Pros
Besides some bad apples who get ahead at the company, there are many genuinely nice people. I will miss them terribly.
Cons
VSA has had a glowing reputation in Chicago as a great design firm. However, that was back in the 90’s. In the last few years, it has operated more like a corporation with corporate structure, culture and politics. Only the ones who can talk the talk can advance ahead. The problem is that they can’t walk the walk. As for the management, they are well taken care of financially, very very well. They make motivational speeches that lack substance, authenticity and commitment. This place isn’t about the work, it’s about managing up leading to promotions. The company has had three offices: Chicago, New York and Detroit. Detroit office has closed. Their New York office in Chelsea was small with too many turnovers. They’ve acquired a digital firm Tender to boost their digital division. Everyone including two of the three partners left after a year. This acquisition was a poor decision making on the part of management. In a close inspection, they should have realized that Tender inflated their staff with unqualified people just to make the sale. VSA still doesn’t have a strong digital offering which Tender was supposed to provide. VSA is NOT a digital office. VSA NYC also has a huge crew at their number one client's office. This division is highly disorganized and almost always going through self-reinventions. This crew is essentially a revenue generator for VSA. Initially, the company staffed the division with people from Chicago. They all threatened to quit after few months leaving VSA to hire new people in NYC to replace them. Even with these new people, the division is going through too many turnovers. The work they have to offer here is small sections of the enterprise B2B website. If you are interested in interesting work, do not listen to their sales pitch. Ask many detailed questions and get to the conclusion yourself.