Avoid growth companies. Small companies can be laid back and sleepy. I once worked at a small manufacturer of serial-to-ethernet boxes run by a bunch of older

Avoid growth companies. Small companies can be laid back and sleepy. I once worked at a small manufacturer of serial-to-ethernet boxes run by a bunch of older folks who seemingly just wanted the company to survive until they retired. I also worked at a small defense contractor. Great work-life balance and a very friendly environment. No backstabbing or politics. AFAICT, 99% of "software companies" are outside of the asshole belt(i.e. SiValley). They won't pay you $400k/year, but you probably won't care. My opinion on SiValley just keeps getting lower, frankly. It doesn't help that I'd have about the same amount of money in the bank($300k) after almost 3 years of working my ass off as if I had stayed at home at my lower-paying job and just let my home appreciate in value. From what I hear, the larger SiV companies are starting to hire people into non-SiV offices, so hopefully the valley stops getting worse and those companies don't export their caustic work ethics to the rest of the nation.