The studio culture is often great and inclusive, however, it is very easy to get insular and studio focused, and as such miss out on the benefits of working at a large firm with multiple studios and practices.
Additional, the ranking structure is very rigid and it takes a long time to get promoted to the next level. There are 6 levels within NBBJ...Entry Level, Associate, Senior Associate, Principal, Partner, and finally Managing Partner. Furthermore, promotions, while merit based, are also very heavily based on influence, design acumen and project management skills. In short, career advancement takes time and due to that, may not be suited form some people.
And finally, salaries...in my experience, salaries at NBBJ, while not bad, are not that high. In your first 5 years, you can expect to make between 48k-58k a year. While this may not sound too bad within the industry, it is quite low when compared to the cost of living in Seattle.
