

Ask HN: Is Ad Agency experience perceived negatively? - sheaninesix

Compared with the obvious examples of working at a Google, Facebook, big technology company, struggling startup, or having had an exit...is working at a big name Ad Agency (ex. Cripsen Porter, Chiat Day, Wieden Kennedy, etc) not perceived well within the startup community?<p>Even if you are highly technical and/or have a number of high profile projects in your portfolio.  My sense is that the startup community, entrepreneurs, and VC's do not recognize - or at least are not aware of - the value.<p>Curious to hear HN's perspective....
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pdenya
I just got out of the ad agency after working full time for several years
while freelancing in my spare time. Agency experience is perceived negatively
in the startup community because it's common knowledge that most agencies
don't treat developers well. Mediocre developers often get high rates because
there's such a lack of developers willing to put up with the kind of work
(stressful, low budget, extremely short deadlines, not much room for
polishing). A developer coming from an ad agency with "Javascript" on their
resume is likely to only know enough jQuery to get by.

That said, it's often possible to differentiate yourself from the crowd by
using phrasing that only knowledgeable developers use or listing a more
detailed toolset that shows the same (eg: "Javascript, jQuery" vs "OO
Javascript, jQuery, Backbone.js").

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sheaninesix
Right. I think that there are two kinds of developers within agencies. One
group that is fundamentally mediocre and will tolerate churn. And another
group that is extremely talented and senior in order to produce great work in
the context of churn, unreasonable requirements, etc.

It seems that the dichotomy between Advertising vs Startups is: Short projects
that live to support a campaign vs stable products that target customer
acquisition and an eventual exit for the company.

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mtgentry
Startups have started to see the value in branding, design, and storytelling.
Those are things you learn in the agency world.

The thing about ad agencies that startups don't like is their lack of
accountability. If an ad campaign doesn't increase sales, the agency says to
the client "hey, no biggie, we increased brand awareness".

That kind of measurement is dangerous at a startup. And if you've worked in
that environment for the past 10 years, I could see a VC being concerned that
you don't know how to "hustle".

But if you have a product with traction, that trumps everything.

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gallerytungsten
From my own dealings with ad agencies, I can tell you that many of them are
permanently behind the curve regarding technology and internet developments.
So that kind of experience on your resume may be like wearing a t-shirt that
says "mediocre" - even if such assumptions are patently unfair.

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AznHisoka
if you came from a background where you were on an ad sales/accountability
team and knew all the metrics they usually look for in a website, I'd say
that's VERY valuable.

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ahoyhere
You're looking at this from the wrong angle. I actually did a lot of work for
fairly large ad agencies and I still only knew Chiat Day from your list (I did
work for them, never heard of the others).

The bottom line is, nobody cares. They care about what you say you've done and
what you have actually done, and the passion you bring to your cover letter or
whatever. The names on the resume won't mean anything to them.

The bigger problem is you've been stewing in the ad agency world and think
other people outside it know wtf it's about.

(Having some of that bg myself, I would be very hesitant to hire someone from
an ad agency unless they told me in very clear uncertain terms why and how
broken it is. On the flip side, I know way more people at ad agencies who
actually ship than I do at any other large organizations.)

