Get your experience and get out - Production MediaLab 3D Solutions Employee Review

If you strive for mediocrity, don’t mind being micromanaged, enjoy suppressing your creativity and are intimidated by a professional atmosphere; this role is perfect for you. If you would like to develop skills that will help fortify your resume or face new obstacles and learn to overcome them or grow in any professional manner, this is not for you. There is absolutely no advancement nor internal training and development opportunities. However, if you demonstrate the ability to learn quickly and effectively, you may be able to spend a few hours training to do someone else’s job, which I will touch on later. The harder you fight to get out of the quicksand that is the production department the more your peers and management will grow with distain. Nepotism, resentment and other high-school antics are regularly displayed here. MediaLab will claim to promote from within, however; you will be working one day when you receive an email from HR or management about welcoming a new hire for a position you did not know was available. Good news being, the employee turnover is so high at MediaLab, there is likely chance you will be able to find the job posted on an external site 6 months later. If in a production role the only direction your professional career can go is down. Sure, you may learn some new programs or play in some MediaLab inspired software, but how well could you acutally learn them when you click the same 8 buttons every day. Not to mention, that software MediaLab creates, doesn’t really look like a bold qualification on a resume if another employer has no idea its applicability. Additionally, you may be entitled to an annual review and raise. In my experience, the review aspect of the meetings were the only times I felt recognized for my achievements, initiative and my contributions were valued. These reviews culminated in a raise that barley rivals the national annual cost of living increase; so much for the great job you were doing. They have a poor attempt of employee recognition for production. Staff will vote for their friends which turns this into a popularity contest. If you like to do your work and keep to yourself you will most likely be overlooked for everything. If you are not careful, it is frighteningly easy to get complacent and caught up in the day to day, repetitive and rather mindless work. MediaLab is littered with people (albeit great people) who got the job fresh out of college and have never left. They’ve been there so long their skills have become so niche based it is hard for them to find employment elsewhere. The level of micromanaging in a production role is astounding. MediaLab prides itself on being an open, welcoming and warm environment for employees. That may be true, but if you are an hourly or non-salaried employee, think twice. You do not clock in at the beginning of the day and then again when you get done for the day. You will clock in and out a plethora of times a day if you’re and ideal and efficient worker. Your hours are kept by the time you’re clocked into an assignment. If you use the restroom, you clock out of your job. If you’re in the game room, make sure you’re clocked out. Using the gym or break room; you get the picture? Keep in mind you’re evaluated on the amount of jobs you get done in a day and the quality of said, so time is money. To make things better, each job / assignment is allocated a certain amount of time to drive productivity and a quick turnaround time. The paid time off at MediaLab is laughable, if you plan to leave town for a holiday or an extended weekend a few times a year, be prepared to owe them money. In my experience, production employees are judged unfavorably by management for taking time off, especially if it is an extended period. This forces the rest of the team to pick up the slack in your absence because the department is very understaffed and inexperienced due to the high employee turnover. Needless to say, overtime is available and this is where you will make your best money. Keep in mind, you are clocked into jobs for at least 40 hours a week but are at the office far more due to the micromanagment of your timecard. Oftentimes, you will be waiting well past 5pm for edits to return on an urgent assignment. You are not getting paid to wait for work to come back so that you can do your job effectivly. If you attempt to make a suggestion on how to improve the day to day functions or make your job easier / more efficient you will most likely get shot down. Or the team will agree to it and a month later you will get an email saying "oh by the way we aren't doing what you suggested / created anymore" with no explanation why. You will never get a reason why you were taken off of certain jobs or responsibilities. You will just be thrown into new ones, most times without training. There is zero communication here. Advice to young employees or kids coming straight from college: get your required experience for a real job and get out. There will be no career advancement or industry knowledge gained here, pay is far below industry standard. This place is not a professional work environment. MediaLab hides their lack of professionalism behind a cloak of a “casual work environment”. Managers will belittle you, you will be blacklisted and resented for constructive criticism, and no communication about what’s expected of you. Snide and unprofessional comments made by managers are a common occurrence. I was told in my interview that production roll is flexible hours and the ability to make my own schedule from day to day. This is definitely not the case, you will be chained to your desk for 8 and a half hours and will be judged if you leave for the day 10 minutes early. If you are looking for a good life and work balance, do not consider this position.