Nepotism, Favoritism, and Othering - Product Designer Work & Co Employee Review

I never felt like a valued team member. Most employees here either come from referrals, Huge Inc., or from familiar walks of life. This culture reeks of nepotism, which in turn makes other employees feel isolated and like outsiders. Once you've been recognized as an outsider, you grow sensitive to the micro-aggressions and (c)overt othering. This company could really benefit from some education and self-reflection on what diversity, equity, and belonging really looks like. As per the work, it's not real product design. Agency work will always be driven by a client brief. Your objective is the client's objective. You complete the work, and move on to the next. You never truly get to own a product beyond a v1 or a redesign, which usually ends up being a coat of paint, at best. If you enjoy pitch work and flashy website redesigns — work here. If you want to grow as a product designer, drive product strategy, conduct research, develop insights, experiment, launch, and iterate — then go elsewhere. One of the founding partners once criticized one of my designs simply because it didn't align with his vision. This was plainly offensive and unhelpful. Never have I had to report to such arrogance and belittling. A video of a talk from the same partner surfaced years ago where he was taking questions from a Q&A, and one of the questions regarding a project in particular had asked if the team had done any research throughout the design process. His response was "…of course we did research; we're not amateurs." I'm so glad I don't work here anymore.