Orbit Media Studios Reviews

Pros

Orbit has fantastically talented people with a great culture. Of course, every creative studio *says* they have a great culture but usually that's just conversion copy. Here it feels authentic.

Cons

Occasionally the clients aren't a culture fit and we need to part ways, but that's rare and expected.

Pros

If you are interested in content marketing, this is a great agency to work at. There is a strong emphasis on continued learning and sharing of skills and knowledge. My manager was incredibly friendly, professional, and organized, and the entire upper management is very accessible and approachable. The company has a very friendly culture in general and employees are generally very highly skilled at what they do. Remote-first environment since the pandemic seems to work very well.

Cons

As with almost any job, the position requires sometimes repetitive tasks. Balancing workload can be challenging - can be quite heavy at times, and then sometimes light, which is understandable when working for an agency with unpredictable client and project loads.

Pros

Orbit is a really unique and wonderful community to be a part of. In my experience (which was a few years ago at this point) the energy and focus of the business was on optimization and education- always doing the best work for their clients, doing amazing primary research and sharing out what they had learned with others. Each O has a matching sweatshirt, a curious mind, and the heart of an educator. It's why people stay there for years to help their awesome client set, why it's a wonderful environment to learn how a good business with a kind approach is continually successful, and to learn more about your craft. It's also unique in how integrated the environment is - departmental collaboration is a breeze, and you always get to a great answer because of the brains in the room. The O's care deeply about their clients, and their guidance and approach to technology is always sensible, solid, and in many cases I witnessed - truly brilliant. Leadership and the team care deeply about each other, and that makes for awesome results, achieved WHILE having fun. Whether you stay 5 years, 10, or become a lifer, you'll be all the better for working here, and learn lessons and best practices that will guide you well into the future.

Cons

I don't recall any cons from my experience at Orbit.

Pros

- Orbit was probably the best job I have ever had. I have worked at a few of Orbit’s competitors in the Chicago area throughout my career, and every single aspect of working at Orbit was far and away superior to my other experiences. I enjoyed every minute of my time here. - Orbit feels like a family. Everyone at this company looks out for each other. It's a great environment to work in every day. You might be a little reluctant around this vibe at first, but it’s so nice to work with people you consider friends. - Every single person on this team is incredibly talented. The hiring process is collaborative, touching each different pillar of the business to make sure they are hiring the best person possible. Everyone here pulls their weight, and does an amazing job every time. I learned so much from everyone. It’s also super collaborative, which is both fun and leads to the best possible work. - Ownership/Leadership is incredibly transparent in every aspect of the business. Goals and financials are discussed openly and as a full team multiple times per year. There is an open door policy for any issues you may have. They really go out of their way to make you feel appreciated and needed. You can go to them with any problem, and they will gladly help you out. - Work/Life balance was incredible. The office is in a great location (super nice to avoid going downtown). I rarely had to work long hours. Most importantly, there is a flexibility around real life, as long as the work gets done. It was very refreshing to have this degree of trust and freedom. - The culture is professional, but incredibly casual. I rarely had to dress up (jeans and a button up were standard for almost everyone). Team members were able to have fun with each other and clients, but knew when to get down to business. There were frequent team building activities ranging from in-office mini-events (ex - Girl Scout Cookie and Beer Pairing) to larger company events (ex - Kickball Tournament). Never a dull moment at Orbit.

Cons

It's difficult to find the negatives around so many positives, but for the sake of a fair review here are a few minor things that come to mind. - Vacation and Sick Days were combined into one PTO bucket, but there is a flexibility to work from home if you are sick. - Time tracking. This was probably the least fun part of the job, but I get why it was required. It comes with the territory in agencies like this. - It's an agency, so you are focused on client services. Not all clients are great ones. Not all projects are fun topics. Hard to fault Orbit for that. It’s just part of the job.

Pros

Great people working on great products

Cons

None that I experienced working there

Pros

- Challenging work with a lot of local Chicago companies. - Fun team environment. - Great collaboration. - People truly care about what they are making and results. - No big egos getting in the way of progress. - Creative freedom and leadership in my role. - Lots of social gatherings to hang with co-workers. - Respectful and encouraging management. - Excellent work life balance - coming from someone with kids! - Opportunities for training and conferences each year. - Growth is possible your role despite earlier reviews of it not being a long term solution. Its a small company, so teams are smaller, but you can still grow as an individual and take on new, exciting opportunities if you are willing to put forth the effort.

