Working for a big corporation vs a small business

[two wheel tramp]

I'm curious about what it might be like working at a larger company versus the small companies where I've gained all my experience. I'm aware different companies have different cultures but I'm just curious.

Please tell me a little about your experience and thoughts. What did you like? What did you not like?

Thanks in advance.

 

[afm199]

Big company: More stability, more order, maybe more opportunity.
Small company: More independence, more challenge, more fun.

 

[Cycle61]

Big company: More stability, more order, maybe more opportunity.
Small company: More independence, more challenge, more fun.

Yep.

 

[two wheel tramp]

Those are definitely things I've loved about small companies. Do you think politics are better or worse at bigger places?

Edit: the other thing is that I've been in very different niche businesses wearing a lot of different hats. I don't know if that hurts or helps my career path.

 

[Brokenlink]

Politics really depends on the dynamic of the employees and management. I have worked at large and small companies. The worst politics were at a large company. The best was at a large company. However, over the last couple of years, the politics at this large company have gotten ugly.

I now want to find something else.

 

[GPzPop]

Small company: More independence, more challenge, more fun.

i work for a small (12 person) company

our running joke is that "HR" = "Hire your Replacement"

 

[Reli]

Large company = better pay, unless we're talking startups, where anything goes.

Politics? I'll just say this, it's harder to "hide" at a small company. Either you fit in with the owner's personality, or you'll go nowhere.

Not to mention that small companies have very unprofessional HR procedures, assuming they even have an HR dept to begin with.

 

[TheRobSJ]

Big company: more rules, more politics, more bosses

Small company: more autonomy and more fun

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

Big companies are TheThing. I have long reached the conclusion that the current pseudo libertarian yet slacky America could not exist without big companies. Not necessarily this being a good or a bad thing in that statement.

 

[corndog67]

OK, small company, HR was a former stripper, the bosses mistress, a job was created for her. His wife was a very, very nice person. I don't know if she knew or not, but they were seen making out behind the machine shop. She'd show up every other Wednesday, he'd go play golf on Wednesday, they'd leave within 5 or 10 minutes of each other, and return within 5 minutes of each other. She bragged that she made "6 figures". She sat next to his wife and daughter at the Christmas party. It was a strange situation. Small business politics. Lot of bullshit going on. Lots of backstabbing (he's doing this. Well she's doing that. That kind of shit). Pay was OK. Benefits got to be less and less.

Large company (A couple hundred employees here in Santa Maria, 10,000 in the US, 35,000 worldwide), great benefits. The pay is very good, plus I can get almost more overtime than I can stand, I can just about double my pay every week with the overtime. They have set ways to fire permanent employees. I've seen guys trying real, real hard to get fired, and it took them months to do it. Failed drug test? 30 day suspension. Come back, diluted drug test, 1 more week suspension. A couple more suspect drug tests, but not quite at the firing level yet. Finally, another very dirty drug test (they have differing levels of failure, the company handbook specifies the levels), and he was history, probably about 5 or 6 months from the failed first test.

Expecting a pretty good bonus next month. The politics in the shop can be a bitch, but it hasn't worked against me yet, but I've seen others get the shitty end of the stick due to favoritism and nepotism going on.

I was hesitant to come to work for these guys, I didn't know what to expect in a factory setting, they'd offered me a job a few years ago, but I didn't take it because of all the unknowns. I should have. It's a very good gig, and I'm not second banana to some whore that got a job on her back. But apparently, that is pretty damn common.

Normally, I wouldn't give a shit who the owner was boinking. What made this an issue, was that the other guys in the shop had not gotten a raise for a few years before I got there (and they weren't making a journeyman wage), and didn't get one the 4 years I was there. And the benefits (medical) were getting reduced, more or less yearly. He blamed the economy, but had gotten a multimillion dollar sponsorship contract right when I started. And then created a position to keep this chick around, that sure didn't seem to do anything else. Even when she got "married", she still kept coming around and then leaving with the boss. Maybe they were playing checkers or backgammon.

 

[silverbelt]

Big company: More stability, more order, maybe more opportunity.
Small company: More independence, more challenge, more fun.

More or less true.

It's a tradeoff. I've never had the chance to work at a small company, so I can't speak to that. However, I can tell you that small companies and startups are often hesitant to hire experienced professionals who have spent most (maybe all) of their careers with large employers (25,000 +). I suspect it's the perceived loss of autonomy; that is certainly a valid concern.

On the other hand, with a large employer there is security, stability and strength that smaller companies just don't have. This helps when navigating through tough economic times. There are tremendous resources available to you, and the training is excellent.

Pros and cons to each. Me personally, I wouldn't mind working at a small company, if for nothing more than the independence, the ability to feel you are really contributing to something, and not having to deal with overbearing bureaucracy on a daily basis.

 

[UDRider]

Big companies: There is a process. For better or worse.
Small Companies: A good as THE BOSS. Most people don't know how to run a business successfully or deal with employees.

 

[two wheel tramp]

Max, that's like SME peeps who get promoted to management but can only offer technical expertise as opposed to being able to manage their people.

 

[mike23w]

big tech company.
- more process, move slower
- it's harder to have a big impact
- more workers that are less flexible
- more people that only care about moving up and less about delivering a great product/service
- greater tendency to specialize in a specific area

small tech company
- faster moving; lots of pressure
- can have a major impact if you join early enough.
- more responsibility
- longer hours
- interact with more departments, more people

 

[Marlowe]

More or less true.

It's a tradeoff. I've never had the chance to work at a small company, so I can't speak to that. However, I can tell you that small companies and startups are often hesitant to hire experienced professionals who have spent most (maybe all) of their careers with large employers (25,000 +). I suspect it's the perceived loss of autonomy; that is certainly a valid concern.

Having worked for a fair number of small companies:

This is usually because the big company only hires don't work out.

They don't think something is their job, usually. Not flexible enough to survive in a small company where /someone/ has to do it, even if it's not technically in their job description.

The folks that hadn't ever worked for a small company didn't seem to understand "and other duties as assigned."

 

[two wheel tramp]

That's so not me. My job description is whatever needs doing, I do it. Financials, logistics, sales, hr, scm, inventory.

 

[Marlowe]

That's so not me. My job description is whatever needs doing, I do it. Financials, logistics, sales, hr, scm, inventory.

Yes, but you've worked for a small company, so you understand.

I've seen quite a few large company only hires crash and burn at small companies because they're used to more structure and guidance than a small company can provide.

 

[two wheel tramp]

Do you think that hurts or helps when looking for work? I'm just good at a bunch of stuff but an expert at nothing.

 

[Marlowe]

Relax, I think you'll do fine. It's never hurt me any. The largest companies I've worked for have been some of the worst. I've worked for some successful smaller companies, but eventually they become so successful it's time to move on anyway.

Big companies can offer more 'career' opportunities but far fewer skill opportunities. In terms of personal growth, you tend to learn much more in a smaller environment where noone is around to tell you you can't do something.

 

[two wheel tramp]

Thanks Marlowe.

This thread has been interesting and I hope we hear more tomorrow from the weekday crowd.