is this as good as it gets?
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- 61 Responses
- unknown0
yea dude, you're not the only one. you should read my post titled "my boss..."
- sb100
I have been summoned to the bosses office in 15mins 'for a chat' so I may be unemployed in half an hour!
- unknown0
uh oh, he probably reads newstoday. you're busted dude!
- vespa0
Try and be positive with them. Don't let them make you lose control.
If they shaft you, you can always spill milk under their desks and be satisfied in the knowledge that the central heating will make their workspace rancid in a few days.
Good luck!
- chook0
you're very right dita, advertising is a bunch of shit. the work that comes out of here is so substandard it makes me sick. once in a while a nice bit comes along that keeps me going but most of the time i'm treated as part of a production line, and not a creative, despite my degree in graphic design. at the moment im just hounding the pennies then as soon as my company goes down or im made redundant im out of this godforsaken country.
- safe0
Could be worse places to work the Halesway.
- safe0
the/than
- reluct0
Did you notice that people in advertising age faster. Sometimes I meet art directors who are 25 and look like they are 40. Is it stress? Drugs/alcohol? Hmmm
- Danski0
Maybe "having the life sucked out of you" is a phrase with a practical origin...
- vespa0
So sb10 have you had your chat yet?
- jevad0
I sucked it up for almost 2 years before I split. ADmittedly it was my first job...but it was so shit...everyone there was trying to out-power each other and it was horrible....we (the juniors) were treated like total shit and never, ever asked about our designs...they were taken away and raped of all form and function.
Fuck that.
- dreez0
I have worked at a Senior Web Developer for a couple start-ups and as some piss ant design guy who color corrects photos all day and designs web graphics, and marketing materials like a machine.
I seriously think my first mistake was taking this love for the web and making money. It use to be a cool way to try new techniques in Photoshop and learn new code in HTML, ASP, and PHP.
Now with the economy in the state that it is and my wrist with carpel tunnel, eyes with glasses (had 20/20 before I started staring into the screen daily) and thighs like my grandma from sitting in a deskchair daily. I wish I would of kept the web as a hobby and done some other kind of work.
I just had a phone interview yesterday with this guy who put an ad in the paper for a web design position. Told me he received 150 resumes and was talking like I was just another piece of shit designer. Not even looking at my work or the fact I ran a design team for 2 years and have on the job experience handling a web site that received million hits daily. It was about "can you answer phones, or fax & do you speak another language?"
Huh?
I have found freelancing is much more rewarding, but getting the clients is the tricky part. But working for someone fulltime designing graphics and web sites can really make you think your working in a sweatshop sometimes with the hours and the work load.
DEFINITLY DISILLUSIONED.
- unknown0
i think this dude got fired. anyone hear from him?
- chilaquil0
hmm... maybe he did get fired...
I feel for him. The very very first real world experience I had in design was interning and freelancing at a world renown, but small (15 peeps) design shop. Back then I was all stary eyed working with these "big name" art directors for all these well known brands. That was the honeymoon period.
But that didn't last long and since the freelance was sporadic after graduation, I got a full time job at a promotions agency. Also working in an account for a fairly well known brand. At first it was kind of exciting. You got to work with the copy writer got to do a couple new things... but after that, every project started getting killed halfway through. I began having problems with the Creative Director who was a bitch. She just flat out didn't like me and did everything to get me in trouble. And it went both ways. I was a litttle arrogant having recently worked at that other studio and my attitude didn't help either. But soon that job became hell. Then I finally got fired for "not being a team player."
I chucked it to experience (but it did affect me quite a bit). Then took a job at a small ad agency. That was the worst experience of my life and made me appreciate the previous job. All of the work that we had to crank out was pure shit. I knew it was going to be hard to get any portfolio material out of that place. The agency partners didn't even know how to use photoshop (it was only 5 of us including the partners) and didn't care at all about the quality of the work. I became very disilusioned at that point and didn't care much about that job. It was hard to find another while working full time though. I got fired again for being late excessively... I said "fuck it" and decided not to work for anyone else anymore. I was probably not cut out to be anyone's employee. I began freelancing and haven't looked back. Freelancing is a little better but you still have to struggle with stupid clients who don't appreciate your work. I saved enough money freelancing where I'm hoping to open a non-design related business and I'm only going to take pro-bono work that I like, and work on personal projects. I love design too much, to let money get in the way of it...
- dreez0
Nope never fired.
Every in-house fulltime design job that I had either was the classic dotcom ran out of investor money scenario or was sold off to some people in Canada and the whole business moved out of the states. I was never fired because of my work, but I can see how it would come across that way.
I appreciate the fact I was able to make some cash doing something I really enjoyed at least once in my life, not a lot of people can say that. But I am looking to do somthing else now as a fulltime gig, and just freelance here and there in my off time. The fulltime gig just takes all the enjoyment out of designing and programming for me.
- crazypenis0
Man oh man...
Great to find out we're all in the same shit.
Moneywhore and the more money the more problems.
Thinking about going freelance cause after this shitjob its impossible for me to go to another new officeenvirnoment and dig in, eat and breath all the crap.
So sick of it!
- unknown0
I wanna know what happend to sb10!?! Did you get the sack, kicked out, given the cold handshake, driven out in the desert?!?
- sb100
sorry to keep you guys hanging on.
No, i didn't get sacked. It was actually a pretty productive chat and I feel a lot better about working here now.
I guess Vespa was right. The key is to communicate. At least now I see both sides of the story. It may not be my ideal job but, with a few changes on both sides perhaps it won't feel like I am wasting my life.
Thanks for all the support guys. It helps to know that Im not the only one in this boat.
- unknown0
Man; they brainwashed you. We gotta keep that angry edge, gotta keep steppin´on some toes, they onlt see money in front of them.
Should they have driven you into the desert after all; are you ganna make nite, respectable, easydigest design now then ?!
- vespa0
Yay sb10!
Most people would be surprised at how they could improve their situation by talking to the people who make their lives hell.
That said, I too have worked for people who made it preferable for me to eat my own flesh than sit in a room and communicate with them, so I understand how hard it is.
But you must do the best with what you've got in order to get better, and to do this, you have to try and get on with people.
Congrats again sb10.