Anxious about applying for a new job as a Junior

BlueAnon

I recently left my first job (1 and a half year) out of school due to the insane hours. Ever since we transitioned to a WFH set up we had constant mandatory OTs almost everyday and at least 2 mandatory weekend work per month. It felt terrible not feeling at ease in your own home.

I’m currently working on my portfolio while studying for a possible new career path outside 3D. I’m honestly hesitant to apply for a new job because of the chance the new company will be the same or worse. I’m seeing a trend of wfh means less of a work life balance. It’s very unrealistic to wait for everything to get back to ‘normal’ cause in my country that seems like years away.

Any advice for juniors on how to handle this? How are you guys doing with wfh? I hope all of you are safe!

Neox

where are you located? because technically wfh or working in an office should not mean any difference to your working conditions.

BlueAnon

Hi @Neox I'm located in Asia. A lot in my working condition changed from the office to my home. Not seeing your workmates was a bigger blow to me than I expected. I enjoyed asking them about their process throughout the day and general conversations. Since everything was done through online now. I had a feeling that I shouldn't bother the anymore. 

It was the first time any of us started working from home so it took a lot of time adjust. 

Neox

yeah its not the easiest especially if the entire company wasn't built around remote work yet. that said, get a company chat, say slack or discord or something. you can do calls to sync up or hang out. you don't have to all be home alone for the entire time.

sorry to hear that your company pushed overtime on you guys thanks to that, bud sadly i have zero experience with work rights in asian countries.

that said, check with artists at the companies you wanna apply to how they handle work from home and overtime before actually applying. if the working condition are good or bad, you will know pretty quickly. don't ask hr people, just the actual workers. if they are scared this might be nda information, it sounds fishy to me and potentially means a lot of crunch.

BlueAnon

Thanks for the advice. Yeah hopefully when I finish my new portfolio piece soon the burnout feeling goes away already haha. Thank you!