Interaction Design Foundation reviews

The IDF positions itself as a non-profit company. In reality, it's a very profit-oriented company where most of the valuable info is enabled only for paid customers. They would talk a lot about their "mission", but in reality, there's zero tolerance for their customers - if you stop paying, you're out. It's a company where "each dollar counts", and you'd feel that starting from your interviewing process. The Founder also focused on a profit for himself (which is a normal thing in business), but it looks like he's ashamed of it and trying to hide it from employees. They say that they care about the people. In reality, when you have a child - they would not remember his name or even gender. They would not like to see that you have an opinion that doesn't align with theirs. If you'd decide to leave, you would not be allowed to say "goodbye" in the common Slack channel. They would do it for you. The Founder would send a PDF with the "correct" words to say about your decision - for other people who stay. They would do everything to pay you as little as possible and decrease your expectations in general. Prepare to be brainwashed. They would tell you how lucky you are to work remotely and that they're so unique to give you that chance. They would count (up to minutes) how much time you gain from working remotely and that you almost owe them that time. But at the same time, they would not talk about the flip side - that it also benefits the company (you should not think about that). The "funny" thing is that in their "Culture Course", you'll get an edited version of the "Remote" book (by Basecamp) from which they've removed all chapters about benefits for the company. They want you to have a tunnel vision, focused only on "how lucky you are that you had a chance to work with them". How wild is that? Work/life balance? They don't like this phrase. They would give you official 15 days off for everything (public holidays, vacation, +3 sick days). Which, in reality, means that you'd almost have zero vacation days if you'd take your country's public holidays. They would even joke, "Who invented these crazy holidays, haha? That's for people who don't love their job, haha! We don't have time for that! Let's get back to work!" They might even say that they don't count vacation days, and basically, it's "unlimited". But in reality, it means "as low days off as you can"; it's a trick to make you feel uncomfortable to use your vacation. Everyone loves their "mission" and, thus, doesn't need a break from work, right? Prepare to be expected to work overtime. You'd be brainwashed that 40h per week is not enough for a "successful person", and overtime is a normal thing in all tech companies. They would give you some crazy examples about their "friends" in Google, who are happy to work 80h weeks for $80k in the Bay Area. Of course, all that is to explain why you should work "for the mission", rather than a good salary. They would even teach you how to spend your money wisely to buy a new laptop for work. They would not buy it for you, of course, because they don't want to deprive you of the "feeling of ownership". How cool is that? The "Company Culture" course would brainwash you that you should be 200% productive, almost like a robot. They would not hesitate to ask you questions like how often you drink water and how often you use a toilet. They would teach you how to optimize everything, including your toilet. Of course, all that is for your wellbeing, right? To make you better, to give you the ability to "train your muscles". By the way, they would have a great life in the background, but you should not think about that. In short, if you work like a robot for 14 hours per day - that is great! No one would see a problem in that. Be prepared for the cult atmosphere, poor leadership, and no planning. The "mission" is everything. Instead of "leadership, management, and planning", you'll get "brainwashing, dreaming, and often unrealistic deadlines". There're a lot of contradictions between their positioning and reality. They position themselves as a "flat organization", but there's a strict hierarchy, and they expect you to "follow orders" and not spend time on your opinion. They position themselves as "thorough perfectionists", but they would not give you enough time to do your best and would often say, "if it's fully controlled, then you're moving too slow". They say that they're looking for senior people, but they would treat them as juniors. A few "key" positions are filled by "not very pleasant" people to work with, which, I guess, have some equity or profit-sharing, or simply they've been brainwashed enough. As a result of all that, be prepared to see a high turnover. It was definitely the worst experience in my long career. Be careful and think twice before joining! PS: After posting this review, two new 5-star reviews appeared quickly as a reaction. Interestingly, those two 5-star reviews were 100% identical but from two "different" persons with two "different" locations and review titles. That's another classic example of brainwashing, even on this site. I've made a screenshot and, hopefully, it would be added to the Photos section too.