Pros
Please be advised that this is entirely my personal opinion, and I personally think that the pros i`m about to mention actually worth a hell lot. - Big titles, good individual portfolio... who doesn`t want to work on a AAA title?!? - A great place to begin with if you`re a passionate artist and eager to learn, the leads and seniors are willing to teach everything they know ( art sense, technical, management, social skills). You learn how to fulfill requirements, how to work in your team, and if you`re lucky, might even learn how to manage people in your team in the future. - Good HR/Admin... They took care of everything for me. Period. - Easy going place (there are cons to this too). But the point here is you get internet access. Allows you to do research on the spot, find references, tutorials, etc. - It creates a foundation inside you..... This is entirely a personal opinion so you guys are not entitled to agree with me. But i do think what i`ve learnt from lemonsky helped me a lot after my time there. I started off as a fresh grad with poor art sense and basic technical skills, but now I`m grateful that i can manage myself pretty well through the things i`ve learnt here.
Cons
Good things come with a price...... but the cons i`m about to mention was entirely during my time there, but i`m still stating them as you know.... this is a very small industry here and we can still know about the current status of the company But here`s a summary if you guys are not interested with the details.... overtime, unfair salary, too carefree, hierarchy issue, a couple of rotten apples in the basket. - OVERTIME!....... Getting a chance to work on big titles is great! But is it worth the amount of overtime you have to work? Thats for you to decide. But this is something that isn`t entirely the company`s fault, rather I would say it`s the industry`s fault..... working the extra hours to fulfill client`s demands. I was once told by 1 of the bosses here that lemonsky was the 1st company that abolished working on saturdays, yea it`s stated in the contract but that`s not always the case. (i`m not even mentioning public holidays YET) So if you guys wanna be different from other companies, saying not having to work on saturdays (but instead overtime everyday) ain`t enough........ -UNFAIR SALARY During my time there, there were people who worked for just more than a year with certain salary, there are people who`ve worked a year longer than them BUT with the same amount of pay..... on extreme cases, some even lesser........ They only took action when there was a period where many artists(local and foreign) resigned. They even gave out freebies such as game consoles!!!!!!!! URGH!!! -BONUS?! some people told me bout bonuses here but i can tell you this, I`ve seen people who worked here for 2-3 years and were only offered bonus when they threw the letter...... and it`s not even worth half a month of their pay...... some were just 1/4 of their monthly salary. -WAY TOO EASY GOING.... it`s ok to give your artists all the freedom they can can get but not all will appreciate it (this applies to artists of all levels). Having internet access on all machines is great (my current place only has a couple of internet PCs..........) but some people will definitely abuse this. Watching non work related stuff during working hours should not be treated as an acceptable habit. Some artists had to overtime because of this (yea some people can be retarded) and they complain about the heavy workload. There goes the negative cycle...... So if you guys want people to stop talking about "Oh lemonsky makes you OT like a mad dog", do something about it!!!!! -HIERARCHY ISSUE Yes people are friendly here, that is 1 thing even a former employee like me has to agree. But not all. I`ve seen verbal abuse (many against 1). Though you can always have a casual conversation with the leads and sometimes even boss, when it comes to serious matter it`s not always the case where you are allowed to voice out. eg: when you bring up issue bout overtime, the fault is definitely on you so just shut up and reflect upon yourself. - BAD APPLES IN THE BASKET Yea i`ve mentioned there are friendly people, but lets be real, some are just mean. First of, each project.... each team....... will definitely have a terrible(attitude) artist. It`s ok if your skill is bad but if you have a bad attitude, you ain`t going far. The fact that they can still survive here, the blame is entirely on the company for not filtering their applicants, and for not realizing the issue during their work period and addressing the issue. this is a huge problem because they allow these people to stay and even treat them well. Instead, quality artists left 1 after another.... what a shame. and remember i`ve mentioned the leads can teach you loads of stuff? Not every1 is that case, some are lazy and some are too strict for their own good. Lemonsky might have their reasons for allowing such people to bear the responsibilities of a lead but i myself did not see it.