4 ms·

In my experience small companies tend to be the best to work for, but this varies wildly. Large companies are more reliably mediocre across the board, but bad

In my experience small companies tend to be the best to work for, but this varies wildly. Large companies are more reliably mediocre across the board, but bad small companies can be outright abusive (usually you can detect these with a few questions in an interview... for example, ask how often employees work outside of regular hours).

sys_64738 5y ago
I don't like working for small companies as it can be seat of your pants stuff very often. A lot of them don't understand the concept of what a fire fight is and how to avoid if one occurs. You also don't have as much flexibility if you're on vacation and your role isn't well seconded. Stability is another issue unless it's flush with cash. It can be a crapshoot but obviously it depends. Anyway, my experience is this.
PaulStatezny 5y ago
This is accurate in my experience. Actually, I'd say you're lucky if you find a small company that isn't at least mildly dysfunctional.
- munk-a 5y ago
  The silver lining with those dysfunctional ones, though, is that if you can clearly identify the issue your voice can probably carry enough weight (even as a new hire) to spur them to re-evaluate their process.
  - micromacrofoot 5y ago
    Yeah this is exactly why I like small companies... they're often not perfect, but you can do a lot as long as leadership is receptive to feedback (if leadership is bad, get out!). In large companies I've had a hard time just getting everyone into the same organization on Slack, let alone changing any policy or embedded behavior.
- bogomipz 5y ago
  Agreed. I'd be curious what people count as "small" these days though. Less than 100? Less than 50?
  - micromacrofoot 5y ago
    I'd say less than 100, but prefer less than 50 personally.
na85 5y ago
As soon as I hear "work hard play hard" I know it's a company that expects long hours for mediocre pay, and then the boss likes to go to the strip club on the weekend.
- edu115 5y ago
  "Word hard play hard" is one of our mottos. The office is empty by 5PM. I guess we're doing it wrong?
  - micromacrofoot 5y ago
    there are exceptions of course, but the phrase has become a big red flag

sys_64738 5y ago

I don't like working for small companies as it can be seat of your pants stuff very often. A lot of them don't understand the concept of what a fire fight is and how to avoid if one occurs. You also don't have as much flexibility if you're on vacation and your role isn't well seconded. Stability is another issue unless it's flush with cash. It can be a crapshoot but obviously it depends. Anyway, my experience is this.

PaulStatezny 5y ago

This is accurate in my experience. Actually, I'd say you're lucky if you find a small company that isn't at least mildly dysfunctional.

munk-a 5y ago
The silver lining with those dysfunctional ones, though, is that if you can clearly identify the issue your voice can probably carry enough weight (even as a new hire) to spur them to re-evaluate their process.
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  Yeah this is exactly why I like small companies... they're often not perfect, but you can do a lot as long as leadership is receptive to feedback (if leadership is bad, get out!). In large companies I've had a hard time just getting everyone into the same organization on Slack, let alone changing any policy or embedded behavior.
bogomipz 5y ago
Agreed. I'd be curious what people count as "small" these days though. Less than 100? Less than 50?
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  I'd say less than 100, but prefer less than 50 personally.

na85 5y ago

As soon as I hear "work hard play hard" I know it's a company that expects long hours for mediocre pay, and then the boss likes to go to the strip club on the weekend.

edu115 5y ago
"Word hard play hard" is one of our mottos. The office is empty by 5PM. I guess we're doing it wrong?
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  there are exceptions of course, but the phrase has become a big red flag