When I was working with Turner Broadcasting / WarnerMedia, I got a lot of questions about my experience. And even though, I no longer work with the company, I still get questions about how to land jobs at WarnerMedia (now Warner Bros. Discovery), and what it’s really like to work at WarnerMedia. I wrote about “how to land a job at WarnerMedia” and “how to stand out in the WarnerMedia application process” in part 1 of this WarnerMedia series.
So, in part 2 (this article) I’ll chat through all the things that come after you successfully pass the WarnerMedia application and interview processes. This article will be set up in a FAQ style to answer all of the common questions that I have and continue to receive. I’ll answer questions surrounding WarnerMedia’s company culture, the people, the DEI initiatives, the Atlanta Techwood campus, the career growth opportunities, and why I ultimately decided to leave WarnerMedia.
I also wrote a few other posts about my time and experience in my specific role as a Turner Sports Digital Marketing Specialist:
- Post 1: A day in the life post that detailed my daily duties as a Digital Marketing Specialist at WarnerMedia’s Turner Sports brand
- Post 2: An interview-style post about how I got started in Digital Marketing, including my education, past experience, and more
Feel free to read all of the posts that I mentioned above to get some background knowledge about my experiences before diving into this one.
How did you transition from a WarnerMedia trainee to a full-time employee?
I put in the work, stayed curious, and learned everything that I could about my role and team. That’s it, that’s the tweet! No seriously, my team had a lot of work to do, and I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. It seemed like our work was never-ending, and we always had something new to work on as well.
I proved that I could really move the needle forward, and help knock out some of the work that my team needed help doing. So when it came time to talk about promotion to full-time, it was a no-brainer! Plus, the whole purpose of the trainee program, was to train you up to eventually be full-time on a team. That’s why I actually liked it a little better than the apprenticeship and post-grad internship programs. With those, you were not guaranteed a full-time position on the teams you were working with.
How did you get your other promotions?
It was a mixture of hard work, confidence, and a dash of luck. I’d say hard work and confidence the most, because like I mentioned previously, I worked hard. I raised my hand for new projects, and I also made up projects that would help move my team forward. I’d say luck was next because there are things that happened (i.e. people leaving the team/company, new projects getting added to the team, etc.) that made me moving up a tad bit easier.
What is it like to work at WarnerMedia on Techwood Campus?
I worked for WarnerMedia in Atlanta. As far as I know, Atlanta had three WarnerMedia campuses: the CNN Center, Techwood, and the Adult Swim building. CNN was a bit more buttoned-up in my opinion. That’s where all the news broadcasts took place. Adult Swim was super relaxed, like a start-up vibe. It was like being in another world over there. Techwood in my opinion was a good mix, and the vibe — in terms of the type of people, the style of dress, etc– depended on the brand that you worked for.
I can really only tell you about what it’s like to work on the WarnerMedia Techwood Atlanta campus because that’s where I was based. I’m not mad at that though, because I believe all the exciting things happened at the Techwood location. I really enjoyed it because it really did feel like a little community. Anytime my friends came to visit me at work, they’d see everybody walking around with their backpacks and they’d say “this kind of looks like a college campus.” And it totally did! It had a college campus vibe.
There was a cafeteria/food hall area, the workstations were open desk workstations (similar to what you might find in a startup/tech environment), there were sleek conference rooms, there were phone booths there was a quad, and outdoor seating where you could work, and a bunch of other stuff that felt “college-y” You’d see people sitting outside, working from their laptops or just sitting out there taking a break from their everyday work.
I worked in one of the buildings on one of the floors that had yet not yet been updated, and we had little cubicles, instead of the open desk environments. I didn’t entirely enjoy being in a cube, but I was fine because if I felt like moving, I’d just go to our cafeteria area, sit outside, or sit in a phone booth. I spent the most time working in the cafeteria because it was designed to mimic the Ponce City Market, and it had that really nice open space design. I also could easily refuel at the salad bar, Pizza station, smoothie station, or one of the many other food areas.
What’s the culture and people like at WarnerMedia?
