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I'm in a similar situation, having left a startup a year ago to work at $BIGCORP, naively thinking it would benefit my résumé. This is all painfully accurate.

I'm in a similar situation, having left a startup a year ago to work at $BIGCORP, naively thinking it would benefit my résumé. This is all painfully accurate. The other thing about working for $BIGCORP is that it molds your skills to be hyper-specific to this company. It's less about learning to use cool technology stacks, than it is about learning the internal tools, procedures, and unspoken etiquette of the company. Skills that are vital to navigate the everyday complexity of $BIGCORP, but that you can't really export to any other job.

leokennis 1y ago
On the other hand, working at $BIGCORP will probably give you very good domain knowledge (as $BIGCORP's software is likely complex and actively used by many many people who signed very expensive contracts, and besides that also the knowledge on how to navigate the internal complexities of a $BIGCORP) that will be useful for work in other companies?
- withinboredom 1y ago
  > that will be useful for work in other companies? No. But all those tools and processes? Those are valuable at smaller companies -- or maybe even a SaaS when you leave.
  - Gazoche 1y ago
    The tools and processes we have here, I would not wish them on any other company, especially a smaller one.
    - withinboredom 1y ago
      You often can’t see what problems they were built to solve. But go work for a company transitioning crossing the threshold at 100-200 employees and you’ll think “oh, that’s what that annoying process was trying to solve”. The problem is that many people try to use technology to solve people problems instead of recognizing them for what they are.
  - pavlov 1y ago
    Tools and processes from Meta or Google? Yes, absolutely. Tools and processes from “third-place mobile phone operator in country X” or “leading grocery wholesaler in country Y”? Most likely not. The world is full of quite large companies that need surprisingly much software and are very bad at it.
- Gazoche 1y ago
  Yeah that's also true, to a degree. Clearly, there are interesting challenges that I would have never been faced with had I stayed at a startup. But I also found that once you reach a certain level of expertise at $BIGCORP there are few opportunities to try to push the boundaries of your domain knowledge, lest you are dead-set on taking initiatives and swim against the current of a rigid organisation. That may just be specific to my job and employer though. And while the part about navigating internal complexity is true as well, it's harder to highlight on a CV than "I have worked with technologies X, Y and Z". At best you can say "I have worked with X at a big corp, and also Y, which you probably don't know because it's an internal tool." You just have to hope that the name of your employer alone carries enough weight on its own.
whobre 1y ago
It probably will benefit your resume. At least that’s my experience.

leokennis 1y ago

On the other hand, working at $BIGCORP will probably give you very good domain knowledge (as $BIGCORP's software is likely complex and actively used by many many people who signed very expensive contracts, and besides that also the knowledge on how to navigate the internal complexities of a $BIGCORP) that will be useful for work in other companies?

withinboredom 1y ago
> that will be useful for work in other companies? No. But all those tools and processes? Those are valuable at smaller companies -- or maybe even a SaaS when you leave.
- Gazoche 1y ago
  The tools and processes we have here, I would not wish them on any other company, especially a smaller one.
  - withinboredom 1y ago
    You often can’t see what problems they were built to solve. But go work for a company transitioning crossing the threshold at 100-200 employees and you’ll think “oh, that’s what that annoying process was trying to solve”. The problem is that many people try to use technology to solve people problems instead of recognizing them for what they are.
- pavlov 1y ago
  Tools and processes from Meta or Google? Yes, absolutely. Tools and processes from “third-place mobile phone operator in country X” or “leading grocery wholesaler in country Y”? Most likely not. The world is full of quite large companies that need surprisingly much software and are very bad at it.
Gazoche 1y ago
Yeah that's also true, to a degree. Clearly, there are interesting challenges that I would have never been faced with had I stayed at a startup. But I also found that once you reach a certain level of expertise at $BIGCORP there are few opportunities to try to push the boundaries of your domain knowledge, lest you are dead-set on taking initiatives and swim against the current of a rigid organisation. That may just be specific to my job and employer though. And while the part about navigating internal complexity is true as well, it's harder to highlight on a CV than "I have worked with technologies X, Y and Z". At best you can say "I have worked with X at a big corp, and also Y, which you probably don't know because it's an internal tool." You just have to hope that the name of your employer alone carries enough weight on its own.

whobre 1y ago

It probably will benefit your resume. At least that’s my experience.