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If you have never worked for a major corporation, I would suggest taking the job at the major corporation. You will have gained real-world experience and the dr

by brentr 19y ago

If you have never worked for a major corporation, I would suggest taking the job at the major corporation. You will have gained real-world experience and the drive to never work for a major corporation ever again. I recommend working for a major corporation at the early part of your career because you will learn that inside a major corporation you are nothing but a cog in the machine. If you are happy doing that type of work then life for you is set. If you are not happy doing that type of work, then you now have the adult-equivalent of "don't touch that!" branded into your soul. In essence, the only way to know what type of person you are, start-up or big corporation, is to test the waters at a big corporation. The other way around doesn't work in my opinion because you need a stable environment in which to formulate a decision, and a startup would simply have to many unknowns to formulate the decision properly.

suboptimal 19y ago
"It depends." Taking a contrarian point of view, at the major corporation you might find yourself on a smaller team not unlike a startup, with supportive management, opportunities to work on diverse projects and a clear path for career growth and advancement. I worked at a company with several thousand employees that was much like the above. I bailed after a few months to go back to doing my own thing, but in retrospect it would have been a great company to continue working for. Several managers asked me to stay, not because I'm Mr. Wonderful but rather because they genuinely cared about keeping people on-board. One day after I left I had a voicemail from someone at the company, and I never returned the call because I figured it was some HR flack doing a survey or something. I later looked up the person's name and learned it was the Senior VP--that's how much they cared about losing an employee. I also worked at a small startup that kept us working 7 days a week, including holidays, for several months, then made a bad deal and dumped us all. "It depends."
edw519 19y ago
"because you will learn that inside a major corporation you are nothing but a cog in the machine" I bet you'll learn a helluva lot more than that. I'm not sure why there's such a negative undercurrent in this forum regarding larger organizations. Maybe negative experiences, maybe just heresay. Of course, the culture will be very different from a startup. But there's lots of good stuff, too. I've worked in quite a few large companies, but now mostly small ones. Invariably, one of my small clients runs into an issue that none of their 30 employees has ever encountered before. So they try to figure it out. Until I say, "Here's how you do that..." Am I a genius? No. I've just seen the exact same thing handled very well in several large companies. Also (invariably), one of my small clients has to hire a manager of <you name it> who has vast experience in a large company. They always bring solutions to lots of problems that no one has ever imagined there. Don't discount a large organization. It may be weighed down by its size, but you'll be able to witness LOTS of interesting stuff that you'll see nowhere else.
- brentr 19y ago
  I'd be glad to list a few of the other things I have learned while working for large corporations. (Lesson 1) Inside a large corporation, progress is impeded not by the intellect or imagination but by bureaucracy. (Lesson 2) Corporations will stab you in the back. I experienced my first layoff when I was 23. I accepted a position in July of 2006 and was told in September of 2006 that my job would be gone in February of 2007.
  - edw519 19y ago
    Brent, from your own profile: "After working for several miserable years in the banking and investment industries as a trust analyst and an equity trader..." Sorry you have had such negative experiences with large organizations (although in that industry, I'm not surprised). Welcome to the hacker's life. I sure expect that this career will go a lot better for you that that one. My experience is obviously very different from yours. I have worked in many large and small companies, and each has had its own pros and cons. I have seen some of the coolest technology in very large organizations and have also seen the worst office politics you can imagine in 20 person companies. I understand you sourness; just try to not let your negative experience turn into a false generalization that could limit opportunities for yourself or others.
- nostrademons 19y ago
  It could be because this is a rather self-selecting group. People who'd be happy at a large organization tend not to spend all their time on startups. I interned at a large (~6000 employee) company in high school, and a mid-size (~150 employee) company as a freshman in college. I found that the people there were generally happy - quite a bit happier than the average person in the startups I've worked at, actually. I also found that I would not be happy at a big corporation. I did well enough at my projects, found the work itself reasonably interesting, but it was not fulfilling in the sense that I could do it for a long period of time and not regret the time spent on it.
  - njoubert 19y ago
    I interned at Yahoo's research lab for 11 months last year, and it gave me some idea of a BIG high-tech company. Yes, I did experience quite a bit of the bureaucracy and sluggish speed of large corporations, but this was minimal compared to the fun I had, especially with the group of people I met and worked with. I'm specifically thinking in terms of future opportunities. Would you, as a hiring manager, be more interested in a candidate with obvious experience at well known names in the industry, or at startups that, possibly, no longer exist when the person comes around to interview with you?
pg 19y ago
You will have gained real-world experience and the drive to never work for a major corporation ever again. True, but it seems rather extreme to spend a whole summer to learn that, especially at this stage in his life. I suggest working for the smaller company, because you'll probably have more scope for trying new things, and thus learn more.
- far33d 19y ago
  If my guess at what this "big" company's identity is is correct.... The standard advice that is true for google/msft/oracle/yahoo/etc doesn't apply.
- wheels 19y ago
  I guess I kind of feel like this is asking, "Should I play rugby or do synchronized swimming this summer?" I mean, sure, they're both sports, but they're completely different games. I feel like the things I learned in a big and small companies are largely orthogonal and it's hard to say which is more valuable without knowing what the original poster is hoping to use that experience for.

