!rant

Working in a small comoany vs big company?

I always found myself in small companies (they are often more flexible with hours and work patterns) - those who worked in both kinds, have you got any preference and the main difference points?

I've always worked for small companies too, just posting this here to get comment updates.

I’ve found working in smallish companies is easier for the work load and stress levels.

Whereas working for large companies is a lot of spontaneous changes needed yesterday, regardless of whether you know how to do it or not today, this helps learning and implementing new things all the time so that’s a plus.

Planning and testing takes a lot longer in large companies as well, as you will typically have multiple test environments, and testers to get through before a feature is released.

I wonder if the transition to a big company would be hard. In my workplace I barely get any spec docs and time to plan/design - it's more of a matter of being described what the project is and "just make the backend" for it. Oh and I haven't written a single test in last 3 years at my company 👍😏

I never worked, yet, because I'm a student, but...
I'd like to work for a small company, tbh, because I feel like they would care a lot more about their employees than big companies do.
I think I could actually feel like being a part of a team, there, or of an organisation, of a group of people, rather than be just one in a million of mindless codesluts/codewhores (yes, I know that word, and no, it doesn't mean what you think it means. What I mean when I use that word is this: http://urbandictionary.com/define.p...).

@Gaetano96 i can see your point but I think it still depends on the company - big companies can provide much better benefits (like activities, gyms and stuff). I work in a small company and my boss is simply too busy to care about employees so we don't get any of that sort of extra stuff.

@Dilex Oh... yeah, you're right. I see.

@Dilex I work in a small company where my boss cares alot, (Unfortunately we're consultants and our clients don't give a flying f--k if we're happy or not)

@ItsNotMyFault Exactly what I meant - depends more on company and the management rather than company size. Though big companies usually have more resources to spoil their employees.

I've been working in a very big company for almost two years and now I am with a smaller company, so here's my take on this: in the big company you don't spend a single day without learning something new, even a lunch break can be an occasion to learn and ask questions; the downside, however, is that it's really hard to grow and to be noticed, after the first year I got a salary increase but no promotion. Furthermore, you sometimes get the feeling that you are just a little piece of something that's too big to be fully understood by you.

With the small company I now have a more important position, being responsible for a team of 4 people, and I feel like I have a much better understanding of "the bigger picture" and I feel like I know almost everyone in the office...

As usual, pros and cons, but this was my experience. I guess in the end it's a really subjective decision

I see... I get what you mean