Pixar Animation Studios Reviews

Pros

good place to work, awesome team

Cons

nothing bad trust me you will enjoy

Pros

Amazing benefits and super cool to say you work here of course, my kids loved it.

Cons

Creativity is not rewarded, at least on the engineering side of things. And anybody who has been there less than 3 years is deathly afraid of whoever they report to, so they do not share their true opinions often in my experience.

Pros

- Wonderful people and talented graphics engineers - C++, Python shop - Great work/life balance - Really cool perks. The wrap parties are a blast and the crew gifts are lovely. - It's great working with artists and other non-engineers so closely.

Cons

Full disclosure: I'm young and ambitious and it took me a while to finally learn that I should probably be working at a startup instead. - Way lower pay than other tech companies. I know one software engineer who was getting paid 75k a year. - No growth. Pixar hits the holy trinity of never getting promoted: 1) Great place to work for so no one leaves 2) Company is not growing at all nor does it have any ambitions to grow 3) Everyone wants to work at Pixar Because of that, the feeling of being stifled and underutilized is widely shared among everyone at Pixar. Even people who have been there 25 years can only move horizontally. The number of people who have been there and desperately desire leadership positions but can't get them even after 10 years at Pixar is depressing to see for someone like me. - It's very easy for engineers to simply coast. I know engineers there who are completely comfortable doing the same thing every day without growing and that behavior is actively rewarded. - Poor managerial feedback for how to grow as an employee. - There is a major fear with some teams that their engineers are going to leave for sexier teams inside Pixar which is toxic.

Pros

Every single day I felt so grateful I got to go and be apart of Pixar. I was beyond inspired, between the beautiful grounds & building, the gallery spaces, the lovely light in the atrium, the fantastic food, the amazing artists I got to call my colleagues, I just had a blast. I was only there for 18 months but I enjoyed each and every moment of everyday. I got to contribute to beloved franchises with the best directors, producers, leadership, and team. I got to work with my heros, incredible artist and developers and an entire studio of people who have been rewarded with awards for their incredible beloved films.

Cons

It ended! Unfortunately there wasn't a project to catch me and since I was a contract hire, I had to go upon completion of my project.

Pros

Amazing people and talent. Getting to work here was a dream come true. Lots of fun to be had and nice benefits and campus perks and Disney perks. The culture here is priceless.

Cons

All companies have good/bad parts of the culture. I’d say Pixar is working to address their issues but has a long road ahead to fix them. Some teams seem to have more toxic work environments than others. The pay is also shockingly low for the Bay Area and for a successful studio. The attitude seems to be that they can get away with it because the demand for jobs at Pixar is high.

Pros

Get to bring great movies to audiences. Great benefits package. Great co-workers. Many people still believe in the ideals that led to Pixar's success.

Cons

Entrenched leadership, and too much of it. Has gotten increasingly corporate. Too many managers and technical leadership is turning into managers as well. Inability to distinguish mediocre from exceptional employees.