   Do you prefer to work at a large or small company
  I'm here at work and I was thinking about my current work situation. I graduated from college in 2004 with a CS degree and immediately started work at a VR company in Connecticut. The company was very small, about 10 people total but they had very large clients (mostly military based). After a year the company started to lose money and I was laid off (at a perfect time I might add). Long story short, I moved home and started work at another software company (about 20 people and completely different from VR) and I'm very happy even though I'm not making a ton of money (I wasnt at the VR company either). My question to you is (regardless if you're in school or been in the work force for many years), do you prefer to work at a large or small company and which one do you feel gives you the most amount of freedom?   
  I'd say that working in a large company as a researcher is nice. You get plenty of freedom, an OK pay and the job is steady. Unlikely to make you rich though. Being in a small company doesn't necessary mean more freedom, even if you're the founder.. You'll have to make projects that are profitable in a very near future or the company will go bankrupt. If the company is large enough, it can have people doing research for things that are expected to pay off after 5 years if at all. Of course, getting in a position where you just decide what project to do next is not that easy.. Easiest way to get most freedom is by working as a researcher in a university (and you'll get least pay).Also I should note that my view is heavily biased, as I have worked in a research center for a large company, but never in a small company. I'm interested in reading other people's opinions.   ;Quote:Original post by jon723My question to you is (regardless if you're in school or been in the work force for many years), do you prefer to work at a large or small company and which one do you feel gives you the most amount of freedom?Define 'freedom'.In my view, you need to choose what you want.Personally, I prefer little companies or larger micro companies.  My bias probably will show up, but here's what I feel about big companies (over 75 or so people) versus little companies (over 10 people), versus micro companies (2-10 people).Big companies offer:There are somewhat fewer jobs available. You can slack off more. You are just a tiny insignificant speck. You have a lot more rules.  You get to live in a cube. Your wages are (normally) based on complex pay tables set up by HR, and you don't really get bonuses. Your job is mostly stable, unless the company decides to lay off hundreds (or thousands) of workers.  There is a lot of politics.  The project manager gets their orders from the execs.  The team lead gets orders from the project manager.  You take your orders from the team lead, and that's what you get to do every day.  You have a big enough budget to have solid tools, but you also have an IT group that makes sure you don't install anything you shouldn't.Small companies offer:More jobs are available, since small businesses make up around 2/3 of all jobs.  You can have more fun in the workplace with fewer rules.  You might get a cube, an office, or be in a noisy warehouse.  Your wages are (normally) based on what the company can pay, and often bonuses are tied to the profitability of the company.  As long as the company is solvent, you have a job; small business owners don't like firing friends.  There is a tiny bit of politics.  You take your orders from the owner, or maybe from a combination of the owner and lead programmer.  You'll end up doing not just programming, but sometimes working on network issues, fixing printers, installing your own hardware, and doing other non-programming tasks.  As the company grows into a big company, you'll be in a moderately powerful position.Micro companies offer:You'll only find the jobs through a friend and networking (except for very rare situtiations).  You might end up sharing a room with every other worker in the company, or work remotely with meetings three times each week.  Your wage is entirely based on what the company can pay.  Your job is solvent as long as you make it so.  Your pay is almost entirely dependant on the project's success, so there is really no concept of "bonus".  You have a huge say as to what happens with the company, how profitable it is (or even if they make any profit at all).  There is almost no politics.  You take orders as part of the group.  You end up doing all the technical stuff.  You get almost complete control of everything done with technology.  Finally, if the company remains profitable and grows in to a small business, you will be in a fairly powerful position.frob.   ;  Well when I say freedom I mean, your work evvironment doesnt drain you to the point that you spent all your energy doing "work" related things that you suddenly lose your drive to pursue "hobby" things. If you're a database developer "professionally" but you still like to play around with computer graphics in your spare time then freedom at your job would still allow you to find time (off the job) to still pursue your hobby.   ;  From my experience, large companies give you a larger amount of freedom, unless you're the owner of the small company of course [smile].Working on a small company usually means that you are directly under a person with  their own pocket money invested in the company, which means they will try to get the most bang for their buck out of you, plus, not being enought people around, you might end up with more tasks than you would in a bigger company with more employees.Then of course, Big Companies are less human and more bureucratic, but one thing for the other.   ;Quote:Original post by KwizatzFrom my experience, large companies give you a larger amount of freedom, unless you're the owner of the small company of course [smile].[...]That last half of your statement is the reason a lot of small companies fail. I know at least one small local company that was doing well until the owner thought he could afford to not work, and as soon as he acted on that thought things went downhill instantly and he had to liquidate a lot of his personal assets(ie sell the nice house and move into a much smaller one, etc) to keep the company from going under completely. The company is now slowly growing again but it will be a long while before it fully recovers.As far as the OP, I kinda work for a small company and kinda a large company - there are something like 150 or 200 full time employees, but they're spread around the US in many different offices and the local office is the smallet. Each office works on its own projects for the most part, though we have to work with other offices when their software (which is the foundation of many of the company's projects) doesn't support what our local project needs. As far as 'freedom' in the form of 'doesnt drain me'(what a strange definition that is!) I have all the freedom I could need. The only thing I don't like is that the base software developed by some parts of the company seems to have started as a design by accident and evolved from there, so they can be frustrating to work with. As an intern, I hear about it more than I deal with it, but it still annoys me directly from time to time also.   ;  I've worked in a company with < 10 people, a moderately sized one with maybe 100 and now in one with 1000s.  From my POV, company size itself doesn't matter so much as team size.  Given that, I think the best position to be in is to be in a large company providing resources and financial stability, while being part of a small (<10) team.  That way your day to day work is very personal and agile, but you're not worried about getting paid next week.   ;Quote:Original post by jon723Well when I say freedom I mean, your work evvironment doesnt drain you to the point that you spent all your energy doing "work" related things that you suddenly lose your drive to pursue "hobby" things.Losing your drive to pursue hobbies is a major sign of depression.Lots of things cause depression, including boredom at your job.  Everone gets depressed.  Well, not quite.  A few freaks out there never admit to getting depressed in their life.  NIMH numbers say 20% of adults get depressed each year, and nearly all individuals in today's society get clinically depressed at least once in their life.  It is often dismissed as being stressed, worried, irritable, angry, bored, excessivly tired, or discouraged.You might want to may a few psychologist visits, just to talk.  No, it's not a bad thing, just go and talk.  You don't need to get on medications, just go talk.  It's amazing what a few hours of visits can do.  NIMH and others say that the most productive therapy is REBT (rational emotive behavioural therapy) where basically you talk about the problems, figure out if they're rational or not, and then figure out what you can do about each one.There are many books that talk about things you can do to make your workplace more fun.  The most basic are to joke around with co-workers, keep your work area comfortable, and make sure you reward yourself for working.  Small rewards for working is one of the best ways to motivate yourself and others.  I have a reward of replying to one gd.net topic after working at least a solid half hour block.  Usually I find that I spend more than a half hour working once I get into the groove.Quote:Original post by jon723If you're a database developer "professionally" but you still like to play around with computer graphics in your spare time then freedom at your job would still allow you to find time (off the job) to still pursue your hobby.As far as that freedom of finding time to persue hobbies goes, let's do some math:168 hours in the week.  Everybody gets the same amount.-56 hours sleeping.  If you want want all that energy, you need the sleep.=112 hours left-50 work related hours (work + commute.  Lunch is included below)=62 hours left-22 hours cooking, eating, and personal hygene=40 hours leftOver half of those hours left are likely on Saturday and Sunday.That's generally the same for everybody.  I've known people who spend another 10 full hours in the commute weekly. The most I spent was an additional 5 each week, and I hated it.What you do with those 40 hours of disgresionary time is entirely up to you.Go shopping.  Spend some with your family and friends.  Write your cool graphics game.  Spend some doing your own reading, and in down time.  Fly a kite.  Go to church.  Attend civic meetings.  Read slashdot.  Watch TV.  Do whatever.  But make sure you do it deliberately.  Plan your life.  It's the only one you've got.The unexamined life is not worth living -- Socrates.frob.   ;  I'm currently working at a big company and in its military sector. Even though I'm not fancy to program any missiles or bombs, the work I do here (aircraft concerned) is just the right job for me. I have plenty of freedom and a nice working atmosphere. Which is the most important to me. Another good point is, that my so called work station is even better than my PC at home. I was working in a 10 men company and the provided hardware wasn't very satisfying. So that might be another bonus. And as always, money is another factor. As in my case it might be interesting moving within departments of a company and try to grab projects you enjoy being part of.But I guess it really depends on where you feel more comfortable. Some of my friends enjoy working in a smaller company, because they might get more responsibility in a shorter time.   