Age old question: Big company boredom vs. small company excitement

#1

Post by wisco_kid » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 4:32 AM UTC

I imagine that this question has been asked many times in Hacker News and elsewhere but I'll throw it out there again. I'm a software developer for a large (Fortune 25) company working on a mature internal application. Basically I'm coding small fixes and enhancements, researching issues, and generally trying not to break anything. I telecommute, have a ton of autonomy, and have quite a bit of credibility so nobody really questions what I'm doing. Plus I'm well paid.

However I'm basically making no impact on our company, nor am I growing as a developer. I write probably 20 lines of production code every 3 months and spend the rest of the time unit testing and spinning in my chair.

I have a family, a mortgage, and a busy life outside of work so I appreciate the low stress work. But I really miss being challenged and feeling like I'm making a difference in my career. Would the grass be greener at a smaller company where I could write more code, grow as a developer/architect, and feel like I'm making a difference?

Thanks, and please post any links to relevant posts.

Re: Age old question: Big company boredom vs. small company excitement

#2

Post by joelmaat » Sat, Jan 21, 2012, 5:27 AM UTC

You should obviously be doing projects on the side to not atrophy. As for the smaller company route: since you have a family, then who cares. Just stay sharp and network. Maybe watch the projects you are on, just in case you need to jump ship. Use the free time to put in motion your own vision for life.

Re: Age old question: Big company boredom vs. small company excitement

#3

Post by wisco_kid » Sun, Jan 22, 2012, 1:18 AM UTC

joelmaat wrote: post #2

You should obviously be doing projects on the side to not atrophy. As for the smaller company route: since you have a family, then who cares. Just stay sharp and network. Maybe watch the projects you are on, just in case you need to jump ship. Use the free time to put in motion your own vision for life.

Thanks for the feedback and I agree with what your saying. I'm definitely doing side stuff (no TV, learning new languages, working on my ideas, etc...) but one thing you miss is the feeling like you're making an impact. Even though the universe is small (i.e. your company) a day job can make you feel like you are making an impact almost instantly. Whereas it can, and probably will, take years for my own side project to reach the point where I'm impacting the number of people that I do in my day job.

The feedback loop is missing from side projects, at least compared to a day job.

Re: Age old question: Big company boredom vs. small company excitement

#4

Post by joelmaat » Fri, Jan 27, 2012, 9:05 PM UTC

wisco_kid wrote: post #3

joelmaat wrote: post #2

You should obviously be doing projects on the side to not atrophy. As for the smaller company route: since you have a family, then who cares. Just stay sharp and network. Maybe watch the projects you are on, just in case you need to jump ship. Use the free time to put in motion your own vision for life.

Thanks for the feedback and I agree with what your saying. I'm definitely doing side stuff (no TV, learning new languages, working on my ideas, etc...) but one thing you miss is the feeling like you're making an impact. Even though the universe is small (i.e. your company) a day job can make you feel like you are making an impact almost instantly. Whereas it can, and probably will, take years for my own side project…

This all depends on how lucky/smart you are with the job you select. At many large companies, and at a few (not yet baked) startups you will probably feel as though you aren't having much impact.

I am mostly on the startup/entrepreneurial/side project route because my day jobs were weird and completely devoid of meaning.