Good place to coast & make money in exchange for little to no creative fulfillment. - Interaction Designer Instrument Employee Review

2.0
Mar 31, 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You will meet and have the opportunity to work with a lot of talented creatives, you'll mostly like get poached by Apple, Nike, or Google. You get to work on high profile tech projects, lots of blue chip companies. You can coast easily, work is not very difficult or challenging, you can autopilot on certain teams. Thumbs up on 6 month business outlook, because they make a lot of money - and you will have job security.

Cons

Leadership is constantly restructuring teams, so be prepared to move around a lot. Lot’s of folks have recently left due to a salary discrepancy, (most folks that are leaving have been there for years and are getting paid less than the new hires in the same role.) Weird concentration of hires are coming from NYC. Majority of the studio is composed of senior levels folks. Junior folks are actually seniors labeled as juniors. They like to stick to their winning formula, very seldom do anything frontier pushing or out of their typical work or comfort zone. Feels like you’re in high school, lots of cliques and gossip.

Explore other reviews about Instrument

5.0
Jun 26, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company with great people. Seamless life, work balance, and a very nice company culture.

Cons

No big cons as far as my concern. The pay can be slightly better, but it's okay compared to other agencies' standards.

3.0
Jun 24, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

The people here are great. Every team feels fairly connected, even for a 250+ person agency. Work/life balance is the best I've experienced at an agency so far. Pay is fair and scales depending on where you live and your experience overall. Work has the potential to be interesting, but most clients we bring in are not looking for ground-breaking work.

Cons

The benefits are not extraordinary, other than generous PTO. Recently removed a sabbatical program. Layoffs that come as a surprise, with scrambles only months later to fill the eliminated roles. Freelance hiring is hit or miss. Publicly-owned with a parent company that doesn't align with Instrument's morals. Leadership feels fairly disconnected and not genuinely interested in resolving the low morale amongst the larger team. Seemingly more interested in advertising themselves and using AI than in focusing on craft and high-quality projects. Constant leadership departures create anxiety.

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