by brentr 19y ago

suboptimal 19y ago

"It depends." Taking a contrarian point of view, at the major corporation you might find yourself on a smaller team not unlike a startup, with supportive management, opportunities to work on diverse projects and a clear path for career growth and advancement. I worked at a company with several thousand employees that was much like the above. I bailed after a few months to go back to doing my own thing, but in retrospect it would have been a great company to continue working for. Several managers asked me to stay, not because I'm Mr. Wonderful but rather because they genuinely cared about keeping people on-board. One day after I left I had a voicemail from someone at the company, and I never returned the call because I figured it was some HR flack doing a survey or something. I later looked up the person's name and learned it was the Senior VP--that's how much they cared about losing an employee. I also worked at a small startup that kept us working 7 days a week, including holidays, for several months, then made a bad deal and dumped us all. "It depends."

edw519 19y ago

"because you will learn that inside a major corporation you are nothing but a cog in the machine" I bet you'll learn a helluva lot more than that. I'm not sure why there's such a negative undercurrent in this forum regarding larger organizations. Maybe negative experiences, maybe just heresay. Of course, the culture will be very different from a startup. But there's lots of good stuff, too. I've worked in quite a few large companies, but now mostly small ones. Invariably, one of my small clients runs into an issue that none of their 30 employees has ever encountered before. So they try to figure it out. Until I say, "Here's how you do that..." Am I a genius? No. I've just seen the exact same thing handled very well in several large companies. Also (invariably), one of my small clients has to hire a manager of <you name it> who has vast experience in a large company. They always bring solutions to lots of problems that no one has ever imagined there. Don't discount a large organization. It may be weighed down by its size, but you'll be able to witness LOTS of interesting stuff that you'll see nowhere else.

brentr 19y ago
I'd be glad to list a few of the other things I have learned while working for large corporations. (Lesson 1) Inside a large corporation, progress is impeded not by the intellect or imagination but by bureaucracy. (Lesson 2) Corporations will stab you in the back. I experienced my first layoff when I was 23. I accepted a position in July of 2006 and was told in September of 2006 that my job would be gone in February of 2007.
- edw519 19y ago
  Brent, from your own profile: "After working for several miserable years in the banking and investment industries as a trust analyst and an equity trader..." Sorry you have had such negative experiences with large organizations (although in that industry, I'm not surprised). Welcome to the hacker's life. I sure expect that this career will go a lot better for you that that one. My experience is obviously very different from yours. I have worked in many large and small companies, and each has had its own pros and cons. I have seen some of the coolest technology in very large organizations and have also seen the worst office politics you can imagine in 20 person companies. I understand you sourness; just try to not let your negative experience turn into a false generalization that could limit opportunities for yourself or others.
nostrademons 19y ago
It could be because this is a rather self-selecting group. People who'd be happy at a large organization tend not to spend all their time on startups. I interned at a large (~6000 employee) company in high school, and a mid-size (~150 employee) company as a freshman in college. I found that the people there were generally happy - quite a bit happier than the average person in the startups I've worked at, actually. I also found that I would not be happy at a big corporation. I did well enough at my projects, found the work itself reasonably interesting, but it was not fulfilling in the sense that I could do it for a long period of time and not regret the time spent on it.
- njoubert 19y ago
  I interned at Yahoo's research lab for 11 months last year, and it gave me some idea of a BIG high-tech company. Yes, I did experience quite a bit of the bureaucracy and sluggish speed of large corporations, but this was minimal compared to the fun I had, especially with the group of people I met and worked with. I'm specifically thinking in terms of future opportunities. Would you, as a hiring manager, be more interested in a candidate with obvious experience at well known names in the industry, or at startups that, possibly, no longer exist when the person comes around to interview with you?

pg 19y ago

You will have gained real-world experience and the drive to never work for a major corporation ever again. True, but it seems rather extreme to spend a whole summer to learn that, especially at this stage in his life. I suggest working for the smaller company, because you'll probably have more scope for trying new things, and thus learn more.

far33d 19y ago
If my guess at what this "big" company's identity is is correct.... The standard advice that is true for google/msft/oracle/yahoo/etc doesn't apply.
wheels 19y ago
I guess I kind of feel like this is asking, "Should I play rugby or do synchronized swimming this summer?" I mean, sure, they're both sports, but they're completely different games. I feel like the things I learned in a big and small companies are largely orthogonal and it's hard to say which is more valuable without knowing what the original poster is hoping to use that experience for.