I think this is a really key thing to take into account when choosing where to work. Where I am now I report directly to one of the founders, and I'm one step r

I think this is a really key thing to take into account when choosing where to work. Where I am now I report directly to one of the founders, and I'm one step removed from the CEO, that means there's approximately zero ceremony around tracking achievements and value added. The same was true in other small companies I've worked for. The ceremony starts to be introduced when people become further removed from those who are ultimately responsible. In my previous job there was a whole process, company wide, to ensure everyone got properly ranked based on performance and potential. As a management team we'd spend half a day every six months just going through this process, which was preceded by everyone in the company doing a self-assessment that would then be reviewed by your manager. It was all incredibly tedious. Some people thrive in an environment where what you're doing is driven by whatever currently seems the most important, and value is apparent just from everyone knowing what's going on. Others want more structure to things, and a clear path to get from where they are to where they want to be. I don't see either as being invalid.