Bad work/life balance, poor studio culture, no structure - Avis employé Designer studioMDA

I worked at StudioMDA for over two years directly after graduating from architecture school. The culture was fast paced, and I was offered a ton of responsibility compared to my years of experience. During my time at the company I was able to travel abroad to work on an international project 6 times with each trip lasting from weeks to months. I think StudioMDA is a great place for very motivated & hard-working young designers to gain a lot of experience & responsibility very quickly. You have to be willing to put in the work and be willing to step out of your comfort zone, it is not a place where you will start out doing bathroom details and picking up redlines. You will be on-site, working actively with clients & contractors, making decisions collaboratively. I've been able to take on a leadership role at my current company well beyond my years of experience, managing other architects under me who have the same or in some case even more years of experience than me. The office culture is also good & happy hours happen often, I've met some of my best friends in the city while at MDA and still see them regularly for events.

As StudioMDA is a smaller office, you have to wear many hats & be flexible in your role. Sometimes it is challenging to balance multiple project demands & office needs, and I think the company could do a better job at setting priorities and helping set manageable project schedules. I'd say the office is also split on overtime, some people work a lot of overtime, but some people definitely keep to a typical 40 hour work week. Office leadership cares if you get your work done, but does not micro manage how you do it. I was somewhere in the middle, working overtime during deadlines, but working typical 40 hours otherwise.

Great project opportunities if you are interested in cultural portfolio. No micromanagement from principle which leaves room to take initiative

Horizontal office structure with no clear boundaries Project well standing really depends who you work with No office manager