Career @ large corporation vs small company?

[vital]

What are the advantages/disadvantages of working for a large company vs small company? What do you prefer and why?

 

[boredhokie]

Small - autonomy, ability to influence the business as a whole, crappy pay (IT?), crap benefits in general

Big - brick in the wall, takes a while to become influential, great pay and benefits, looks better on the resume than some mom and pop shop

Out of college i'm glad i chose a big company - they've flown me all over the country and given me training and experience no small place could match.

 

[LongCoolMother]

As it pertains to the high tech industry...

Large Corporations:

-Potentially better job security/stability
-Opportunity for advancement
-Potentially higher base pay
-Can be more formal


Small Companies:

-Hand in more/most of the company's products/production (ie, involvement in most parts of product development)
-Potentially more intimate atmosphere amongst employees and less "corporate"
-Could possibly be less stable
-Can make yourself influential early on and take on a high position in the company as the future comes


I don't know which I prefer... but smaller companies are usually staffed by younger folks-- who have a knack for dreaming up the newest/latest, coolest new stuff, whereas larger corporations have older/very experienced employees.

 

[her209]

I get the benefits of working for a small company while being owned by a larger corporation, i.e. large corporation benefits. The only thing I would say is lacking is the eye candy at the office.

 

[Biturbo]

I am a java developer, and currently work in a large company (the development department is at least 500 people). I've also worked at companies as small as 3 people, and a few in between.

Big Companies:

- Usually better job security
- More choices for advancement, but it can take longer
- More politics
- More rules
- Usually less overtime
- Generally better benefits
- Better formal training
- Less innovation possible

Small Companies

- More autonomy and flexibility
- Fewer chances for advancement (because there are fewer roles to fill)
- Less job security
- Generally fewer benefits
- Usually more casual work environment
- More overtime

Overall, I like working for big companies if the job can remain challenging and fun. In those cases, you get the best of both worlds - a fun, challenging job that you hopefully grow with, coupled with excellent job security, lower stress and overtime, and excellent benefits.

 

[Zugzwang152]

I am loving large company. Better pay, better benefits, better training budget.

 

[kevnich2]

If you're looking for a career, I'd say go with a medium sized company. I've been with VERY large corporations and also with small companies. I will say I prefer the medium sized companies the most, especially when it comes to IT. They have more money to put behind projects as well as training and paying their staff well. My last company was a smaller company and while the people there were very nice, the management style was horrible, I had way too many bosses to report to and they really didn't want to put any money behind their staff or their projects. Needless to say after about 18 months of that, I quit and found a job with a MUCH better, stable company. I'm being paid over 2x as much and they'll be paying for all of my future education as well as now I only have ONE boss to report to and they have a nice large IT budget, a proper management style and actually plan out their projects ahead of time for the next year instead of just running like chickens with their heads cut off.

 

[vital]

What about working for a business unit vs corporate for a large company? would the BU be similar to working for a small company but with corporate benefits?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
I am loving large company. Better pay, better benefits, better training budget.

Yep, they know the costs involved in hiring/firing better, and would rather invest in the person so that the person can invest back in them, if that makes sense. Basically, if you better the business with a larger skillset, they will invest in you by paying for the education, raises, etc.

 

[jinduy]

i've had my foot in both and agree with what the above posters state. not to repeat what others said, i'd also say in my experience

small company:
if you don't have a good social relationship with higher ups, ur bound to get axed
if you're the quiet hard worker in the corner who gets everything done right, it won't matter cuz no one plays attention to you
less competent management (especially for young startups with young higher ups)
you never know when a raise is gonna come (maybe it'll never come unless you speak up)

big company:
usually better management as they have had training and guidelines
your future can be more accurately mapped out (yearly raises every jan, etc)

 

[vital]

oh yah, what about non profit organizations and universities? How do they compare?

 

[Biturbo]

Originally posted by: vital
oh yah, what about non profit organizations and universities? How do they compare?

Less pay, more politics, and a ton more job security.

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: vital
oh yah, what about non profit organizations and universities? How do they compare?

