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>Like, little software shops I tried those and TBH they never worked for me. Small shops in my experience have not very good processes, rush to gain new projec

>Like, little software shops I tried those and TBH they never worked for me. Small shops in my experience have not very good processes, rush to gain new projects and customers at all cost by sales/management always overpromising and burning out engineers in the process who strugle with the unrealistic deadlines, promotions are gained trough favoritism since there's no fixed clear and well documented promotion/career path but you're at the mercy of how your bnoss and his boss/CEO feel about you each day. So no thanks from me, I'm going back to big old crusty established comapanies with established products and customers, established processes. YMMV of course, there' no one sized fits all for everyone and big companies have their own issues but I feel I can more easily manage and deal with those. Pick your poison.

codegeek 3y ago
That's ok. You are just built to work with more structure and processes. Some people like the small company vibe where things are a bit chaotic but also fun and creative. Nothing wrong with either.
- igor47 3y ago
  Sadly, this is a false dichotomy. I've been involved with plenty of small companies where things are somehow both chaotic and also very structure/process-oriented, bureaucratic, and absolutely not fun or creative. My experience at Airbnb 2012 - 2016 is also that a company that's quite large can also be chaotic, fun, and creative. Alas, to filter companies, size is not enough. If you want positive attributes, you have to explicitly look for them.
- jorblumesea 3y ago
  That's not what that comment was saying. It was an idealistic take on a small shop, not a realistic take. eg: "work at a reasonable pace", "compensated fairly" often does not happen. What it often means is stressful deadlines and low pay for hours work.
- volkk 3y ago
  and also 10 hours a week of meetings about said rigid process
- Aurornis 3y ago
  > You are just built to work with more structure and processes. For what it's worth, some of the most highly structured and process-heavy tech companies I've worked at have been small startups. Small companies can be a haven for micromanaging first-time CTOs, inexperienced VPs of Engineering who learned how to "lead" from books and LinkedIn posts, Technical Program Managers who want to control every aspect of everything in the company, and Project Managers who don't have anyone to guide them so they fall back to nagging everyone about progress all day. I don't think it's accurate to generalize all small companies as being low-structure or light on process.
  - behringer 3y ago
    Structure and process is not micro management. It's just management.
    - Aurornis 3y ago
      Micromanagers love structure and process. They'll give you more structure and process and management than anyone asked for. There's nothing special about structure and process that makes it immune to micromanagement.

codegeek 3y ago

That's ok. You are just built to work with more structure and processes. Some people like the small company vibe where things are a bit chaotic but also fun and creative. Nothing wrong with either.

igor47 3y ago
Sadly, this is a false dichotomy. I've been involved with plenty of small companies where things are somehow both chaotic and also very structure/process-oriented, bureaucratic, and absolutely not fun or creative. My experience at Airbnb 2012 - 2016 is also that a company that's quite large can also be chaotic, fun, and creative. Alas, to filter companies, size is not enough. If you want positive attributes, you have to explicitly look for them.
jorblumesea 3y ago
That's not what that comment was saying. It was an idealistic take on a small shop, not a realistic take. eg: "work at a reasonable pace", "compensated fairly" often does not happen. What it often means is stressful deadlines and low pay for hours work.
volkk 3y ago
and also 10 hours a week of meetings about said rigid process
Aurornis 3y ago
> You are just built to work with more structure and processes. For what it's worth, some of the most highly structured and process-heavy tech companies I've worked at have been small startups. Small companies can be a haven for micromanaging first-time CTOs, inexperienced VPs of Engineering who learned how to "lead" from books and LinkedIn posts, Technical Program Managers who want to control every aspect of everything in the company, and Project Managers who don't have anyone to guide them so they fall back to nagging everyone about progress all day. I don't think it's accurate to generalize all small companies as being low-structure or light on process.
- behringer 3y ago
  Structure and process is not micro management. It's just management.
  - Aurornis 3y ago
    Micromanagers love structure and process. They'll give you more structure and process and management than anyone asked for. There's nothing special about structure and process that makes it immune to micromanagement.