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I generally agree that the brightest and most enthusiastic engineers I've ever met hated big enterprise tech teams, but it doesn't mean that someone isn't good

I generally agree that the brightest and most enthusiastic engineers I've ever met hated big enterprise tech teams, but it doesn't mean that someone isn't good at their craft because they've spent a long time in enterprise. In general the popular reasons for disliking enterprise tech: - The tech is generally years behind what people are doing now and risk aversion is generally above all else. No new and shiny, which means you're generally not that attractive to other companies that are doing pretty cool stuff. - Everything is slow. Things require approval from people who have no idea who you are and what you're trying to accomplish. - Apathy. You are but a tiny cog in a very large machine. Your Herculean efforts may not even cause a ripple anywhere outside of your team (if that) so why? Punch the clock, do your job, go home. - Beauracracy. See risk aversion and apathy. Your novel idea is but a flight of fancy that could cause a middle manager with no technical expertise a bonus. I spent my first four years out of university working for very large companies and I was so very bored and stifled I was crawling out of my skin during the work day. I also found that I could get a month's worth of work done and be so far ahead of my peers in a week that I could basically check out, show up just for meetings, then go to a coffee shop/"work from home" and work on my own projects or consult for other companies. I definitely learned things about process and organization that could be scaled to smaller teams and companies that continues to help me today, but I could never go work for a huge company again.

cmdrfred 10y ago
Thanks for the honesty man, I'm glad I'm not the only one.
karmajunkie 10y ago
Just playing devils advocate here, but what I just read was "I got awesome stability and a good paycheck, and while that part of my career wasn't all that interesting I had plenty of time to do other interesting stuff with almost zero risk."
- manyxcxi 10y ago
  I would agree with that 100% In some other HN comments over the years I've suggested that a very good path for young people is to start with the big companies. You will likely be set up with more support, free time, and lower stress so that you can get your feet under you and figure out life in tech with little risk. For the enthusiastic and generally well prepared you will likely be bored in 6-9 months. Maybe a year. For the very green, "I got into CS because of the paycheck/whatever" crowd, they've probably found their career. The big companies treated me as well as they could in my short stints and I was paid VERY WELL coming out of school and I learned a ton about careers in technology and how it's not just about the code and I truly feel I owe my career jump start to my experiences at those first three companies. However, I'd never go back to working for a large company again. The variety, multidisciplinary teams and tasks, the ability to affect change in a smaller organization, the camaraderie and enthusiasm displayed in even a 100 person, 15 year old company aren't even in the same ballpark as those of a big company.
  - karmajunkie 10y ago
    I had a similar experience starting out, and when I moved to startups I felt that way for a long time, but I took on an enterprise client I've been working with for about 2.5 years now and its kind of awesome. Not really a typical situation though—flexible hours, small group that runs really well, we get to do basically whatever we feel like the situation calls for. I could definitely see it going the other way if they were more like an HP or Dell or <insert F500 company here>.

cmdrfred 10y ago

Thanks for the honesty man, I'm glad I'm not the only one.

karmajunkie 10y ago

Just playing devils advocate here, but what I just read was "I got awesome stability and a good paycheck, and while that part of my career wasn't all that interesting I had plenty of time to do other interesting stuff with almost zero risk."

manyxcxi 10y ago
I would agree with that 100% In some other HN comments over the years I've suggested that a very good path for young people is to start with the big companies. You will likely be set up with more support, free time, and lower stress so that you can get your feet under you and figure out life in tech with little risk. For the enthusiastic and generally well prepared you will likely be bored in 6-9 months. Maybe a year. For the very green, "I got into CS because of the paycheck/whatever" crowd, they've probably found their career. The big companies treated me as well as they could in my short stints and I was paid VERY WELL coming out of school and I learned a ton about careers in technology and how it's not just about the code and I truly feel I owe my career jump start to my experiences at those first three companies. However, I'd never go back to working for a large company again. The variety, multidisciplinary teams and tasks, the ability to affect change in a smaller organization, the camaraderie and enthusiasm displayed in even a 100 person, 15 year old company aren't even in the same ballpark as those of a big company.
- karmajunkie 10y ago
  I had a similar experience starting out, and when I moved to startups I felt that way for a long time, but I took on an enterprise client I've been working with for about 2.5 years now and its kind of awesome. Not really a typical situation though—flexible hours, small group that runs really well, we get to do basically whatever we feel like the situation calls for. I could definitely see it going the other way if they were more like an HP or Dell or <insert F500 company here>.