3 ms·

counter point: after working for small owner-run companies where the owner took everything personally, I will forever only work in big tech. The owner ran the

by itake 5y ago

counter point: after working for small owner-run companies where the owner took everything personally, I will forever only work in big tech. The owner ran the show and was emotional. Every time a competitor launched something new, they would change course and race to copy them. Ended up delivering nothing and eventually laid off after 1.5 years. At a big company, everyone is spending someone else's money and the people at the top realize they can't (and shouldn't!) change course every 3 mo.

zamadatix 5y ago
The hard part about choosing the small business route is you have to do a really good job (and somewhat get lucky) at screening the owner and company. I had only ever worked at mega corps my entire carrier until my latest job at a <100 employee founders run company. The company is post "come join our startup and try to make crazy money/change the world" but pre "as you can see on document 3 section 7 process 4 paragraph 2 item 2a sub iii it says we next need to get approval..." and has a solid income stream already while also focusing on sustainable growth rather than max growth. I knew one of the founders from back in the day and was able to meet with the other and some of the senior management and a few of the engineers multiple times before joining. I wouldn't have jumped at the time had I not had a similar level of confidence that I knew what the people and day-to-day were like. Now I could have missed some red flags or just had bad luck and regretted it/had a bad experience but just passing a year in I'm happier than ever with work and really excited about the future for at least the next 2-3 years (after that will depend on what the company looks like at that point). At the same time one could have missed red flags or just had bad luck with $MegaCorpN too. The company I left ended up outsourcing it's entire IT staff of thousands and rehiring a few core architects who now are all disappointed with the workload and most are looking elsewhere if they haven't already jumped ship. I've actaully worked toa get a few of those folks to come over to my current place.
- igetspam 5y ago
  This. I work for a narcissist piece of sh. Everyone is leaving because he's incompetent. I've been doing startups for most of the 20+ years of my career and I thought Marc Pincus was the worst I'd ever suffer through. This is worse. He smelled off (metaphorically) when I spoke with him but the goal made sense. He has f'ed it up completely by micro managing every aspect of the company, despite his lack of knowledge in almost all areas. Now I'm moving to part time for this place (for the sake of the eng team, I'm not doing a hard cut) and I'm consulting until I find an org that isn't run like a dumpster fire on meth.
- xivzgrev 5y ago
  Agreed. With small biz, it’s high reward / risk, because so much more depends on a small group of people In large companies things get standardized, so there’s a more likely chance of an average experience.
ubermonkey 5y ago
>the owner took everything personally I mean, it's important to pick the right owner. It's PARAMOUNT you be personally compatible. I've been at the same place for 14+ years for a reason.
brundolf 5y ago
There's a middle-ground. Aim for 50-200, and private. Small enough to be treated like a person, big enough to have an HR department.
- ubermonkey 5y ago
  There's probably a lot to be said for that approach. Isn't there some known-number for "above this population, organizations suffer?"
dzhiurgis 5y ago
Third point: I've worked with nice owner for about 3 years and last year he merged companies with someone who can barely write and berates his developers on zoom calls.
khc 5y ago
> At a big company, everyone is spending someone else's money and the people at the top realize they can't (and shouldn't!) change course every 3 mo. tell that to the google messaging teams :-D

by itake 5y ago

zamadatix 5y ago

The hard part about choosing the small business route is you have to do a really good job (and somewhat get lucky) at screening the owner and company. I had only ever worked at mega corps my entire carrier until my latest job at a <100 employee founders run company. The company is post "come join our startup and try to make crazy money/change the world" but pre "as you can see on document 3 section 7 process 4 paragraph 2 item 2a sub iii it says we next need to get approval..." and has a solid income stream already while also focusing on sustainable growth rather than max growth. I knew one of the founders from back in the day and was able to meet with the other and some of the senior management and a few of the engineers multiple times before joining. I wouldn't have jumped at the time had I not had a similar level of confidence that I knew what the people and day-to-day were like. Now I could have missed some red flags or just had bad luck and regretted it/had a bad experience but just passing a year in I'm happier than ever with work and really excited about the future for at least the next 2-3 years (after that will depend on what the company looks like at that point). At the same time one could have missed red flags or just had bad luck with $MegaCorpN too. The company I left ended up outsourcing it's entire IT staff of thousands and rehiring a few core architects who now are all disappointed with the workload and most are looking elsewhere if they haven't already jumped ship. I've actaully worked toa get a few of those folks to come over to my current place.

igetspam 5y ago
This. I work for a narcissist piece of sh. Everyone is leaving because he's incompetent. I've been doing startups for most of the 20+ years of my career and I thought Marc Pincus was the worst I'd ever suffer through. This is worse. He smelled off (metaphorically) when I spoke with him but the goal made sense. He has f'ed it up completely by micro managing every aspect of the company, despite his lack of knowledge in almost all areas. Now I'm moving to part time for this place (for the sake of the eng team, I'm not doing a hard cut) and I'm consulting until I find an org that isn't run like a dumpster fire on meth.
xivzgrev 5y ago
Agreed. With small biz, it’s high reward / risk, because so much more depends on a small group of people In large companies things get standardized, so there’s a more likely chance of an average experience.

ubermonkey 5y ago

>the owner took everything personally I mean, it's important to pick the right owner. It's PARAMOUNT you be personally compatible. I've been at the same place for 14+ years for a reason.

brundolf 5y ago

There's a middle-ground. Aim for 50-200, and private. Small enough to be treated like a person, big enough to have an HR department.

ubermonkey 5y ago
There's probably a lot to be said for that approach. Isn't there some known-number for "above this population, organizations suffer?"

dzhiurgis 5y ago

Third point: I've worked with nice owner for about 3 years and last year he merged companies with someone who can barely write and berates his developers on zoom calls.

khc 5y ago

> At a big company, everyone is spending someone else's money and the people at the top realize they can't (and shouldn't!) change course every 3 mo. tell that to the google messaging teams :-D