My Love for Medium-Sized Agencies

I visited 8 companies during my week in New York, and all of them were special for their own reasons. However, in terms of culture, I found that the places I felt most at home in were the medium-sized agencies I visited. 

Big Spaceship, Rokkan, SS+K, and Firstborn all have varying cultures and work but they felt similar in a nice way. I could tell that the employees at these four agencies were passionate about creating good work together. They love their jobs and they often get to do work outside of the roles that they were hired to do. I love that aspect of medium and small agencies. I want to be a designer/art director but I hope to be in a place where I can give input to writing, strategy, and production as well. 

Another thing that I noticed at these four agencies was the open workspace. Employees get to work in an environment where they interact with their coworkers and they aren’t always stuck in one department. At Big Spaceship, most people sit in a department based on the client they’re working on. For example, everyone who works on the YouTube account sits together. However, employees who aren’t working on YouTube can still give their input and ideas. The alumni we spoke to said that it’s common for people who aren’t on an account to get pulled into a meeting to share their insights. At medium-sized agencies, I noticed that people collaborate on many projects like this. 

This week I learned that culture is the most important part of finding a place to work. I’m still not certain that I want to live in New York, but I am more certain that I want my first job to be at a place like Big Spaceship, Rokkan, SS+K, or Firstborn. I hope to spend my next year of school exploring similar places in other cities like Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, and LA. 

It’s true. The learning never stops.

Emily Foster.

05.15.17