Related Posts
I'm looking to find a job like the Forward Deployed Engineer role Palantir Technologies in the UK.
I have become hooked on finding a job that involves solving the kinds of problems they presented during their interviews. Although I got to the final round my performance anxiety got the better of me (I think I wanted the job a bit too much...). I will reapply after working in a similar company.
Is it "deep tech" / "data science" or "smart enterprise" that they're doing? Any advice welcome.
Does LTI provide reimbursement for WFH setup ?
Any openings for cloudera databricks ?
More Posts
Hi all,
How is KPMG India ? Someone reached out for strategy team at Customer & Operations for financial services practice.
I was told they specifically cater to Indian clients.
Please guide me with the following -
What is the traveling expectation, how are the hours, do we need to work on weekends?
How much salary and designation I can expect.
Current Ctc 30L, Infosys consulting, senior consultant. Expecting 10% hike in August/September.
Thanks in advance.
Additional Posts in Advertising
Tips on writing scripts?
New to Fishbowl?
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Ha! NO. I mean, maybe...eventually? But the agency model is flawed, so few roles you do at an agency will grant balance. Generally, you will not be able to produce good work AND achieve work-life balance unless your agency somehow manages to get funding for the appropriate amount of staff. (Disclaimer:I work in media and WFH mostly, but that’s actually just because my teams are on the opposite coast. I still do nothing but work...but even more so because I save myself the commute!).
I will say that if that’s what you want—consider digital adops or more technical ad tech roles. The landscape is always changing and being a subject matter expert there is always valuable. The downside is that the work is dull but there are fun aspects to it (you generally can create your own processes, projects rarely come back to haunt you unless you screw up, and no one bothers you because they don’t feel like they can do their job better than you).
Agree - agency model is flawed where agencies will offer more but charge a cheaper fee in order to win the business. As things get more complicated, competitive and expensive, the people handling the day to day grind are beat up the most as they are expected to plan AND execute AND find time to study to be subject matter experts of the latest tools and trends.
If you got an agency that is properly billing their work and hiring enough heads, work/life balance IS possible.
Unless you are a very process-driven person who values knowing only a few skills very well, I would not recommend starting your career in ad ops. People may not bother you thinking they know better than you (as iprospect 1 said) but they will pressure you to “please traffic these tags for me!! I need them ASAP!!!” On a constant basis.
Media planning is great! You learn a tremendous amount about the entire industry as you’re meeting with vendors, using tools, interacting w clients, building decks, refining strategy, working cross functionally w creative/ad ops/data science/etc... due to all this, I personally wouldn’t hire a junior person to WFH. There is so much in-person coordination needed that it would hurt their growth and efficacy in doing their job.
I put in a LOT of hours with a consumer brand (50-60 hr weeks), but I learned SO much. I now work on a B2B brand and my hours are 9:30-5:30. When you’re young, I wouldn’t worry about the longer hours, but about how much you’re learning. Once you gain the experience, you have more flexibility to have a better work.life balance as you focus more on strategy rather than execution.
And lastly, I wouldn’t go directly into offline planning (OOH, TV, print) just because of the hours - you will have fewer hours but you are limiting your skill set and on dying mediums (in terms of media budget)... definitely choose digital planning. You can easily learn about offline planning by making friends on those teams and asking them questions. No need to base your skill set there. Good luck!
I think it’s possible if there is a legitimate reason you need to WFH (I.e. medical) but you would definitely have to discuss it with you manager & ideally after you’ve proven you’re responsible. I’ve had a media planner work 100% remotely and that did not work out - she is now 100% in the office.
Best question you can ask if planners are integrated. There’s no reason you can’t plan all mediums. I would find adops tedious with little growth potential unless managing programmatic is your goal - to me it would be boring. Not all offline is dying - clients still value a thorough perspective and if you understand the roles of each channel and how they contribute to an overall plan your opinion is appreciated.
I am in media currently - though leaving. It was a good learning experience but the more I stayed in it, the more I hated it. I started my career in advertising on the creative side working in accounts in a junior contract role. I fell into Media - because I ultimately wanted to be in creative strategy. I would avoid anything in media that is not planning. Ad ops is a very technical role with very niche skill set that don’t really translate to many other gigs in the industry. It’s also extremely process driven, and you are held accountable for any mistakes - which happen often - and cost clients and agencies lots of $. This makes it very stressful in a negative way - not an exciting, adrenaline kind of way. I also found media incredibly unrewarding after a while, as most clients only care about efficiency (cheap CPMs) and ROI, rather than a smart wholistic strategy. Media planning at junior level is good training to learn to work with data, build insights, and strategy frameworks - but I personally hated the way reporting is done, and the metrics that at constantly focused on. I love advertising for the creative- and I can’t wait to leave and work in creative strategy. Media is great experience if you are in planning, but I would avoid anything else. The media parties and perks are also fun for the first two years - but then get real old. Try it out to cut your teeth, you will learn a TON and get experience, but then leave! Go client side or strategy after that!
I think it depends on where you are located. I have friends who work in LA who have good work/life balance. Based on my media experience in NYC, I’ve seen very few teams have work/life balance for media planning. It also depends on what type of media you are going into. Typically offline media teams (TV, print, OOH) have better hours than digital teams (display, programmatic, social, search) however IMO there is stronger growth and longevity in digital. If you were to go the digital route, typically programmatic has the best hours.
I agree with iProspect that more technical roles will likely have better hours (ad ops) but it is not as fun. If you can find a media tech role, that would be more interesting.