The People
In terms of the people, everyone was really nice and accessible. So for example, if you wanted to have a conversation with the VP or Director of a team, they would take time out of their day to have a conversation with you. Coffee Chats at the on-campus Starbucks or lunch in the Market were very popular occurrences on the campus.
BRGs + WarnerMedia Side Hustles
I also really loved that you could explore outside of your day job at the company too. If you wanted to, you could get into whatever you wanted to. It was like being an entrepreneur at work. One way most people did it was through Business Resource Groups (BRGs). These were groups that moved the business forward, by allowing employees to develop both their professional and personal skills outside of their daily tasks.
I got really into the Women in Tech BRG when I first started with the company. Through this BRG, I helped with a program called Girls Who Code as a campus counselor. I loved it because I was basically a summer camp counselor for a group of high school girls who were interested in tech. I was doing everything from helping coordinate field trips to chaperoning, to letting the girls job shadow me. It was just a super cool growth opportunity for the girls who attended the program, and I was happy to be making an impact.
Towards the end of my WarnerMedia tenure, I also got really involved with the Black Professionals BRG on the communications team. This position helped me stretch my writing and creativity skills a bit more. I liked working with both BRGs because they always had exciting programs going on, and I felt like it was a good way for me to really learn about how WarnerMedia impacted local Atlanta communities. I also loved meeting coworkers that I would never have had the opportunity to interface with if I hadn’t teamed up with them on some of our BRG projects.
On top of those BRGs, I also joined our Corporate Social Responsibility Council. The CSR Council was a group that helped plan volunteer projects for our employees on campus. Our biggest project was our yearly global volunteer day. This was a day filled with global volunteer projects that all WarnerMedia employees did, no matter where they lived or what communities they were in.
Joining these BRGs and working on the CSR Council, helped me solidify the type of work I loved doing, the type of environment I worked best in, and helped me restructure my overall work values. In general, WarnerMedia is a really good company, so it really laid a good foundation for what a good and positive workplace looked like. I think the WarnerMedia Atlanta leaders did a good job of promoting that. I also attribute the WarnerMedia Atlanta culture to the legacy Turner folks (aka the people who worked for Turner Broadcasting, before it became WarnerMedia, and now Warner Bros. Discovery).
What are the career development opportunities like at WarnerMedia?
Official WarnerMedia Career Development Opps
In terms of career development, there were a lot of opportunities, but I honestly believe it will largely depend on the effort that you put into it. The company is HUGE, so the different initiatives might look different depending on which property/brand you work for. For example, I worked on Turner Sports, and I joined something called the Passport Program. This was a program, that allowed TSports employees to job shadow other TSports employees at large Tent Pole Events (i.e. March Madness, NBA All-Star Weekend, etc.) That was a great career development opportunity because it opened my eyes to other job functions within the company.
DIY Career Development Opps
I also took it upon myself to do my create my own job shadowing opportunities, which you could totally do too. I shadowed people who worked for Cartoon Network and CNN when I first started with the company. I thought this was especially important because I went to school for something that was very niche (film/tv production), and this was a good way to see where else I could possibly get into with the company. I also really wanted to how our company’s different brands functioned and made money, so this was the perfect way to do it.
Finding Holes on My Team
I’ll further say that paying attention to what was important to my team, and streamlining our processes were also good for my career development. After identifying holes, I was able to correct them, and take on additional roles/work. This was a good way to get promoted, and sometimes, it could even lead to you creating your own role. In my case, I didn’t get to create my own role, but I learned a ton.
BRG Specific Career Development Opps
Another thing that I loved, was that career development existed beyond my day job. The BRGs at WarnerMedia hosted a few programs that centered around helping young talent at the company level up, so I joined them! One of the programs that I joined, was through Black Professionals. That one was more about prepping you for a promotion (updating your resume, learning how to give presentations, learning your work style, etc).
Information Interviews
No matter where you are in your career at the company, informational interviews/coffee chats were a must. I kicked my coffee chats into high gear when I got to the point where I really felt like I knew the ins and outs of my job, and was ready to take on more. I explored the company to see what else we had going on and where the company was headed. I also had a standing coffee chat with a few mentors within the company to talk through my career goals and future with the company.