If you are not a professor or management, expect horrible pay.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: vital
oh yah, what about non profit organizations and universities? How do they compare?

In my university experience: Generally low starting pay when you get in, but high and guaranteed pay raises yearly, in addition to job security. If you want to get in, and ride it out till retirement, then it's for you. If you want to bust your ass for more money and promotions, go private sector.

 

[nageov3t]

I guess it depends on how small you're talking about... like a small operation in the back of someone's garage? a brand new company just starting out?

I've done the faceless corporation thing and I've done the mid-sized company thing (though how do you define mid-sized anyways? I consider my current place of work mid-sized, with ~300 employees and 8 offices spread across the globe). I vastly prefer the mid-sized route. seems like more job security (when the CEO knows every employee's name and face, I think there's less likelyhood of random layoffs to squeeze out a few extra pennies of profit) and a more casual environment.

granted, I might be able to make a little more if I worked for a top corporation, but the money I save by not having to buy suits and going to work in jeans/t-shirt instead has got to make up for it 😛

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: vital
oh yah, what about non profit organizations and universities? How do they compare?

these two are not in the same category.

Some nonprofit organizations are very large, while others are very small (the one I currently work at has three people). The two biggest differences are the scope of your work and the finances of the corporation.

 

[fLum0x]

define small, medium, and large companies?

I was thinking of something like:

1-100 employees = small
100-1000 employees = medium
1000+ employees = large

 

[GeekDrew]

I personally like *only* small companies... I've never worked for a large company, and really have no intention of doing so.

Why? In short, there are a lot fewer "you will do this because i said so, regardless of the fact that it destroys the last year of productivity for an entire department and undermines our future efficiency" orders handed out in small business than large business. 😀

 

[Tarrant64]

I've worked pretty much in companies larger than 500 only(doing IT that is). Currently with a fast growing company over 700 people.

I have great benefits, low pay though. I've just started so I expect it to change after a year or so. Small IT group, 7-8 people so we each have our duties, and are greatly appreciated for it. Kind of enjoy that.


I've worked at Qwest as well, and that was fairly large. Good benefits there too, great staff to work with. However, it was hard to get to know the company as a whole, and there were big issues with job status between managers, executives, etc. Everyone had a huge ego.


The smallest I've worked at would be the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. I worked at a department there doing IT as well, and that was about 30-35 people. Got to know everyone, got paid so low I've fallen in debt. lol. (Hence the move to larger companies now).

Just my experience I guess. I've heard great success stories of people in companies that was smaller(300 or less). I feel more secure with a larger company though.

 

[Gunslinger08]

It depends a lot on where you live, too. I live an hour and a half away from Northern VA/DC on a good traffic day. I work at a small company (30 or so employees) which takes me about 10 minutes to get to. Sure, I could make more money if I commuted (or paid much more for a house and dealt with the traffic and people), but I enjoy the small company benefits. I get to do pretty much anything that we do here. I'm a developer, but I've helped to fill in with networking, system administration, project management (meeting the client face to face), etc. My company offers tuition reimbursement (which I haven't taken advantage of yet), trains us every year in the latest Microsoft technologies (got MCSD last year, working on SharePoint certification now, was in Redmond earlier this year for Commerce Server training), has great health care benefits (I pay none of the premium, with a $20 co-pay), offers 401k SafeHarbor, gives me more vacation than most IT staff have after even 5 or 10 years, etc. On top of all that, I can wear jeans and sandals everyday, work 9 to 6 or 9:30 to 6:30, and I get paid probably 75% more than the median income for my area.

 

[Genx87]

Been around a block on this one.

Small - Benefits can range, as well as pay, although I'd say my experience has been on the low side. Other issues is the company is small, which means small budget. And a bad quarter or year and you are looking at your last paycheck.

Big - Huge, things move very slow, lots of politics, little to no influence. But they have the money to throw at nice projects that look good on your resume. But also lots of incompetence as people end up being unfireable. You may also get stuck on meaningless projects. Or the best is watching the train flying towards a broken bridge but nobody knows to put the brakes on, nor cares. I'd say job security is higher at a big company.