“Going in-house is where good design careers go to die.” That was a saying that I heard echoed time and again in the early 2000s, when I worked for agencies. You'd hear it at conferences or when talking shop at a downtown bar with fellow designers. The crux of the issue was that creativity and quality tanked as soon as you crossed over to work with business folks that didn't understand design, its value or why it even mattered. Then things changed and agency folks began going client-side to form their super teams of ex-agency designers, writers and art directors. In this movement, they brought over the culture, work environment and empowerment to create truly creative environments that would push boundaries and foster innovation. Don't get me wrong, it's still very much an uphill battle working inhouse in the majority of organizations, but with time and more maturity I believe that these work environments will continue to improve as truly viable options to working at an agency.

My background in both agency and in-house environments qualifies me to share what I believe are the pro's and con's of each. I have a decade of agency experience and 7 years working in-house. Let me tell you that some of it has been amazing and some of it has been a rollercoaster that taught me many lessons.

Agency Pro's
• You spend 95% of your day surrounded by your own people that live and breathe the same craft as you, they love when you nail the kerning on a headline and are always there for you to bounce

• You're surrounded by people that are constantly generating new ideas and concepts that push the boundaries of what's possible, it's a dynamic environment, where people love to experiment and play until they knock it out-of-the-park

• Client stakeholders are hiring you to be innovative and to generate ideas that they can't do in-house

• Larger and mid-size agencies have retainer clients, so you can to form relationships with the same client stakeholders for years, which typically lends itself to a harmonious partnership

• Blue sky thinking: it's extremely energizing being a brainstorming session where no one talks about what can't be done, but rather focuses on what has never been done

• The cultures at mid-size and large agencies are work hard and play hard, so after work, we're not just getting "drinks", we're getting "drankz"

• Your co-workers have a distinct sense of style, personality or lifestyle that is actually really cool, fun or uniquely quirky (some of my fashion choices today can be traced back to my agency days)

Agency Cons
• Work/life balance is usually not good, because of the rapid deadlines and poor project planning and client expectation management; especially at larger shops where working constant overtime will take years off your life

• Most if not all of your projects are “one and done”, where you launch it and never look back to analyze data or test to figure out ways to optimize the experience

• Excessive prospect client pitch work can get in the way of real client work

• The deadlines are usually too short and never account for all the unknowns that come with a large-scale project or campaign

• The pressure is relentless for you to produce award-winning work, if you don't rack up awards every year than you might be in the wrong line of business

• Pay and benefits are not competitive with the in-house job market

• You're only as good as your last project

• Politics are very heavy and it can cause needless friction between people and teams

• Teams and departments become ultra-competitive with one another, to the point of toxicity and back-stabbing

In-house Pros
• Work/life balance is usually exceptional; there is a true respect for one's personal life, well-being and family

• You have the opportunity to launch something and then continuously iterate to improve it

• Mature organizations will have proper people management expectations, so things like career development, mentorship and coaching are constantly present and expected

• User research is a real thing and you'll test a good chunk of your work, businesses want to have a high degree of certainty with what they're going to invest in and launch

• You will build up deep knowledge in the specific industry and product/services that you design for, so that will translate to more informed designs and decisions

• Compensation, benefits, perks and stock plans for full-time employment can be generous in comparison to agencies

In-house Cons
• People culture can be hit or miss depending on the type of the product or service that organization offers

• Designers can feel unfulfilled or mentally drained from constantly battling for every inch of their designs

• Designers are constantly the 3rd wheel; the hierarchy is business stakeholders, product, engineering, a bunch of other departments and then design, so as a designer you have to constantly educate and evangelize for your discipline to be included or heard

• It will take several months to decide on button styles, because no one has authority to make the call and teams can't agree on which button is best (mostly a problem at larger companies)

• Teams can be siloed from one another and there can be politics amongst departments and turf war for who owns what part of an experience, brand or campaign

• Lots of disgruntled designers that don't feel heard or appreciated and then end up creating toxicity within their teams

• You will at some point have managers that technically have less experience than you or have no experience in your field, so annual reviews with non-designers aren't great

• You will work with industry "lifers" with deep expertise which can make it difficult to match their level of knowledge in discussions related to designs and decisions

• You will have meetings to discuss meetings and to plan out more meetings

• Design teams can become an afterthought in some organizations and never really have a seat at the table
• Low morale on less mature design teams that struggle to retain top talent

Which Environment Is Right For You?
Ultimately, it comes down to what matters most to you, when deciding which work environment is right for you. The life stage that you're in also factor, meaning if you're single or don't have kids, agency life is very appealing for the innovation and creativity. Whereas, someone with a family needs better work-life balance. The other deciding factor is one's ability to consistently work on the same app or website, versus starting something completely new every other month. So if you find yourself being bored with the monotony of working on the same project or types of projects, then you will lose interest and your creative “spark” in an in-house role. On the plus side, both environments come with ping pong tables, beer on tap and snacks, so maybe we should just be grateful that we have such a cool profession, where don't have to wear suits.