DreamWorks Animation Reviews in Redwood City, CA

Current Employee – been working at DreamWorks Animation full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Smart, motivated people. Free lunch & breakfast. First run movie screenings. Lots of booze on hand. Sharing of knowledge. Internal classes/learning opportunities. Lots of parties. A world class product for the most part.

Cons – Very competitive even within departments. Too director driven- if you get a bad one to work with morale is greatly affected and nothing can be done about it. Weak producers don't do anything to push directors to stick to schedules. Constant story issues that affect schedules and morale. Layoffs.

Advice to Senior Management – There is a big disconnect between what execs think of as current technology and processes versus what is really happening in production. It seems they have buzzwords and shareholders in mind way more than those doing the work in the trenches.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at DreamWorks Animation full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Free breakfast and lunch with a wide variety to choose from. Warm, friendly culture and environment; lacks the competitive nature of other studios in the entertainment industry. On-campus gym with free membership. On-site doctor. Free shuttle to and from CalTrain. Free GoPass for CalTrain. Electric car stations.

Cons – Large discrepancy between financial compensation for Production management compared to the artistic leadership despite similar hierarchy. Recent lack of steady, continual work; hiring moving towards a per-show basis. Overseas, cross-site meetings shift the work day to late evenings to accommodate the 12hr time difference.

Advice to Senior Management – Stories should be fully flushed out before getting rolled into production. Marketing should have a close relationship with each production and story, focusing on accurately presenting the pictures in the best way.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at DreamWorks Animation full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Super smart people that are fun to work with
They invest a lot in training and continuing education
Great environments with lots of perks like free breakfast and lunch

Cons – This is a Hollywood company, in many ways. Expect employment contracts and occasional layoffs (though DWA has fewer than most in the industry).
You're working in a fun environment on a cool product, so if you're a techie you're not going to make as much as you will at a tech company.
Crunch time for a film means working 6 day weeks for the last several months of a production, though if you're not directly on a film you'll have a more normal schedule.

Advice to Senior Management – Do 360-degree reviews for everyone in management on a regular basis.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at DreamWorks Animation full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – Great creative and collaborative environment w/ excellent benefits and perks. The employees make the culture and it varies slightly between campuses.

Cons – Career development is severely lacking, no checks and balances and/or goals tracking in management training, high performing and over achievers are not compensated accordingly for their contributions, company is large - difficult to get noticed, too much focus on technology and less on being creative and good storytelling.

Advice to Senior Management – Nurture creativity & innovation by sponsoring personal and/or group projects. Politics can get ugly if you're not in the right clique. (This is true of any large company.)

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at DreamWorks Animation full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great atmosphere and people to work with.
Tons of benefits, including but not limited to gym, pool access, free breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria, and tons of morale building events through out the year.
Creative projects.
Profit sharing = annual bonus based on contribution to the projects and performance.
Great culture of sharing ideas and helping each other.

Cons – Long work days.
Can be political.

Advice to Senior Management – Don't let go of more experienced personnel so you can hire cheaper less experienced people.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at DreamWorks Animation full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – In Redwood City they do serve food, breakfast, lunch and have snack rooms for working late. With a small staff it's nice to see the same folks daily. Good to have on your resume, good experience for short term but not a long term career.

Cons – The salaries for non artistic jobs, especially production support jobs, is really low and the cost of living in the Bay Area really high. For a lot of the pros like free gym access and company events during the week, very hard to attend these during working hours unless you are in an artistic position which have incredible flexibility with their schedules.

Advice to Senior Management – I know Management was aware of the very low pay rates but they seem to have their hands tied with HQ being in Glendale. When I worked there the turnover was extremely high in support positions. Non artistic folks just simply could not 'afford' to work there for a long period of time and earn a living.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at DreamWorks Animation full-time for more than a year

Pros – i) Stable job with reasonable work hours
ii) Decent base salary but stock, 401K, etc benefits are much lower than the industry standard.t
iii) Free breakfast and lunch; who says there is "no free lunch theorem". This is surely one thing I miss!

Cons – i) Not up to date with technology; most of the engineering work is more of maintenance type and one can get rusty and out-of-date with fast moving technical fields while doing that kind of work for 2 - 3 years. This is the prety much the reason I moved on after 1 and 1/2 years and I can see at least 8 - 10 people from the R&D team who have left for other tech companies. Not sure how Dreamworks compares with other movie companies as I don't have first hand experience myself.
ii) Minimal stock benefits; no ESPP (stock purchase plan at a discounted rate); this is available in every company I have worked for. I am comparing this with other hi-tech industry where I have worked (or have first hand experience on employment details) like Microsoft, Google, etc. I haven't worked in movie industry and am not sure how it compares with other companies like Pixar, ILM, etc.
iii) 10 vacation daya; I think this is also lower than the standard 3 week vacation.

At a higher level, if someone has experience in working in the top tech sector companies like Aple, Google, Adobe, Microsoft, etc, I think Dreamworks will rank a few notches lower on the compensation. The work depends on the specific team, though the reason most people left that I know off are lack of opportunity to be at par with the fast moving technology field/s.

Advice to Senior Management – Nothing specific; I think the management is doing a decent job while promoting movies, competing with movie industry, etc. For me, with a background and interest in product development in hi-tech industry, Dreamworks is probably not the ideal place.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at DreamWorks Animation

Pros – Everyday I work with an excellent, motivated, friendly and down to earth group of people. You all ultimately work on family friendly projects that you can be proud of. Technical roles can require a mix of technical skills supplemented by an artistic background. General hours are not as hectic as the majority of the CG industry. Great perks.

Cons – The TD role can earn a smaller salary when compared with a vanilla software engineering job, but it is comparable to similar roles in the VFX industry and is balanced by a good working environment.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at DreamWorks Animation

Pros – Great work environment, awesome coworkers, good management, ridiculously cool stuff to work on.

Cons – Talent and good work don't offer much in the way of career advancement or salary increases. It's mostly based on years of experience which, in today's tech world, is archaic. This may have changed since I left.

Advice to Senior Management – Offer competitive salaries and career advancement on par with other tech industries.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at DreamWorks Animation

Pros – Free food, free gym, good health benefits

Cons – DreamWorks has a toxic work environment with a clearly defined cast system. Some positions within the company are treated with kid gloved while others are ignored and there is no sign of this ever changing. The "haves" are given excellent salaries, thrown parties on a sometimes weekly basis, arrived late, leave early and can take long lunches. The "have nots" are barely paid enough to survive, work long hours for no recognition and are treated with little to no respect, a treatment often encouraged by upper management.

There is very little mobility within the company and it is hard to get promoted. Reviews are very rarely given so if a person wants to ask for a raise or a promotion they have little hard evidence to back themselves up. The only way to improve your career is to leave the company.

Advice to Senior Management – Be more in touch with what is actually going on within the company. Employees are dissatisfied and the CEO appears woefully ignorant of this.