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Ask HN: Going to work for a big corporate as a developer?

After searching around here for similar question I could find plenty of posts asking for advice in the following career trajectories: Big corporate --> Work in a startup Big corporate --> Start a company However I am keen to ask what peoples experiences have been for * Startup / Small/Medium Tech company --> Big Corporate The company is very big in the automobiles market and they are now doing a lot of projects to do with electric vehicles. Since they are a monolith, they decided to startup a separate tech company inside their organisation to work on these EV products. So they are claiming to have a high a good degree of autonomy from the rest of the company. The salary is good, and its early days for the team. However I am worried about bureaucracy which does frustrate me. After some google-fu, it seems that being a software developer in a big corporate is bit more laid back. However it is more prone to archaic business models and management plus you are at risk of vegetating away to a comfortable pension. Most of us have seen Office Space and can relate to those situations Interested to hear peoples experiences and advice. Thanks

dylanhassinger 8y ago
in my experience, pay and benefits are good, but autonomy is non-existent. all decisions are dictated from the top and none of my ideas ever got tried
- mothsonasloth 8y ago
  yea thats what I am worried about
tboyd47 8y ago
I started my career at a startup and worked there for 3 years. Since then I bounced around at various companies of all sizes. Smallest company was 5 people. Largest was over 70,000. A company is a miniature command economy that is insulated from the larger free market and interacts with it as a whole. I'm skeptical of "small autonomous teams" inside a large company. That sounds like a VP or Director who wasn't able to find greater support from the rest of the company on his pet project and managed to secure a small budget to run everything himself. Unless you're talking about a small startup that was acquired by the large company and was granted autonomy to continue business as usual while the larger org decides what to do with the team and IP. It's impossible to say "being a software developer in a big corporate is <Cultural Norm X>" because each manager runs their own team with their own managerial style. You'll find every stress level and every team structure in a single large corp. Culture wise it's nothing but a collection of diverse people. But I can say this about software projects at large companies: you will have many stakeholders on any given project, whether or not you are aware of it. Even if you are given "autonomy," if your project is successful it will eventually come into contact with the larger org and you will suddenly find new people with all-new demands on the project. Satisfying all these people is impossible and stress-inducing but that's part of why large corps pay so much better.
- mothsonasloth 8y ago
  Thanks for your input, would you say the stress levels are the same as what you would get in a startup? In terms of culture, I have no idea what it will be like. I will be their 14th hire as a senior developer.
  - tboyd47 8y ago
    Different things stress different people out. My highest stress job was at the largest company. My startup job was medium stress (mind you, I don't live in SV). The sweet spot for me has usually been mid-size companies. What do you think causes you the most stress?
    - mothsonasloth 8y ago
      Things like commuting, having fixed working hours, trapped in an expensive lifestyle. Which is why I quit my job in London. Deadlines and technical problems dont bother me too much. This job is flexible working and is in a cheaper city with good links and at a London salary which is why I am attracted to it.
      - tboyd47 8y ago
        I say, go for it. Large companies are just large because they have more people on the payroll. If the job and team looks right to you, it doesn't matter how big the company is.
jetti 8y ago
One thing that really sucks about "Big Corporate" is that raises and bonuses are typically pretty standard no matter performance of that individual. You do amazing and save the company $100 million? Great, 4% bonus! Do the bare minimum to get by? Great, 2% bonus! And then there is the standard raise which will keep up with inflation, if you're lucky. The only way I've found to get a big raise is to either have another job offer in hand and negotiate or get promoted.
- mothsonasloth 8y ago
  Interesting, sounds like these are places you can do the bare minimum and do alright.
  - jetti 8y ago
    Yep. They can be really good for those looking for a steady paycheck and just clock in and clock out and be done with work. I don't work after I leave work (with incredibly rare exceptions), I get 25 days of PTO and the ability to work remote as needed. The work is boring but I do side projects on my own outside of work to keep my skills sharp and to scratch my "exciting" coding itch.

dylanhassinger 8y ago

in my experience, pay and benefits are good, but autonomy is non-existent. all decisions are dictated from the top and none of my ideas ever got tried

mothsonasloth 8y ago
yea thats what I am worried about

tboyd47 8y ago

I started my career at a startup and worked there for 3 years. Since then I bounced around at various companies of all sizes. Smallest company was 5 people. Largest was over 70,000. A company is a miniature command economy that is insulated from the larger free market and interacts with it as a whole. I'm skeptical of "small autonomous teams" inside a large company. That sounds like a VP or Director who wasn't able to find greater support from the rest of the company on his pet project and managed to secure a small budget to run everything himself. Unless you're talking about a small startup that was acquired by the large company and was granted autonomy to continue business as usual while the larger org decides what to do with the team and IP. It's impossible to say "being a software developer in a big corporate is <Cultural Norm X>" because each manager runs their own team with their own managerial style. You'll find every stress level and every team structure in a single large corp. Culture wise it's nothing but a collection of diverse people. But I can say this about software projects at large companies: you will have many stakeholders on any given project, whether or not you are aware of it. Even if you are given "autonomy," if your project is successful it will eventually come into contact with the larger org and you will suddenly find new people with all-new demands on the project. Satisfying all these people is impossible and stress-inducing but that's part of why large corps pay so much better.

mothsonasloth 8y ago
Thanks for your input, would you say the stress levels are the same as what you would get in a startup? In terms of culture, I have no idea what it will be like. I will be their 14th hire as a senior developer.
- tboyd47 8y ago
  Different things stress different people out. My highest stress job was at the largest company. My startup job was medium stress (mind you, I don't live in SV). The sweet spot for me has usually been mid-size companies. What do you think causes you the most stress?
  - mothsonasloth 8y ago
    Things like commuting, having fixed working hours, trapped in an expensive lifestyle. Which is why I quit my job in London. Deadlines and technical problems dont bother me too much. This job is flexible working and is in a cheaper city with good links and at a London salary which is why I am attracted to it.
    - tboyd47 8y ago
      I say, go for it. Large companies are just large because they have more people on the payroll. If the job and team looks right to you, it doesn't matter how big the company is.

jetti 8y ago

One thing that really sucks about "Big Corporate" is that raises and bonuses are typically pretty standard no matter performance of that individual. You do amazing and save the company $100 million? Great, 4% bonus! Do the bare minimum to get by? Great, 2% bonus! And then there is the standard raise which will keep up with inflation, if you're lucky. The only way I've found to get a big raise is to either have another job offer in hand and negotiate or get promoted.

mothsonasloth 8y ago
Interesting, sounds like these are places you can do the bare minimum and do alright.
- jetti 8y ago
  Yep. They can be really good for those looking for a steady paycheck and just clock in and clock out and be done with work. I don't work after I leave work (with incredibly rare exceptions), I get 25 days of PTO and the ability to work remote as needed. The work is boring but I do side projects on my own outside of work to keep my skills sharp and to scratch my "exciting" coding itch.