What are your overall thoughts on working at WarnerMedia?
I have nothing but love for WarnerMedia. As I mentioned previously, it really set the foundation for what a positive and uplifting work environment looked like. Overall, I have nothing bad to say it’s such an amazing company to work for. Again, I only worked on the Atlanta Techwood campus and I cannot speak to what it’s like to work on other WarnerMedia campuses, but I do know that the people within the company (no matter their location) are very open about the work that they do, and they constantly celebrate the work that the company does.
The people are supportive and experts in their fields, there’s always something going on, and the work is never too stressful. That’s why I always tell people that WarnerMedia is a good place to start and end your career, but not to spend your entire career at. I only say this because I think that it’s important to explore the market and learn how other companies are living and breathing in the world. The world of media and entertainment is constantly shapeshifting, so I feel that experiencing other types of media, and learning how other companies attract customers and run their operations, could help you level up quickly in your career.
The biggest advice I’d give someone who’s looking into joining is to really pay attention to your time with the company. Time moves fast at the company, and it’s easy to become a legacy (someone who’s been with a company for a long time), so if you start to learn the product/work like the back of your hand, and you get to the point where you know exactly what you’ll be doing every day, I’d say take a leap of faith and step out and do something different. I promise the people around you, especially the WarnerMedia folks, will not be upset by your decision, and they will understand that you have to grow and learn.
Why did you decide to leave WarnerMedia?
Play “Say Goodbye” by Chris Brown while you read my answer. LOL
My last point, about taking a leap of faith, set me up nicely here.
Nothing is perfect, your goals change, and sometimes you just outgrow where you are, PLUS, you shouldn’t want to stay somewhere forever anyway. I am very ambitious and entrepreneurial about my career goals. I love doing a lot of things at one time, and I reached a point where I knew that it was time for me to step out and try something new.
So by the time I decided to start looking, I had made up in my mind that I really wanted to work for a young company that was rapidly growing or even a tech company that had been established for a little bit but was also experiencing some sort of growth. I’d successfully experienced a big legacy entertainment company, so now it was time for me to shake it up, jump out of my comfort zone, and experience the complete opposite (or as close as I could get to it.)
For those who have a similar goal or mindset, there is nothing wrong with starting your career with or staying at a large company. Just know that if you want to level up in your career fast and learn a lot quickly, then you might want to take the route that I’ve decided to go. Personally, I attempted to move around to smaller teams, growing teams, and innovative teams within WarnerMedia, but it was harder to move than I thought.
After talking with friends who also worked at bigger, legacy companies, I came to the conclusion that most big organizations are kind of difficult to move around in and level up in. I believe it’s due to a few things:
- No One Leaves! Legacy companies are a dream for people who value stability. And when you find one that has a pretty solid culture, you never want to leave. So, some people really stay in their roles forever. Okay, maybe not forever, but they do tend to stay longer, which makes it hard for new talent to grow and get promoted.
- They Watch the Money Closely. Budgets are tighter, and sometimes managers run into trouble when approving new roles or functions, so it takes a long time to get promotions.
- Competition is Thick. The talent pools are massive, making the competition thick (yes even if you are an internal candidate).
- The Business Units Are Siloed. Once you’re in the company, for one thing, it’s hard to prove that your skills will translate across different business units. It can also be hard to get your name out there. And if people don’t know who you are, how are you going to prove you know how to do something?
Overall I’d say, the bigger the company the more hurdles you’ll be faced with as you’re trying to get promoted, grow or level up in your career. In the end, I’d had a decent amount of time to experience the company, and after a while, I just didn’t feel like these battles were worth fighting anymore. I decided that I really needed to go somewhere where decisions were made faster, where I could grow very quickly, and where I could just experience something new.
I’m not saying it’s impossible to conquer any of these challenges though, so if you’re reading this and you’re currently working for WarnerMedia, or another large company, and leaving is not an option, then take a shot at overcoming those challenges I listed above or whatever challenges you’re facing.
What’s Next?
Let’s get you prepped, to land a job at WarnerMedia! Check out some of the resume and interview resources below.
