Pixar Reviews

Pros

Motivating
Creative
Stimulating
Great place to work
Funny, I entered 12 words

Cons

None really long hours some days

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Fun and supportive environment with passionate people who genuinely care about what they do.

Cons

Salaries are on the lower side.

Pros

The best animation studio around. Some people are surprised that there are conflicts and internal problems, but that's due to an unrealistic image of what Pixar is. The bottom line is, this is a real company, so it has issues like any other company, but the good stuff offsets the bad stuff.

Cons

Salaries are just average, unless you happen to be at the top. But getting at the top seems to take a long time. Also, the Pipeline can get things done once you learn it, but it is very old and there a massive resistance to change on the technical side of things.

Pros

Very smart, talented, cool people.
Great facilities - pool, basketball court, volleyball court, lots of green space
Generally Pixar movies are well respected and you can be proud of your work
Fun perks

Cons

Opportunities for advancement are few. The studio has become very fast paced and there's not much time for mentorship or attention to growth (or reviews).
Work life balance becomes very difficult 6 months a year.
Payscale is for 50 hour workweek, but amount is more on par with a 40 hour workweek.

Advice to Senior Management

Sometimes it's hard to stay motivated, knowing the opportunities to try new things and gain responsibility are so limited. Find a way to throw employees a bone and/or exercise their full skillset to keep things fresh.

Pros

It does produce exciting products and has a lot of creative, great people working there.

Cons

It's really changed and gotten more heartless and corporate, by far.

Advice to Senior Management

Take a look at upper management tactics--can be ruthless toward truly high performing employees.

Pros

You can't put a price tag on being a part of making animation history.
It is a relatively low stress work environment even at peak production.
The company culture discourages extravagance and provide helpful services and discounts.
The facilities are top notch- state of the art fitness center, swimming pool, basketball and volleyball courts, soccer field. And, the cafes have great selection at reasonable prices.

Cons

The pay is low compared to other studios; in order to earn seniority and the salary to go with it, it will take many years here. The company trivializes/disregards 10+ years of industry experience prior to joining Pixar. It's uncertain if I would ever be compensated fairly, which makes me lose motivation from time to time.

The tools (software) here are ancient and NOT user-friendly. Some of processes are so repetitive, they should be consolidated to reduce RSI. They seem to be attached to their way of doing things because it has worked out so well. But, it isn't the tools that made Pixar a success.

Advice to Senior Management

There have to be better ways to fix things than replacing and/or creating supervisory positions.

Pros

Quality product, extremely talented teams, collaborative culture, flexibility, humor in the workplace, they respect me individually, ask my opinion, no politics. Bonuses, good benefits.

Cons

Can be long hours, owned by Disney.

Pros

Very smart, motivated, opinionated people with a strong passion for their art and craft
It really is about the story
Creativity flourishing nearly everywhere- still
Strong intention to encourage ownership by all and is mostly successful
Courage and willingness to take big risks often - a rare gem
Amazing to experience how a film comes together
Strong sense of humor/fun in culture
Fantastic visitors

Cons

Conflict is not well handled by management or the studio as a whole.
It's often avoided or hoped that it will take care of itself and go away on its own.
'Negative' feedback is often not direct or immediate.
Those who do have skills (outside of HR) burn out
as they're called in to too many hot situations to resolve conflict.

Advice to Senior Management

Help infuse critical mass of authentic conflict resolution skills now
Don't delegate to HR.
You recognize conflict is a real source of creativity
but don't have enough people actually knowing how to constructively work with it.

Pros

- getting inspired everyday by the talent and creativity of my coworkers
- creating films that people adore
- telling great stories
- company treats employees with respect

Cons

- long hours depending on role and state of the film
- in production, it takes time to advance because our project lead times are so long

Advice to Senior Management

Thank you for continuing to self-reflect and make improvements.

Pros

Pixar really values its employees. For example, when backdated stock options had to be reissued at a lower price, the company reimbursed the difference, plus additional reimbursement to cover taxes (and the tax on that). That's just one example of dozens of ways they look after their own. That comes straight from the top: Ed Catmull is a great leader and a very nice guy.

The work/life balance is generally good for software engineers (artists are often underpaid and overworked, however). I usually worked 40 hours a week and enjoyed a very flexible schedule. Great food on-site, but the surrounding neighborhood is not very vibrant. Commuting by BART was convenient: it's an easy bike ride or free shuttle trip between MacArthur BART and Pixar.

Cons

Some software projects are not well managed. The complexity and magnitude of the problems are quite challenging, and it can be difficult to make a big impact because of interdependencies. Communication between engineering and production is sometimes poor.

Space is tight and most engineers have been moved out of the main building. Surrounding buildings are nice, but one of them is a distant and lonely place to work. The company has increasingly started pinching pennies, so salaries and bonuses are not what they used to be.

It's still a small company, so opportunities to switch projects are limited, especially if you are highly specialized or have narrow interests.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest in good software project managers, and weed out the bad ones. Don't skimp on engineering compensation, otherwise the ambitious ones will leave (I did). Manage risk more carefully in larger software projects, but encourage risk-taking and initiative elsewhere.