Good bones with abysmal management structure and poor organizational intelligence - Mid-Level Instructional Designer i3 Employee Review

i3 is a wonderful company. They have a great culture, amazing mission, and awesome people. Teams all work well together from my experience, and there is little to no friction or animosity between departments

My 1 drawback is that regardless of the companies growth or scaling, i3 seems reluctant to put on their "big boy pants". They insist on acting like a tech start up in many regards, maintaining lacks rules and accountability, resisting changes that impose even the slightest inconvenience, and formal policy and process that may impede innovative practices. The result is a company with little to no standardization, many preventable errors in processes, and messy products that reflect poorly on the company as a whole.

Better pay as an artist than the rest of the state of Alabama, work is fairly uncomplicated, opportunity to learn new skills. It's a good company to get your foot in the door as a junior in your field.

Having worked at i3 since Q1 2023 to 2026, I saw the culture begin to nosedive with zero correction course in 2024. By Q1 2026, they've run off any employee with an ounce of dignity and talent left. It's heartbreaking because i3 had such a place in my heart in the beginning. Wonderful people worked there, they was such hope for the future, and there were big promises of working on tech that would be adjacent to the gaming industry. Work-from-home flexibility was stripped from us. We were monitored on what we did on our lunch breaks. Lunch-and-learns were cancelled. Chatting with other coworkers began to be seen as punishable behavior. Management began looking over our shoulders -- all because we couldn't save their sinking ship. But the blame is on us worker-bees, right? I would avoid if you have more than 5 years experience in your field. Middle management often has no idea what they are doing. People are constantly promoted based on who is available rather than who has the best capabilities in both the talent and people-skills area. The projects are grueling and uninspiring at best. The financials are handled with the grace of a toddler's motor skills. They lie about how things are going and suddenly lay off 40+ people on a Monday, lie again, and lay off another round a few weeks later. Additionally, don't expect to get honest feedback. I spent months trying to find out ways I could improve, spent time lobbying myself for more work and responsibility, and met with supervisors outside of my own technical field, only to find out after I left that information on how I could improve was purposefully kept from me and I am NOT the only person this has happened to. In the end, they've resorted to fear-mongering about leaving to work at other companies and briefly refused to honor 2-week notices, instead opting to let people go immediately.