SWA Group Reviews

Take your talents elsewhere. I wish someone told me that before I joined the Sausalito office years ago as a fresh grad. While I managed to get a decent experience, leaving was absolutely the right choice for me. I was inspired to write this after talking to a coworker about her time at another swa office. In short, I do not recommend working there because how the firm is organized. While, some people get sucked in by imaginary benefits in and stay, most end up leaving after a year or two. Unless you are willing to fight for years for a place in a rank of favorites by working insane hours and destroying your health while earning big bonuses for a few principles, you are better to build your career elsewhere. This is by design: the firm constantly recruits the best and brightest and forces them to compete. Those who are willing to put in 60-80 hours per week for years keep their job, others leave or get tossed aside. There are always more eager grads, especially those who cannot easily leave because of the visas or other reasons. The firm has been able to recruit because of the legacy of some good projects (hundreds hours of unpaid overtime) and heavy marketing. Don't get me wrong: a life of a landscape architect/designer/planner is far from glamorous, especially early in the career. It is a difficult path that is not for everyone, but there are much better places to practice and grow. They at swa pay is very low by all measures. It is laughable by the Bay Area standards. Some people are staying even if they are unhappy there because of the promises of ESOP vesting or other reasons. Then people get older and too comfortable and can't leave. So my recommendation is to join another firm or join swa for a year or two, get some experience and get out. There is a bigger world out there:)

Very poorly run office. No respect for labor laws, overtime pay. Irrational, illogical management that often disappears. Most of the projects this company brags about are not done in the LA office... here you get the worst of both worlds, an office that does largely grueling, corporate projects for middle eastern investors and yet is run like a 'studio' where employees are nevertheless asked to pour their heart and souls into entirely soulless work. If you are interested in learning and growing in the field this is not a good place to work. Morale gets very low. I do not think that the principals here get much respect in the industry. Kind of feels like a joke... a joke that makes you work all weekend!