Pros
The compensation offered for grads at Encode Club is generous — but you pay for it. Junior members of the team were wonderful, despite the circumstances.
Cons
The challenges of working at Encode ultimately stem from an abject failure of management. The CEO, Anthony, is not a serious person. He is a man out of his depth, lacking the maturity required for effective leadership. During my time there, I encountered behavior from one member of the leadership team that bordered on workplace bullying. Other members of the leadership team seemed utterly unable to address this toxicity, likely because it was of their own making. My colleagues and I were consistently made miserable by a grotesque combination of micromanagement and character assessment from managers. While it's often said that 'absolute power corrupts absolutely,' it turns out that even a modest degree of power can corrupt in strange and revolting ways. Any perceived deviation from the strict hierarchy of power is met with extreme hostility—especially from the lower levels of the leadership team. This is emphatically not a place to grow, try new things, or excel, because within the zero-sum mentality of this workplace, your success is seen as another's failure. Feedback at Encode is unapologetically based on 'vibes.' The quarterly reviews delivered by the CEO are not a review of your performance but rather a review of your character—specifically, whether you are sufficiently 'aggressive.' Indeed, the sole metric Anthony appears to take seriously is when people leave; you can expect to be reprimanded for leaving seven minutes after your contracted hours. For those with a modicum of self-respect, it is grueling to be life-coached by a man who has done precious little to earn any degree of admiration. Unsurprisingly, the turnover rate there is enormous. Inevitably, people leave when they realize that earning the median salary in London cannot possibly be worth this. You will too.