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I've worked for 15 years in a couple of large companies and this simply has not been my experience. I've worked on interesting stuff, met a huge variety of peop
by LVB 15y ago
I've worked for 15 years in a couple of large companies and this simply has not been my experience. I've worked on interesting stuff, met a huge variety of people, even got to live overseas for a few years. While a large company environment isn't a startup environment, that doesn't mean it has to be stifling or boring.
Every company is different. Broad generalizations that working for a small/large company will necessarily mean X, Y and Z are likely inaccurate. The key is the ability to be honest to yourself about what you want/need, what you have, and to have the guts to pull the trigger and make changes if necessary.
- BadassFractal 15y agoIf you're in a position to be able to network on the job, learn continuously, work on exciting projects, advance up the ladder, and not have a PHB to make your life hell, then by all means you should hold onto that. Yours is a fairly prestigious situation that many would love to be in, but they either got unlucky or simply haven't switched jobs enough times to find one.
- LVB 15y agoThere is definitely luck involved, but there have also been some specific choices I made. I've always sought jobs where my efforts directly contribute to a interesting physical product. Whether advanced HVAC, automotive, or now avionics, the stuff I helped make was always cool. These products, usually from big companies, tend to use older software technologies, but the entire product is often quite advanced which keeps the interest level high. Furthermore, you might work on things that end up teaching you all sorts of stuff well outside the pure software realm. I think if my Big Co. jobs were purely corporate IT stuff and not core product development, I would have quickly bailed out.