Ziff Davis Media Reviews

Pros

entrepreneurial growing innovative supportive
smart supportive aggressive leadership

Cons

need more time for legacy old business to become thing of the past

Pros

Good place for young people to work to find out how media really works. Some good content, mainly reviews. Top notch analyst team.

Cons

Lots of editorial is basically content farm stuff, very SEO driven. Tech of the site is years behind competitors. Site does not put readers first, and it shows.

Advice to Senior Management

Site needs to be rethought from top to bottom. Way too much clutter. Rethink or scrap content farm stuff. Switch to different CMS.

Pros

Good opportunity to learn about the technical publishing world.

Cons

Everything is financially driven. There is no credible mission statement or focus for the company beyond making the owners more money. There is no interest in soliciting the view, opinions, ideas, and contributions of the employees and staff. It is pretty autocratic where employees must do as they are told, even in situations where the employees have ideas to save costs or increase revenue.

Advice to Senior Management

They are not interested in hearing any advice; they have made that very clear.

Pros

There used to be a lot of events and parties that were really great and showed us we were appreciated.

Cons

The management was chauvinistic at times and their inability to make the magazine a viable entity was inexcusable. They could have kept it afloat but bad management and cost cutting without considering the effects killed it.

Advice to Senior Management

Maybe there should be a review of how the management performs and the way they speak to and treat their staff. Instead of yelling at people and berating them then laughing about it later which I saw happen on two different occasions.

Pros

It's a tight knit community of nerds. people are really nice but shy. this is not the kind of place where people get together outside of work. kind of place where there are not enough people to do the job so you can take on as much as you can handle which can be good or bad depending.

Cons

NO MONEY to do ANYTHING. Salary reductions plus increase workload = not fun. sometimes i can't find printer paper. depressing.

Advice to Senior Management

Direct answers about our salary reinstatement would be nice. be respectful enough to treat all of us like adults and tell us what is going on. There is nothing as insulting as asking a question and having that question ignored.

Pros

ZD is still one of the best recognized brands when it comes to technology publishing. It provides good benefits and a good work/life balance.

Cons

Currently very strapped due to the economic environment. You're not likely to get a job offer, because they're probably not hiring.

Advice to Senior Management

Get out of print.

Pros

Great editorial staff, good collaborative environment, nice people, lots of energy

Cons

Short term vision of senior management needs to be corrected.

Advice to Senior Management

C-level executives don't trust their employees enough, manage too much to the bottom line without managing the people that get them there. It's not all about deals and profits/losses, but the people that make it happen. I saw a lot of decisions to reduce costs that reduced revenue by more than costs cut because of negative side effects. Stop managing for the short-term.

Pros

ZD is a really great place if you love technology and an opportunity to work in a professional Internet publishing business. the company is small enough now so you get exposed to lots of things. mostly nice, competent people, and not much obvious politics. the ziff davis name still means something in media and technology and it's something to live up to.

Cons

The company's financial situation is very tight, conserving cash, always seems to be cutting. a lot of the business was sold off or closed during the past year, though not without reason. it can be tough to stay motivated.

Advice to Senior Management

manage like you believe the company has a future beyond being sold at the earliest opportunity.

Pros

ZD has given me an opportunity to grow and learn a lot from what I do. Management is very competent and knows the business very well. They do not shy away from teaching both in house and off site.

Cons

Job security is a little bit up in the air due to the recent actions by the company. (Chapter 11 March - July, discontinuation of PC Magazine) Also, I think having CBS interactive in the same building as ZD in the NYC office is a little bit weird.

Advice to Senior Management

Be a little bit more transparent with what is REALLY going on with the company rather than employees hearing it from press.

Pros

The pay is decent compared to competing companies, and day to day work life is fun. For the most part, it's a good group of people that get along and are good at what they do.

Cons

The company is very tight with the purse strings, and good ideas can turn sour from lack of corporate support. ZD takes a hard-sell marketing approach to everything, and we tend to fail at putting products together that users will like as much as advertisors. Editorial input appears to be greatly lacking in company decisions.

Advice to Senior Management

Invest more in your web properties, hire some ad guys that can actually sell a print mag, and remember that your customers are your readers, not your advertisors. Advertisors are paying for access to your audience, not the other way around. If you continue to alienate your audience, eventually there won't be anything left to sell.