When I was younger and didn’t have a family to look after: I really enjoyed working at a small (30 person) startup with some folks I had been to university with

When I was younger and didn’t have a family to look after: I really enjoyed working at a small (30 person) startup with some folks I had been to university with, and some really amazing programming mentors I wouldn’t have met in a BigCo. Working late occasionally, or more often just spending time with colleagues I was also friends with after work; and hacking away in close collaboration with them during working hours, taking long lunches and talking through tech problems. It was a really thrilling and enjoyable part of my life! But everything (even sweet things) comes to an end. The CEO was a sales guy and eventually tech debt languished under the weight of one-off features, and one of my closer mentors took off to start his own startup. I got married and stopped coming in to the office as frequently, eventually I found a new job. Full time remote (though we offsite 4 times a year together). I’ve been happy the entire time. Working at that small startup was great in the office. Working at this larger and more mature tech company with an incredible fully remote culture has also been great. As is the answer for so many tech questions: “it depends”.