Working in a big company vs working in a small company?

[kalster]

Just curious what you guys think,

I used to work in an extremely big (but not doing so well) company for a year, and I just started working in a small/medium sized company which is "touchwood" doing very well and hiring a LOT of people.

What is your preference based on your experience?

I cant make a definitive choice (as yet), both experiences have been different on so many levels, but I like the fact that I get to discuss and in some cases even question my current company's CEO on product roadmap issues and what not

 

[CrazyDe1]

I've worked at both...I was an intern at a big company so I didn't get the full experience but my small company rocks. It's exciting to hear about new deals or what's going on with the company...

 

[Transition]

I work at a relatively small company (~100 employees) and wouldn't want it any other way. Work closely with the company founder/president on a daily basis and can honestly say at my age and prior work history i had a slim chance in hell to ever get the opportunities i've received now. It's easy to get dwarfed in a large corporation.

 

[jeremy806]

Larger company should have more stability.

Smaller company should have more opportunity.

Trouble with small company is being in the right one.

Jeremy

 

[CrazyDe1]

Things that have happened at my company in the past:

The founder, my boss bought car insurance for one guy.
The founder also cosigned on a loan.
Beer is brought in every friday and we start boozin
If you're therer after 6 beer is brought out
Random raises
You get to meet with VPs of engineering and marketing with other companies all the time

 

[BlueWeasel]

How's this for small? The engineering company I work for has 4 employees: 3 engineers and a secretary.

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
How's this for small? The engineering company I work for has 4 employees: 3 engineers and a secretary.

no CEO

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
How's this for small? The engineering company I work for has 4 employees: 3 engineers and a secretary.

no CEO

The president/CEO/owner is one of the engineers.

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
How's this for small? The engineering company I work for has 4 employees: 3 engineers and a secretary.

no CEO

The president/CEO/owner is one of the engineers.

Are you the secretary?

KK

 

[CrazyDe1]

Originally posted by: KK

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
How's this for small? The engineering company I work for has 4 employees: 3 engineers and a secretary.

no CEO

The president/CEO/owner is one of the engineers.

Are you the secretary?

KK

hahah

By the way, what kind of engineering company? Do you guys ever struggle to stay afloat?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: CrazyDe1

Originally posted by: KK

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
How's this for small? The engineering company I work for has 4 employees: 3 engineers and a secretary.

no CEO

The president/CEO/owner is one of the engineers.

Are you the secretary?

KK

hahah

By the way, what kind of engineering company? Do you guys ever struggle to stay afloat?

LOL..I'm the lowest engineer of the 3 (a few years out of college).

We do structural engineering, the majority of our clients are architects, and we're in Tupelo, MS. The company was started in 1995, and our income and number of projects has gone up every year.

We're CONSTANTLY busy, but the small size has alot to do with the location.

 

[Kadarin]

Heh.. I used to work for a company that had like 8 employees including myself. It was a lot of fun, but the company ended up not going anywhere. Now I work for a company that has probably a little over a hundred people, which is still pretty small, but we just moved into a larger building.

 

[CrazyDe1]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Heh.. I used to work for a company that had like 8 employees including myself. It was a lot of fun, but the company ended up not going anywhere. Now I work for a company that has probably a little over a hundred people, which is still pretty small, but we just moved into a larger building.

I was the 5th employee a little less than a year ago and we're 15 now. Just moved to a new building, we'll probably be 25-30 in 3-4 months. We've got some all stars working for us though. We picked up hella good business people

 

[Maverick]

I'm dying to work for a smaller company...big corporations SUCK

I say this as I post while still at work at midnight....got here at 8 am.

 

[phonemonkey]

I wish I worked for smaller companies again. I work in a really large company, and alot of people have learned how to keep their heads down and do nothing while we all get paid. Honestly, I don't know how we're in business still with all the bad decisions that have been made there.

Working for a small company was fun because you had a chance to vary your day with other tasks (instead of just sitting in a cube being dreary). Also, you have a much better chance to be promoted and gain professional experience than with a company with alot of deadwood.

Finally, in a small company, you don't have to deal with HR.

 

[kalster]

Originally posted by: Maverick
I'm dying to work for a smaller company...big corporations SUCK

I say this as I post while still at work at midnight....got here at 8 am.

well actually working in a smaller company (not so small, around 180 ppl) in my case means more responsibility, which is good, i dont mind working late

just having no politics as to what we had in the big organizatoin is great

 

[Maverick]

Originally posted by: kalster

Originally posted by: Maverick
I'm dying to work for a smaller company...big corporations SUCK

I say this as I post while still at work at midnight....got here at 8 am.

well actually working in a smaller company (not so small, around 180 ppl) in my case means more responsibility, which is good, i dont mind working late

just having no politics as to what we had in the big organizatoin is great

see my large corporation likes to create a "peaks and valleys" work utilization structure. One month of barely finding 40 hours of work...then two months of 80 hour weeks.
All due to poor planning, poor organization, and very low employee moral.

If I had more responsibility then I'd be okay with working late now and then...but over here most of the time I'm stuck waiting on someone else.