Cons

- You need to be a bit assertive, yet humble and confident to be a leader in this environment. No wimps allowed. - Some short deadlines, but doable. - Tedious time tracking, though it is helpful to the management of projects and future strategy. - Must be a good speaker and have the ability to discuss challenging topics with mid to large size groups (may be a con for some)

Pros

Orbit is a great place to work! Management does a great job hiring intelligent, hard-working, and overall great humans. The company prides itself on work/life balance and building a supportive and fun culture. It's a very process-driven company which enables the team to handle the large number of web projects that come through the doors. Very easy to ask questions and learn from fellow teammates.

Cons

Smaller company so not as much room for growth... but the small company vibe could certainly be viewed as a good thing too.

Pros

I can easily, and confidently say this is the best organization I've worked for and was certainly the best career choice I ever made for myself in joining this team. The atmosphere is electric, the people are great at what they each do, and the approach that we take to our work is ever-evolving! Pros: - Management of this company is top-notch. Two partners who are at the top of their games when it comes to what we do and the foresight to hire a CEO who knows how to make the right decisions for a company. - Great team assemblies for the various projects we take on. Great to be able to work with so many different designers and devs. - Great processes in place to help write the path to project success for each phase and team member of the project. - I'm able to speak freely to any and all management here about anything, from project concerns to personal needs and requests. No barriers! - They respect the line between work and family. Get the work done at work, no need to bring it home to take away time from the fam! - We create a great energy for visiting clients so that our presentations and conversations are positive and progressive. Creates a great vibe for our clients as well! - Orbit has a good number of tools here that, from a PM perspective, gives us what we need to run a project efficiently with the ability to keep a finger on the pulse of everything going on with it. - You don't need to know everything about everything here. You just need the ability to ask for help. Someone in this office knows what you need and the answers are always available. This team can knock down anything. - Orbit allows me to make the decisions I feel are right for the project, the team, and the clients. And in nearly all of these decisions, Orbit's there to back me with what I need. - The activities, both in the workplace and after work (if you so choose), are fun, genuine, and just bring us all a little closer. It just makes this place feel like a family, which is an important aspect for me.

Cons

- We are going through some various process enhancements/adjustments. So there are some growing pains with accommodating new processes while continuing to manage our projects, but we're changing as we learn more and adapting to the needs of our clients. So this would be typical. This should be expected as, internally, we're always trying to make our processes and deliverables better for our teams and clients. - Things here can move fast! This isn't necessarily a con, depending on who you are, but it should be an expectation you have when joining the team. - The beer fridge. It's really terrible having a beer fridge here. Having a cold one ready for you at 5pm after a hectic day...I tell you, it's the worst.

Pros

It's a great place to work. I have been around the block to a few agencies between Downtown and the West Loop. Nothing beats the location on the Northside, and not having to commute downtown everyday. It is located close to Brown Line Irving Park stop, Ravenswood Metra stop, and parking is available for employees that prefer to drive. Everyone that is hired at Orbit is well vetted, not just to make sure you're talented enough to work here, but also just ensuring you'd jive with the team, and most importantly just a good human in general. Lots of perks of working at Orbit, professional environment (but also casual as well), amazing coworkers, flexible time when needed, and a management that really cares. Plus there is a loaded beer fridge stocked with amazing local, national, international brews to enjoy! Th company also takes pride in doing little get togethers after work to bond with coworkers and make friends outside of the office which really helps build a great team. I personally am super happy I ended up at Orbit, I highly recommend applying if you're interested in an open position.

Cons

Not much to say here, other than it's still a job at the end of the day. This is a service industry job, so always having to deal with new/different clients can be frustrating at times, but also rewarding too. Projects and deadlines can get crazy at times, but management always tries to help do what they can to not overload any one individual. Overall, if you do your job like a true professional, there isn't any negatives.

Pros

Orbit as a company does feel like a family—they work hard and play hard too. Folks at Orbit desire to do really good work that lives up to the reputation of the Orbit name and it shows. Strategists, project managers, developers and designers all work together in pursuing creative and intuitive solutions that are aimed at increasing conversion and engagement. Andy Crestodina and Amanda Gant are true marketers at the top of their game and show no signs of stopping—their insight into conversion-centric web design is second to none. The culture is inviting, yet professional. It is also very accommodating to families, reasonably flexible with scheduling, just as long as the work gets done. Management is very transparent, providing a bi-annual "State of the Orbit", sharing how the company is doing financially, gains, areas of improvement,, welcoming new hires, and team-building. They also take time to celebrate selected work, talking about process and sharing the ups and downs of any given project. Make no mistake—these folks work their tails off to provide deliverables that clients are satisfied with and proud to show off. They just have fun while doing it.

Cons

There are some cases where the load will be a little too full, which can lead to tight and stressful deadlines. There's also the occasional case of miscommunication. This can lead to some folks sweeping issues and hard conversations under the rug. At the end of the day though, Orbit is a fairly non-toxic work environment, which unfortunately, is a rare thing.