Is it better to work at Legacy Media or a Tech Company?
Hi, So I work at WarnerMedia and have been thinking of switching over to a tech company. I work in marketing and strategy. I want to focus on DTC and just find that tech companies do this better. What are some pros and cons of choosing a tech company (FB, google, Hulu) over a legacy media company (nbcuniversal, Viacom, warnermedia)? To me, it seems like tech has more room for growth and higher pay. Are there factors that make legacy media more attractive than tech?
I think it’s case dependent on the company your looking at working for. I’ve worked for tech companies that were run by idiots who had no business working in media and clearly had never made any money in media, and I’ve also worked for tech companies that had a clear vision and knew how to run a profitable business. I tend to lean towards believing in a business model that leans towards a profit first strategy. Growing too fast beyond your means may allow you to be the number 1 best known company but if your bleeding money it makes me hesitant to want to invest myself in the company. However, there are plenty of good reasons to invest in companies like that. Just not for me.
The difference *in general* in my experience is that at a traditional media company you have far wider scope and ability to influence wide-scale architectural changes than an equivalent at FAANGM. The pay is far lower of course, but the ability to make a *personal* wide impact on your chosen industry is far greater. That said, there are benefits to working in tech.. one being that those businesses “get” software because they are making money off of it. Much higher pay and generally much better engineering practices. Media companies view themselves as media companies, their dna is different and they don’t usually see software as the revenue source, its “IT”. ...so you will have constraints based on that naive understanding. I.e, the same culture that lets you make wholesale changes also limits you.
Great response, this reflects my experience as well. I would say in certain areas they recognize they are becoming - or need to become - tech companies, but don't make the necessary changes or investments to execute. Some still outsource all their software development which is not a good long-term strategy. To the point above, they need to own the technology decisions and build those engineering practices in order to attract strong technical talent (and compensate them better).
+1 to the best practices bit
Been at both, and in my opinion, traditional media companies have FAR lower pay, you work with less intelligent individuals, you work with worse tech, you aren’t promoted based on your contribution / it’s all about years spent, and things move very slow. Personal and profession growth can be hindered for these reasons. Personally, I’ll never go back to big media
I work for "big media" and the pay is great and people are super smart. Depends on the company
@AHiL54 honestly I have the exact same impression
If you want better pay and more applicable experience solving hard problems rather than just catching up, a tech company is way better. If you’re an exec you’ll do fine in either place. You’re still working for the sales and marketing folks in legacy media.
Do it for the pay, man. "High pay" doesn't capture it... you can likely swing 6-figure increase, more depending on how senior you are.
Tech! Wow laser focus on pay here, understandable. But you will also grow your skills more in tech and meet smarter, more interesting people, if you end up at the right company. Legacy media is mostly spinning its wheels trying to preserve what it can from outdated business practices. Btw I was a web producer at a large media company for 8 years before switching to tech.
Thanks for your response
I've worked in legacy media for vice and viacom. The one advantage is if you prove you are capable you can climb the ranks fast and touch lots of different areas of the business.
Agree with this. How are you liking VICE?
Personally I love working with the product and engineering team. We are small and scrappy but we get to touch a lot of cool stuff.
Tech. Legacy media companies are very far behind in terms of their use of data and their perspective on D2C. They just don’t understand how to put the customer first, or even why they should.
Depends on your role.. But if you are in tech. Then always tech. I had an offer from hbo max... I decided to not go for that mainly because it was not a tech company first.. and now I read about layoffs and reorgs... Back few years ago.. I had an offer from Walmart and amazon. Boy I am glad that I opted for amazon. For all the pip talks here, I learnt so much there. The thing is dna for tech companies are very different.. SLT team has different priorities.. once you have gained experience working in awesome tech companies.. then sure.. try out different things but I think there is a lot of value in going thru that grind and just soak knowledge like sponge
I have been working at the intersection of Tech and Media/Entertainment for a couple of years now, so here's what I'd say to new engineers: The DTC Industry is just getting warmed up, and it is going to be the primary mode of media consumption in the coming decades. Disney's acquisition of Hulu or Netlfix's heavy investment in producing originals, are a few datapoints which support this. In today's world, if a director wants to produce a movie/content and is expecting a higher reach in audience consumption, their only bet is to sign a contract with one of the streaming companies (Disney/Netflix, etc) Moving forward, this industry will swallow traditional cable television, News, Live Sports, etc, completely. Hulu and Netflix are both bleeding money right now. But once you hit the threshold monthly active users which outweighs the investment in content, whatever remains will be pure profit.
I’m not an engineer but this is great perspective. I agree with it. I said this to one of my mentors and she told me that legacy media is turning into tech so there is no difference. I disagreed with her because I honestly think it’s going to be hard for legacy media to keep up with tech
Take viewpoints from people in legacy media companies and as well as newer DTC Industry. Keep in mind that both might be biased. Then take your decision.