Pluspunten
- Laid-back company culture - Exciting, high-visibility initiatives and campaigns - Good benefits
Minpunten
So I initially gave Complex 3 stars because I was in a rush to complete my profile so I could look into an agency I landed an interview for, but it should really be one or two stars based on how my time there (almost 8 years on and off) ended. Ok, so the first issue: no room for growth. I first joined Complex as a junior designer in the Marketing Dept. I was in that role for about two years. After leaving to freelance and travel for a bit, I returned as a motion designer for the Snapchat team. I was in that (technically junior) role for about 5 years. During that time, I expressed interest in open roles on the core creative team on multiple occasions. I never got the impression that I was taken seriously, despite applying to the jobs like anyone else and despite my deep knowledge of the brand, the company and its goals. I wasn't even seriously considered for a promotion on the team I had been working on after the Art Director joined another team. If you don't insulate yourself with the "right" people or join the "right" cliques, all of your hard work and years on the job will be for naught. Issue number two: Buzzfeed. Jonah Peretti has been fumbling the bag from the very start of Buzzfeed's acquisition of Complex. Which means 2 years of gross mismanagement. Another round of layoffs and a sale of the company in the near future wouldn't surprise me at all. As if all of this wasn't enough, I was on the receiving end of a racist joke courtesy of a motion designer on the creative team. For some reason he felt the need to say that I was "looking like a refugee". All of this just two days before I was impacted by the most recent round of layoffs. Neither the Creative Director or the Art Director took control of the situation or called him out in the moment. Not even when I called him out on the spot and asked for clarification on what he had just said. The worst part: the guy who made the racist comment kept his job with a slap on the wrist. And this place claims to be "about the culture". All while having long standing issues when it comes to advancement and career growth for the people of color who work there. Most of the people in leadership positions were or are white males. The company is painfully hypocritical and performative when it comes to diversity and inclusion. It's an extremely toxic place to work. To top it all off, they're underpaying a majority of the staff. I should've left that place after 3 years and no roadmap or interest in my growth. My advice: use it as a resume builder and keep it moving after two years (tops).