6 ms·

What even makes a good company? Everytime I think I found one, after some time I realize it's really not. Are the small ones the key?

by _def 4y ago

baxtr 4y ago
Good question. IDK. I think for me it’s a mix of good people and a good cause. What do you think?
- arethuza 4y ago
  Working with good people is the key to me. The problem with that is that it can change overnight when a senior leader leaves and someone new joins - I had one place that went from "great" to "awful" when a new CIO started and his culture started filtering down.
  - seb1204 4y ago
    There is truth in the saying that people don't leave companies but managers.
- _def 4y ago
  Yeah it's a difficult question. For me personally, the things you highlighted (good people, good cause) are the most important ones and I'm in the privileged position that I have a job where I like both those aspects. But it's kind of badly organized and that is a shame, maybe even because of growth.
lb1lf 4y ago
To paraphrase Chekhov - All large companies are the same. All small companies are different in their own different ways. IMHO large, corporate-style companies all appear to have read the same manuals on how to organize a company, so, minor variations aside, you know what you're going to get. Small companies don't hire from the same sources or don't reach critical mass in any departments to start down the track of the larger companies, so your experience there may vary a lot, for good and bad. I've spent approx. 12 years at large multinational engineering companies and 8 at small/medium size companies. I am now at a good, medium-size one (~150 employees, all told), and unless things change dramatically, this is where I'll have to clean out my office when I retire. Edit: To elaborate a little, I think the sweet spot where you are quite likely to find a decent experience is in a company which employs at least several tens of people, but no more than a couple hundred. Why? Because by the time it has reached that size, you will have dedicated people (that is, people allowed to spend time to become good at their niche, rather than being generalists) for most functions. Still, the company is small enough that most people in the organization at least are familiar to each other, making most interaction more flexible (IMHO) than if you're at a huge corporation where anybody is viewed as an easily replaceable resource.
- mejutoco 4y ago
  (Sorry to be that guy) Tolstoy. All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way (Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina)
  - lb1lf 4y ago
    D'oh, you're right! Sigh. I thought it had a Chekhovesque ring to it and was too lazy to look it up. Thanks!
- _def 4y ago
  Great answer to a difficult question, thank you.
lowercased 4y ago
Even at a small company... the 'good' aspects are in the eye of the beholder, and can change quickly. Some places I've been have been 'good' by department. People in dept X really ... tolerated things. Pay was decent, but periodic pushes for more 'work' burned out quite a few. But people in dept Y loved their setup. Each dept rated 'the company' relatively differently (not surprising). Another place was... nice. Good... Pleasant. I was on the tech side - around ~20 people in the tech dept (a little bit of networking, some software dev, some testing, some support, etc). We had around a year of everything just humming. Then a new day to day CEO comes in and 8 people left in 8 months. Out of 20... that's a lot. The new CEO was quite damaging (and, I think he knew that he was having a negative effect, and wanted that for reasons that would only benefit him). Suddenly, that company that was 'good' for years got bad real quick. Perhaps the 'good' companies are the ones where some larger culture can endure top leadership/personnel changes? Does that ever happen, or is it an inevitability?
P_I_Staker 4y ago
Idk it seems like many small companies can be just as toxic, and you can probably find a lot of cushy positions for big companies. Actually, small companies can be even more toxic, because the chance of this toxicity blowing something up is much less, and there may be powerful individuals, who have little to checks and balances. It seems like at most big companies no one person can really do anything major, it takes 2-5 powerful people; plus there's oversight above them that could theoretically act if the whole team starts going rogue. I've heard horror stories. Some of my colleagues have had to admit that while everyone may resent HR, you do NOT want to work for a company that does it badly.

What even makes a good company? Everytime I think I found one, after some time I realize it's really not. Are the small ones the key?

by _def 4y ago

What even makes a good company? Everytime I think I found one, after some time I realize it's really not. Are the small ones the key?

baxtr 4y ago

Good question. IDK. I think for me it’s a mix of good people and a good cause. What do you think?

arethuza 4y ago
Working with good people is the key to me. The problem with that is that it can change overnight when a senior leader leaves and someone new joins - I had one place that went from "great" to "awful" when a new CIO started and his culture started filtering down.
- seb1204 4y ago
  There is truth in the saying that people don't leave companies but managers.
_def 4y ago
Yeah it's a difficult question. For me personally, the things you highlighted (good people, good cause) are the most important ones and I'm in the privileged position that I have a job where I like both those aspects. But it's kind of badly organized and that is a shame, maybe even because of growth.

lb1lf 4y ago

To paraphrase Chekhov - All large companies are the same. All small companies are different in their own different ways. IMHO large, corporate-style companies all appear to have read the same manuals on how to organize a company, so, minor variations aside, you know what you're going to get. Small companies don't hire from the same sources or don't reach critical mass in any departments to start down the track of the larger companies, so your experience there may vary a lot, for good and bad. I've spent approx. 12 years at large multinational engineering companies and 8 at small/medium size companies. I am now at a good, medium-size one (~150 employees, all told), and unless things change dramatically, this is where I'll have to clean out my office when I retire. Edit: To elaborate a little, I think the sweet spot where you are quite likely to find a decent experience is in a company which employs at least several tens of people, but no more than a couple hundred. Why? Because by the time it has reached that size, you will have dedicated people (that is, people allowed to spend time to become good at their niche, rather than being generalists) for most functions. Still, the company is small enough that most people in the organization at least are familiar to each other, making most interaction more flexible (IMHO) than if you're at a huge corporation where anybody is viewed as an easily replaceable resource.

mejutoco 4y ago
(Sorry to be that guy) Tolstoy. All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way (Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina)
- lb1lf 4y ago
  D'oh, you're right! Sigh. I thought it had a Chekhovesque ring to it and was too lazy to look it up. Thanks!
_def 4y ago
Great answer to a difficult question, thank you.

lowercased 4y ago

Even at a small company... the 'good' aspects are in the eye of the beholder, and can change quickly. Some places I've been have been 'good' by department. People in dept X really ... tolerated things. Pay was decent, but periodic pushes for more 'work' burned out quite a few. But people in dept Y loved their setup. Each dept rated 'the company' relatively differently (not surprising). Another place was... nice. Good... Pleasant. I was on the tech side - around ~20 people in the tech dept (a little bit of networking, some software dev, some testing, some support, etc). We had around a year of everything just humming. Then a new day to day CEO comes in and 8 people left in 8 months. Out of 20... that's a lot. The new CEO was quite damaging (and, I think he knew that he was having a negative effect, and wanted that for reasons that would only benefit him). Suddenly, that company that was 'good' for years got bad real quick. Perhaps the 'good' companies are the ones where some larger culture can endure top leadership/personnel changes? Does that ever happen, or is it an inevitability?

P_I_Staker 4y ago

Idk it seems like many small companies can be just as toxic, and you can probably find a lot of cushy positions for big companies. Actually, small companies can be even more toxic, because the chance of this toxicity blowing something up is much less, and there may be powerful individuals, who have little to checks and balances. It seems like at most big companies no one person can really do anything major, it takes 2-5 powerful people; plus there's oversight above them that could theoretically act if the whole team starts going rogue. I've heard horror stories. Some of my colleagues have had to admit that while everyone may resent HR, you do NOT want to work for a company that does it badly.