Interesting work environment but long hours on weekends - Avis employé UI Designer Beyond Design

I got to work on a variety of different projects and got to experience roles that I would have no exposure to in a larger company.

Since the company is relatively small, work comes in waves which creates some slow days and some very intense days.

The non-owner employees are great. They're all friendly and a lot of fun to work with. There's a lot of talent at Beyond and the office space itself is extremely nice. I have quite a bit to say in the con section, but to be fair you can have some great times if you make the most of it. If you’re fresh out of college or in need of a design job, by all means do it. It’s not all bad, just don’t necessarily bank on Beyond being a long term decision.

I feel like there hasn’t been much elaboration on this site to explain what is going on internally at Beyond. Unfortunately, despite the good things, the overall culture and work environment is ruined by stress, confusion, and frustration cultivated by the owner’s hyper-opinionated micromanagement and frequently erratic behavior. I really did try to make it work, but ultimately decided to walk away from the job (as did quite a few coworkers) because it just isn’t worth it. I’ve given it some time and made an effort to tone down my writing and be more specific to help explain: 1- Here’s a big red flag: Over one 12 month period during my employment I watched 9 coworkers quit or be fired from Beyond, a company of around 10-14 people. That’s a 70+% turnover rate in one year. Check for yourself if you go for an interview- there aren’t many long-term employees. When I left, there were only 4 employees (2 designers) remaining that were there when I started, so it would appear my disgruntlement is not unique. 2- You will not make any decisions: This is where the more senior staff really starts to suffer… You will be working on a project with a team of designers for weeks, you’ll have clear client direction, and you’ll be refining an idea everyone mutually agreed on, but then the owner will drop by randomly and toss it out on a whim. He’ll just pin his favorite up from the previously discarded pile or scratch out some idea he had over the weekend and decree that it is the final direction. Period. There is no discussion or back and forth. Every single minute decision has to be okayed by the owner and if he ever has a different opinion you cannot argue a point or defend a concept. He is right. You are wrong. If you disagree, you will still be wrong and now he is annoyed with you. We used to say every project has two clients- the customer and the “internal client” and the internal client is the one that will consume all of your time. After a while you realize you’re not actually designing anything you’re just trying to make what he wants. I ended up in awkward situations multiple times where a client was frustrated with me because we were “not listening” to their desires and the boss was also angry at me because I was not fighting for his concept hard enough, even though the client (and the rest of us) didn’t want it. You will be forced to present the owner’s ideas as your own, even if you think it is wrong, and you’re to blame if things fall apart. 3. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde By the time I left I was convinced the owner had a legitimate bipolar disorder. Possibly the most stressful part of the job is that you never know if you are going to get the happy-go-lucky boss or the crazy boss and it could flip-flop multiple times a day. When I interviewed I actually really liked the owner and he sold me on the company. Often he would be quite amiable and fun to be around. But other times he would be aggressively rude for no reason, and there were regular condescending remarks which would really set me off. This was the first workplace I’ve ever been truly angry in on a regular basis. For the majority of my employment I felt that I was treated differently and I had several coworkers agree they could see a disparity. I was told there were prior employees that he also “just didn’t like,” so good luck if you decide to spin the wheel, because I’m not sure when or why the tide changed. 4- Relaxing and turning your work brain off after hours is a personality defect: He’ll tell every person that comes through for an interview that people usually take off at 5. If you leave before 5:30-6 though, regardless of whether there is work to do or not, he is judging you and taking notes. He’ll call your cellphone at 10pm on a Friday and demand you come in the next morning and work because he was in the office and decided he didn’t like the aesthetics of a concept. Once I was working till 2am and the next morning I was asked about a detail for a part of the project we hadn’t started yet, and was told that “I wasn’t passionate about my job” because I hadn’t had a chance to think about it yet. I felt like I couldn’t make evening plans on weekdays because I never knew if I was getting off at 5:30 or if I was going to be there all night, because it wasn’t related to how busy we were… I’ll cut it here because this is already too lengthy, but see the rest of the reviews- “micro-management,” “crazy boss,” “unclear direction,” etc. Note the one gleaming self-review is clearly labeled as from the President himself.