – the majority of your feedback is “Just get it done” and “are your clients winning?”
I sat with 5 people at a conference room table because there was nowhere else to put people. Overheard about 100 sales meetings where the sales team reiterated to the clients that the only measure of success at iNET is return on investment, and that the SEO specialists were evaluated internally based on their ability to deliver ROI.
Turnover was high. People would make jokes about the turnover, saying the hunger games cannon should go off every time someone quit. A lot of smart, creative, hardworking people got fed up. The turnover was viewed as Darwinian.
The boss is intense. I did see a guy get yelled at for 5 minutes straight – his mission was to tell everyone how iNET should be. After his ideas drew no quarter from the boss, he regularly requested 1-on-1 meetings with everyone to whisper about how awful it was. He was truly miserable here, you could see it in his walk and hear it in his voice. One of his big criticisms was the turnover, said we should conduct exit interviews, have a newsletter, and throw a farewell party for all the departed. The straw that broke the camel’s back was an act of blatant subversion. I have little doubt that he’s happier gone.
The boss is intense. Your job is not to convince the guy signing the paychecks that you’re smarter him. It’s to understand his vision and execute it. The people who get that see their freedom and influence rise. That’s not brown-nosing or office politics that’s reality.
It’s rewarding creative work. Some book I didn’t read said the four keys to job satisfaction are 1 autonomy, 2 mastery of craft, 3 self-determination and 4 higher purpose. You can get that all here.
The work 8 hours and get paid for 8 hours thing is awesome. Access to overtime is a tremendous benefit.
Cons
Direct deposit. That’ll come with time.
