I just want to read the reviews - Designer A&E Design Employee Review

Great company culture and place to work

No cons at this time

Worked on a few projects that I was happy to add to my portfolio. Company has a good reputation in the region and some great clients. Intriguing business model, appreciated the multi disciplinary approach to design. Leadership listened when I told them what kind of projects I wanted to work on

Lots of showboating in company meetings, lofty and unrealistic company goals. Lots of inefficiencies and waste when pay was well under 25th percentile for experience level and region according to AIA salary calculator. Pay was simply not a discussion. Annual reviews were divorced from pay discussions. They only hire young people. Likely because they don’t want to pay salaries for more experienced staff. Backwards teams model with inexperienced design leads that lack code and technical knowledge regularly turning over half baked projects to more experienced people that are expected to finish out document sets. Principals also leading projects with questionable knowledge of construction methods. Embarrassing tech, the virtual meetings regularly took 10-20 minutes to get queued up on the screen. They pretend to have a good culture but it’s still toxic. Heavy drinking at events, favoritism, flaunting egos, fake personalities and bullying coworkers all clawing to be seen by leadership and rise to the top. Impossible deadlines with little support which leads to burnout and no recognition. Benefits were ok, if you like having 6 holidays a year. Was impossible to build PTO.