Pros
Fun environment, feels like a startup circa 2001. Lots of genuine, fun, people. Good career springboard for junior employees.
Cons
When I saw my coworkers gradually trickle out of the company, I thought “the grass is always greener on the other side.’ I thought they were foolish, maybe driven by anger, maybe they “misunderstood the opportunities” maybe they weren’t willing to “work through their gaps”. That’s when I realized that I really had drank the kool-aid, and that it was hurting me financially, personally, and professionally. ZURB might be a great place to learn, if you are the type who likes bootcamp-style learning. However, you’ll soon realize that the leaders of this company confuse “limitless opportunity” with “scattered focus”. You’ll see this theme repeated quite frequently in other reviews. The leadership at ZURB is simply too afraid to focus on one, or even two or three things. A limited (and frequently rotating) team of ~10 would be maintaining approximately 30 of ZURB’s sites, in addition to working on client projects. Client projects are ZURB’s bread and butter. There’s a very specific type of designer that enjoys working with clients. The variety can be quite refreshing. Unfortunately for ZURB, and many other agencies, product companies are realizing that you simply will not get the same value from a consultant that you can get from an in-house designer that deeply understands the product and dedicates their full focus to it. Unfortunately for ZURB’s employees, they remain at ZURB due to a misplaced sense of loyalty. The fact is a product designer will never realize their full potential when they’re spending most of their working time keeping clients happy so that the company will have revenue. This is my advice to prospective employees: For the most part, ZURB’s employees are wonderful, passionate people, and you will learn much about different aspects of design from them. The leadership however– as another reviewer mentioned– is all over the place. They’re completely incapable of competing with other companies for talent. After the first year or so, ZURB will run out of things to teach or offer designers beyond a pipe dream. Learn as much as you can at ZURB, then move on to much more personally and professionally rewarding opportunities.