artist

3d animator

animator

designer

2d animator

WildBrain

Overall working at DHX Media is a good experience. They have some interesting projects and a great office location. Their infrastructure for their web properties is quite complex. In my opinion a bit overkill for what their web properties function for.

Nonetheless, it would be a good experience for anyone to work with such an infrastructure.

If you're a contractor, you will experience some hostility from their full-time staff. Their full-time staff seem to be over-worked, never seem to have time to meaningfully answer your questions and use profanity to describe how overwhelmingly busy they are.

As a contractor you're expected to hit the ground running and answer your own questions. Expect very little guidance from the senior developers, as asking a question comes with a certain level of jeopardy to your position. The most straightforward question can be viewed as incompetency on your part.

There is some negative gossip around the office, in my opinion this may be due to the frustration that their full-time staff experience.

There's little opportunity for growth. DHX Media seem to hire more contractors and have very few full-time positions available.

Despite the work culture, DHX Media is a good company to work for. They provide a good work-life balance. The senior management are very reasonable. The office location is great.

When I first joined Wildbrain, it was ramping up to do more interesting, higher level projects and it was an exciting place to be with lots of ways to learn and grow. But there have been changes in senior management, and particularly in the past year, it's changed a lot. Voicing concerns is risky, longer term employees are being pushed out, retaliatory behaviour is increasing, and loyalty and respect towards employees is dropping. The industry is in a tough spot and the company is having to adapt its business plan; however management is actively pushing wages down, laying off people with no explanation, and morale is dropping fast. It feels like our work was used to help the studio win awards it wasn't in contention for previously, but those same people are rewarded with disrespect and job losses. It'll be interesting to see if the studio becomes a brand that only outsources work, or rebounds and finds a way to keep its Vancouver studio alive. Right now, it isn't looking good.

Con:
The pay is low. You DO get a raise after working every year.. but expect increased (non-paid)overtime after raising a dollar.

This makes a High turnover:  all the experienced workers move to other company for higher salary, then the company hires low-payable new grads.. or older people witn no experience. 
Then the remaining workers have to teach them.. this sequence remains never-ending. 

Make a sick-leave and you will get extra work after you return, then you will be sick again.

Forced socializing: the company party or team meeting (cheap but expensive meal, forced to come and pay what YOU EAT!) Tell them that you are sick and no one will believe you and call you anti-social(again, pressure and forced.)

Fake management: They tell you overtime is forbidden(everyone works overtime)/Free food on friday(not anymore, they are lack of money)/ cafe on the second floor(not anymore, its closed)/massage available(expensive)/ 

Pro:
 Great place to work. Nice people.

In over half a decade, my salary has increased just about under 10%.  The work culture is quite good, but the complaints around pay are constant. Understandable, since the stock price has plummeted over the past 3 years. What's been frustrating is that employees are kept in the dark as to why no one seems to advance or get a raise, why summer parties/Christmas parties get smaller and smaller, why we suddenly need to pay more for our health benefits, etc. All non-management-level employees know something is wrong, but no one at the top has bothered to explain/admit.

Again, the culture is fantastic, and the work is generally fun (which, I'm guessing, is why employees stay, despite low salaries).

I worked at formerly known DHX Media back in 2015 and maybe it has improved but from what I hear it's still the same. The animators/compositors are pretty arrogant and they actually think they are the real characters and unless you belong to their team they make you feel excluded. They are totally underpaid and sometimes it felt like going into a full-time labour company where the line just runs all day so I think they are usually overworked. The company keeps them happy and they work with PMs and they pretty much treat anyone else like trash so anything they want they get and they are above anyone else. The most basic benefits of any company I've ever worked for were at WildBrain and I suspect they haven't changed. Great office space but would never work here again.

DHX is a great place to meet amazing, like-minded people who want to have fun on a daily basis. They have a big facility with plenty of areas to relax during breaks and lunch! 

At DHX, you are encouraged to try and learn new things. Management has always been forgiving and allows you to grow as an artist at your own pace. The hardest part of my job was learning how to use V-Ray (this was my first job working with software rendering). This was an incredibly daunting task, but with the right leadership and encouragement, I was able to comfortably learn this tremendously helpful tool.

Individual production crews are, as at every studio, hit or miss. I was lucky to have some generally good crews. The long-term studio employees are another story. They will suck all the air out of the room with the effort it takes to lie repeatedly to your face, and they will smile at you while doing it. If you want your competency questioned and your basic human dignity set aside in order for upper management to maintain their salaries, this is the studio for you! 

If you want absolutely no production support or standardized training, this is the studio for you. If you want to flag concern after concern after concern and have the outcome result in petty retributions, this is the studio for you!

This job isn't as fun as my current job but it does teach you things about yourself. I learned that if i were to acquire a desk job i would either need to constantly keep busy or to have some form of music or distraction in order not to fall asleep. Cold and quiet makes you sleepy. Regardless this internship was not difficult. I would file and organize contracts both recent and old. I would screen through videos checking if the music was there and if it was properly cut and report it if not. I gathered and timed distributable music from screening and gathered them into a database for distribution.

Working at WildBrain was a great experience. The flexible working hours and supportive environment made it easy to stay motivated and maintain a good work-life balance. The only thing was the limited variety of fun or creatively engaging projects. Once a project wrapped up, it could be difficult for artists to secure continued contracts, which made long-term planning a bit uncertain. Still, I’m grateful for the opportunity and would recommend WildBrain to anyone looking for a flexible and collaborative workplace.

If you are looking to work with funny colleagues this is the place as all of us are grown up kids BUT you need to be a politician as well. As long as they (managers) need you, they will make promises and keep you busy while play dirty game to find a replacement for you unless you became one of their lapdogs. 

If you are not into politics you will be out in no time, I've seen lots of great guys coming in and going out because jealous managers will not tolerate independent people.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Artist 3 salaries reported	$66,333 per year
3d animator 6 salaries reported	$69,200 per year
Animator 4 salaries reported	$68,800 per year
Designer 5 salaries reported	$63,480 per year
2d animator 6 salaries reported	$28.50 per hour

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