WATG Reviews

The company has a long history and is now best categorized as a once great firm. For a time, their Southern California office represented the center of gravity for the entire firm. It was the biggest and busiest office and home to their corporate headquarters. Since moving to Irvine, this office has constantly struggled to remain relevant. The London and Singapore offices soon eclipsed the Irvine office, leaving it to flounder in an illogical location far from clients and projects. Even the CEO left for the UK to be where the action is. As for more specifics about the Irvine office, it operates as a feudal organization with three distinct social castes: Kahuna (Principals) Primary Skill Set: Signing proposals, selecting pictures for presentations, reviewing org charts, fighting with other Kahunas (occasionally a Kahuna will succeed in getting one of the other Kahunas banished to a different office!), collecting frequent flyer miles, updating the Ohana myth, selecting Lolos and the occasional Makamaka to toss into the volcano. Key Identifying Features: Sits in an office. Drives a luxury automobile, replaces it often. Has enough airline miles to take their spouse on vacations to nice places. Almost always male. Makamaka (Associates) Primary Skill Set: Writing proposals, organizing pictures to be selected for presentations, creating org charts, staying in the good graces of the Kahunas, maintaining the Ohana myth, creating lists of Lolos to toss into the volcano. Key Identifying Features: Sits in a cubicle next to a window. Drives a respectable car, replaces it occasionally. Has enough airline miles to claim an occasional travel award. Highest possible caste for women, typically. Lolo (Everyone Else) Primary Skill Set: Binding proposals, printing and lots of pictures (what’s a copyright?) for presentations, watching themselves move around on org charts, wondering if the Kahunas know their names, believing the Ohana myth, getting tossed into the volcano. Key Identifying Features: Sits in cubicle without a window. Drives their car until it dies. Has enough airline miles to receive a complimentary bag of peanuts. They are most often young as Lolos with long tenure are usually tossed into the volcano once their vacation accrual rate is maxed out. The Ohana Myth Since the company was founded in Hawaii, it uses Hawaiian terms like Ohana for internal marketing purposes. Ohana translates to family and it is a useful tool for subjugating the Lolo caste. Look, we had a picnic, we’re Ohana. You don’t need a raise, we’re Ohana. Sure the Kahuna took all the credit for your work, we’re Ohana. You don’t need a promotion, we’re Ohana. Everyone be happy, we’re Ohana. It is important to remember that a key component of the Ohana myth is making sure that the Lolo caste believe that it is part of Ohana and that they never learn the meaning of Lolo, which translated, means idiot. The Bad News It’s probably never going to change. It’s a boutique niche firm with a limited market with all of the baggage that a large corporate firm typically has. Now that they are employee owned it will not be purchased which was the next obvious evolutionary step. While it is possible that the Irvine office could move to Los Angeles where they could reinvigorate their ranks with talent at a centralized location, they will likely remain in Orange County where the Kahunas and the permanent Makamakas live. Speaking of Makamakas, this caste could also be called the Wahines since this is as far as you can progress here if you are a woman – the glass ceiling at this office is made of UL 752 Level 10 rated ballistic resistant glass. The only way past it is if you are being set up to fail by the Kahunas (this recession just won’t quit, how would you like to be the managing director?) or if you are an interior designer. If you are just getting out of school and plan to get licensed, you should probably work somewhere else since the typical scope of services performed here do not provide adequate, well-rounded training opportunities. The Good News Working here often leads to a much better job elsewhere. The fact that they underpay will make that transition even nicer. Since their overhead is very high - the Kahunas need to travel - their fees are high and they are easy to compete against. As an alumni, you will be forever entertained as there is always something absurd such as a hilarious new top-down mandate or a volcano tossing (round of layoffs) or an expensive office renovation or another Kahuna battle happening. If you still insist on working here, the best strategies for maximizing your income and standing is to quit and get rehired or just get hired directly by the CEO. Also, working in an office other than Irvine or Honolulu (they have been irrelevant for decades) is probably a good idea.

Past Heritage Projects with trend setting design, diverse and friendly people.