Pros
- Talented team
- Prestigious project
-Well-stocked snacks and drinks.
-Lots of swag, if you enjoy that.
- Leader of Washington studio (the studio is split to Washington and Florida) is competent and good-natured, and truly wants what is best for his team.
Cons
Wildcard is a young studio suffering through it's own immaturity. My experience with this studio was not a great one, but others have felt differently, so please take my perspective with a grain of salt.
One of the biggest mistakes I believe this studio is making is that they bite off more than they can chew, and the talent are the ones that have to chew it. Often, an ambitious assignment will be given to you midday Friday, and is expected to be completed before a weekend review. This means that because of leadership's poor planning, or a late-coming idea, you may have to cancel weekend plans at the last minute. I once had to call my wife and tell her she had to skip a meeting she'd arranged weeks in advance because of one of these last minute assignments.
This studio is not seeking employees with families. That's not to say they'll turn you away if you have one, but they're looking for people who want to put their career -- and the studio's projects -- at the top of their priority list. After what I would consider a bait-and-switch (I was hired under the understanding that this job was full-time, and was told only after accepting and quitting my other job that it would be a six month contract with the *possibility* of becoming full time), I was released at the end of my six month contract. The reason sited: during my interview process, I'd expressed a disinterest in working weekends. For the full six months, I was only ever asked to work one weekend, which I did, and I consistently worked long hours (closing shop at least once a week). But because in my interview I'd said that I didn't want to work weekends, they felt that in the long run I would not be a good fit. On the one side, I think that's fair -- I accept that I am not the devoted employee they are seeking. On the other side, I wish they'd have come to this conclusion prior to hiring me to begin with. That can certainly be chalked up to a young studio's learning curve, but it's something prospective employees might want to be aware of when heading into the interview process.
If you are looking to advance your career, and can put your time, energy, weekends, and at-home thoughts toward that goal, then this studio will be a good fit. But you cannot expect to have much of a family life outside of the job.