Related Posts
How is the work life balance in cognizant ?
Larsen & Toubro Infotech Hi All,
I have below offers:
Cognizant: 29(1.5 variable)
Deloitte India: 28(10% variable)
Mindtree: 30(all fixed)
I want to stay for longterm. Which can be a good option considering growth and wlb.
Please suggest 🙏
Yoe: 8.5
Tech: EAI developer
Cognizant Deloitte India Mindtree Larsen & Toubro Infotech Deloitte Tata Consultancy Accenture
Do you really work 8 hours a day?
More Posts
Bowl Leader
What are the best Sales books y’all read?
Additional Posts in Advertising
Don’t email me (with questions!) on Saturday 😡
Tips for dealing with procrastination?
What’s up with SCC Chicago?
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Client-side has boring work because there are 100 cooks in the kitchen. When a company hires an agency, the arrangement naturally reduces the decision-makers to a select few.
The grass is not always greener… I heard all of the same many years ago when I decided to go client side for a few years. Now, granted everyone’s experience is different but I wholeheartedly do not recommend. Those were the darkest three years of my career. Horrible work life, managers being promoted without being able to manage, and from what I’ve gathered micromanaging is much more common in that corporate setting. Needless to say, I went back to Agency and it was the best decision I ever made.
There is usually more green, but you’re right - the grass is not greener. I made the switch, and while I wouldn’t go back, it’s corporate chaos and less work life balance. At least on the agency side, you can borrow from other account teams. Brand side, you’ve got what you’ve got.
Been trying to go client side and got ghosted after 2 interviews at 2 places last month. Give me boring. I’m so checked out of agencies. I’ll happily design spam.
Honestly most of my work right now is pretty boring. I feel like most of what I do now are presentation decks. Design them in InDesign and then have to bring them in PowerPoint because the clients needs an editable deck in case they need to change some things 😵💫 So at this point I'm fine with boring.
1) Yes the work is boring but the work/life is better.
2) It usually happens when the hiring manager or team also worked agency side otherwise it's going to be tough. Most of them won't understand your book (it's too conceptual) or get you.
I went brand side to work in an in-house creative dept for a Fortune 500 company and it was the worst career experience. From a guy who's worked at dozen or more agencies. The amount of politics, red tape, bureaucracy, micromanagement, miscommunication, no communication, people taking credit for your work, backstabbing, bullying, cooks in the kitchen, etc. 60-80% of what you produce never gets executed. So it's a lot of wasted work.
And it's not uncommon to find people client side who have been there for 10+ years (which is a bad sign). They start out in admin or something then get promoted because they're at the right place, right time into a management role and have no clue what they're doing.
It's soul crashing.
If you do go brand side. Do your research. Ask about their creative process. How work gets approved. How people are supported. What's the onboarding process. Research the shit out who you're going to work with on LinkedIn. And trust your gut. If something feels off, pass on the gig. There's probably some decant client side jobs out there but you have to do some digging.
I get where you're coming from. I experienced it on the agency side too. But I experienced that a whole LOT more on the brand side. I'm just saying, don't think it gets better when you go client side.
Whether it's brand or agency do your research. Get a gut vibe check during interviews. Ask a lot of questions about process and culture. And again research your future boss on LinkedIn. Even go as far as getting unsolicited feedback from former employees.
Best of luck.
1) depends on client. Bit more internal focussed but you get to control the stream and influence decisions on creative
2) Find an in house role. I moved from a Video Editor to Marketing Manager earlier in my career.
Either straight move or flip to doing more account service, then transition to Marketing
How do you show those kinds of skills? Did you find it hard to move from a more creative role to a more account/management kind of role?
I've only been looking at Art Director roles on the client end right now
I love it and would never go back - unless I had to of course.
Same!
I was bored out of my mind client side. The politics were brutal. the pay was comparable for me.
At least with agencies you know where the bar is.
I don't really know where the bar is at the agencies I've been at ha ha ha! There have been a lot of politics and doings things for appearances in my career
I went client side after 15 years at various agencies. Pay at the senior level is comparable, however bonus, pension plan and other perks is significantly better client side.
What about boutique agencies, the smaller ones that try harder with everything from how they treat their small team to being scrappy so may offer greater opportunity and pull to each team member?
The humility in small may be a nicer work environment?
But there, I’d also worry about worklife balance and may be lower pay and less robust benefits?
What are people experiencing moving to smaller agencies?
Yes come on down. If you care about work life balance as opposed to toxicity or late hours on pitches & launches. I’m never going back to an agency. I caught up to the pay I left at by having them match another offer. It’s def ways around it. Or the bonuses as well. Made more money with reasonable 9-5 or 10-6 hours.
Again - everyone’s experience is different. I was brand-side twice, and they were two of the best experiences I ever had. And yes - MUCH better work/life balance.
More balance wasn’t true for me. I had 100 internal “clients” who each looked upon is as a dedicated team to them…. and a small team to deliver. But I did find value in the experience on a few fronts: it confined my preference for the agency environment AND it gave me a great perspective on client service and what is valued.
It depends on the company and your role/team. I’m client-side and it’s the most stressful job I ever had. Trying to get out, and either come back agency side or find a better client side.