4 ms·

How do you find the best high paying jobs at smaller shops? Where do you look to find out about those companies?

blackflame7000 7y ago
Government contracting work can pay decently as long as you don't get stuck being a sub-subcontractor where everyone has taken their cut before giving you the task to complete.
bob1029 7y ago
That is the difficult part. You probably won't find the high paying jobs up front. What I had to do was take a modest salary up front and then revolutionize the business from within before I saw any major payout. This is how I prefer to do things though. If you are looking for good pay but don't necessarily want to bust your ass for unknown payout, you are honestly better off looking at some mega corps and getting what you want up front. The equation seems to be: Megacorp: - Large up-front salary and benefits package. - More bullshit process just to get an interview and a job. - Non-existent-to-modest growth path. - Work just enough to get by or as hard as you can stand to, won't matter. - Contributions can feel meaningless due to all of the layers of people and process involved. - Stable work environment, you feel like your job will always be there. Mom & Pop shop: - Regrettable up-front salary and marginal benefits. - Can be hired on the spot, will likely interview with the owners of the business on first or 2nd round. - Can work your way onto the board and can have major pull on decisions. Sometimes, you will even become the executive decision maker for an entire project due to the team scale. - Must work your ass off on an almost daily basis because you have a small or no team. Conversely, this also means your successes are directly visible to the business owners, as you don't have to fight through middle management, HR and other team members to get to your kudos (money/position). - Contributions can feel incredible if you are on a successful project, or at least moving it in that direction. - Potentially more unstable work environment. Smaller businesses are much more likely to fail, so this can add to your stress levels significantly. Especially, if your project is the only thing keeping the lights on. I found my current role on a StackOverflow careers posting. Nothing special at first glance, but I've really enjoyed the experience thus far. It really is what you make of it when you take up a position at a smaller business. I will never have this amount of impact at a place like Google/Amazon/Facebook/Microsoft.

Government contracting work can pay decently as long as you don't get stuck being a sub-subcontractor where everyone has taken their cut before giving you the task to complete.

bob1029 7y ago

That is the difficult part. You probably won't find the high paying jobs up front. What I had to do was take a modest salary up front and then revolutionize the business from within before I saw any major payout. This is how I prefer to do things though. If you are looking for good pay but don't necessarily want to bust your ass for unknown payout, you are honestly better off looking at some mega corps and getting what you want up front. The equation seems to be: Megacorp: - Large up-front salary and benefits package. - More bullshit process just to get an interview and a job. - Non-existent-to-modest growth path. - Work just enough to get by or as hard as you can stand to, won't matter. - Contributions can feel meaningless due to all of the layers of people and process involved. - Stable work environment, you feel like your job will always be there. Mom & Pop shop: - Regrettable up-front salary and marginal benefits. - Can be hired on the spot, will likely interview with the owners of the business on first or 2nd round. - Can work your way onto the board and can have major pull on decisions. Sometimes, you will even become the executive decision maker for an entire project due to the team scale. - Must work your ass off on an almost daily basis because you have a small or no team. Conversely, this also means your successes are directly visible to the business owners, as you don't have to fight through middle management, HR and other team members to get to your kudos (money/position). - Contributions can feel incredible if you are on a successful project, or at least moving it in that direction. - Potentially more unstable work environment. Smaller businesses are much more likely to fail, so this can add to your stress levels significantly. Especially, if your project is the only thing keeping the lights on. I found my current role on a StackOverflow careers posting. Nothing special at first glance, but I've really enjoyed the experience thus far. It really is what you make of it when you take up a position at a smaller business. I will never have this amount of impact at a place like Google/Amazon/Facebook/Microsoft.