On paper, PixelSpoke is great. It's a marketing agency in the heart of downtown Portland with a purpose-driven CEO and a small team. So when I began to feel anxious and dread going into work, I didn't understand what was wrong. However, the latently abusive work environment began to become more and more obvious as time went on. With it being a small company, the individual personalities of the team end up driving the company culture. Inappropriate emails when deadlines/expectations are not met, uncomfortable stares when a meeting doesn't go according to plan, and a micro-managed work style are among the things I disliked the most about working at PixelSpoke. In addition, the work is often boring and repetitive. Creative projects are rare, and unless you are under budget, good luck enjoying the fun projects anyways! Every second of the day is clocked and those that spend the least time on billable work create the benchmarks for how much time should be spent on what. If you mention something is wrong, it will usually be turned around so that you feel like you're at fault for not "enjoying the journey." The truth is, once I picked up on the subtle ways in which PixelSpoke stifled creativity, allowed certain employees to pick on others, and emphasized process over people... I knew I had to leave.