Depends on what you're working on. I still feel like I'm learning new things fairly often and I'm working within a large corporation (as a consultant). I've wo

Depends on what you're working on. I still feel like I'm learning new things fairly often and I'm working within a large corporation (as a consultant). I've worked in startups and small companies as well, and while I liked what we worked on, it never really got used by a lot of people, and sometimes felt like I ultimately wasted my time, even if I learned a lot during it. Meanwhile for large corporations I've worked on applications (and been the primary builder of applications) that have been used by millions of people. Sometimes the slow pace (it's not always slow, in some ways be thankful it is, I've worked some nightmare situations before at some corporations) is nice, you can keep your head clear for your own projects before or after work, or just let yourself relax on a Friday or whatever. Really depends on the project though. Don't let yourself be assigned to a legacy product if you can help it, especially if it's not being used to win new business, just maintain existing business. That seems to be where most of the problems you're complaining about lie. There are days when I miss the large amount of autonomy at startups, but I don't miss the intense stress to get something made quickly, or the hours that crept up to 50, 60, 70 hour weeks. I don't have any time or energy left to work on my video and board game designs if I'm working that intensely and that long during the day.