designer

captain

junior designer

project architect

senior designer

Ia-Interior-Architects

Working here is fun for a while because of drinking and happy hours/events.  Over time though, the politics, the feeling like you're always being monitored, the nit picking, and the lack of any real interest by the company for you to grow - for their benefit - becomes obvious.  You will work, and you're work load will vary, but you're working for them, and they aren't interested in anything but their own benefit.  The management isn't great, the company is disorganized, processes are all over the place - You'll find yourself constantly wondering why they are doing this or that a particular way.  You'll discover that most of it is illogical and is being carried out inefficiently, and you'll find your time wasted.  You'll also notice people that have been in roles that they have no business being in.  You won't receive a raise that covers annual inflation, you won't be challenged, you won't grow (with anyone's help), and you'll find that ultimately, the only way to advance and/or make more money, will be to leave for somewhere that considers these cons and attempts to keep their existence out of the workplace.  I've never worked anywhere that I've felt less appreciated, and I'm the type of person that isn't typically bothered by these things unless they get really lame.  If you're interested simply because you need a job, then this is the right fit, because if you need work, you need work.  But plan on it being a temporary fix while you look for a place that is more forward thinking when it comes to workplace environment, benefits, growth, pay, time off, etc.

You are given no effective onboarding to help you learn company standards. It's all on your own and find out as you go. You will be criticized for not immediately knowing how they do something.  You will also be seen as bothersome if you ask questions, even though that's how you find out how to do something. You will immediately become alienated. No clear job role description up front. 

Management could care less about you or your mental health. Poorly organized PM who will not hesitate to put you down with negative feedback. Design Director will follow suit.  Upper Management will overload you with an unrealistic amount of work and expect it to be done quickly even though it's not humanly possible. 

Lack of respect in the office and favoritism. I highly suggest you apply elsewhere if you value your mental health. If you don't mind being a workhorse robot with corporate benefits, go ahead and apply.

everything in the other comments is absolutely true. 

The management at the DC office was a joke, which is why there is such high turnover.  The project manager and design director that I worked under were unnecessarily rude and I learned nothing from them. I’ve had mean bosses in the past, but they were excellent at their job. However, that was not the case here. The project manager was unorganized and extremely lousy at communicating. The design director’s designs were cookie cutter and unimaginative, they must underbid everyone else in order to land new projects. 

If you don’t mind regular 12-14 hour work days with zero respect or appreciation from management, then go ahead and apply. However, I would advise you to take your mental health into consideration, and please find another job.  

A typical day was working on multiple projects at different phases of design. I learned so much from the company, how the real world does construction drawings and how to really deal with clients. The opportunity to work there has improved my Revit skills for construction documents. Everyone that worked there was great at answering any questions I had and great at including me in what was going on in the office. The management was management but at the same time they were easy to talk to and always asked how I was and how everything was going with projects. The hardest part was just being new to the design field fresh from school but the most enjoyable was just learning how things really were in the design world.

I was hired originally for just helping the Resource Librarian 3 days a week. They began to introduce me to other CAD work, Revit work. I made a lot of finish boards and was given more hours as I worked on new clients, other clients and whatever work that was necessary. They would simply ask if I could do X. I would say yes and suddenly I was working whenever I wasn't in school getting my bachelors degree.  What was supposed to be a 300 hour internship turned into a lot of work doing what designers do. Mostly I took care of the library and kept it clean and took care of it all when they moved their offices.

Very stressful environment; very toxic environment. Management is untrained and unskilled. Clients get screwed over by having unskilled and untrained designers redo tasks without any supervision. Very competitive and unstable environment with title divisions grouped together (i.e.: all junior designers are on the same team, all intermediate designers are on the same team, no senior designers to learn from to grow your career). Major issues include: communication, environment set up, non-responsibility, and unrealistic team make up.

The culture in the office is great. I had wonderful peers to work with. However, the management could not make up their mind on how the run the office and changed the rules many times. As a PM, this became a very difficult way to work and maintain successful projects (i.e. profitable). 

The management would promise certain things to the staff and rarely came through with the promises. Not dependable with follow-through of promises to staff.

What a shame that the NY office of IA is such a mess! It is terribly managed by professionals who are clueless as to how to run an office. Just because they’re senior interior design professionals doesn’t mean they can run an office. They have managed to drive away every employee of worth. The place is a revolving door with no stability. They also hired an office manager who is not only ignorant about interior design and architecture but terrorizes senior professionals by her insecurities and desire for control.

Interior Architects provides an effective and efficient learning platform for all levels of experience. The management team is broken up into each project "team," and generally each team works on 1-3 projects at a time. There were fun work events, culture activities, and ways to get to know the employees each week whether it was educational training, lunches, or a Thursday happy hour.

Administrative or non billable employees are treated like second class citizens. They love having you take care of all of their administrative tasks so they can stay focused on clients but then treat you like you are unimportant and don't belong in the inner circle. Celebratory dinners - don't expect to be included. They did not believe that admins could've had anything to do with successes. Bonuses, incentives, etc - forget about it. They're only for  designers.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Designer 18 salaries reported	$76,583 per year
Captain 28 salaries reported	$83,839 per year
Junior designer 9 salaries reported	$61,389 per year
Project architect 16 salaries reported	$98,594 per year
Senior designer 6 salaries reported	$90.00 per hour

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