| I graduated in 1997 and, since then, have worked at: - 2 big companies - 2 small steady-state businesses (<100 people) - 4 startups (one as a founder) So far my best experience has been at Google, where I work now. Here are some of my reasons: - I have a lot of opportunities to learn because there are so many people with diverse skills and expertise and Google has the resources and motivation to let people investigate novel technologies. - I work with amazing technology. Google has the resources to devote many engineers to internal development tools and production technologies. - I don't have to work with (many) crazy people. At startups and small businesses, I found that one crazy founder or manager (who is probably related to the CEO) can completely ruin the experience. Google has processes to avoid hiring such people or to deal with them post-hire. - The work I do effects a lot of people. My Mom has commented on features that I've implemented. And, since we usually work in small teams, my impact isn't usually diluted by a lot of people. - There is a lot of project diversity and ability to relocate (if you want). So far I've worked on Google's support systems (Dublin), search (Dublin), App Engine (Sydney) and Chromecast (Mountain View). - I get paid well without a lot of risk. At Google my base salary is pretty high and I can treat my bonus and equity awards as extras that I don't need to count on. And the bank can count on Google too so I can get a reasonable mortgage. Not everything is perfect, of course. Two months ago a bunch of work I did was thrown away because my manager's manager's manager's manager didn't like it (his reasoning was sound but...) [1]. And bigger companies are under increased scrutiny so you have to be more careful about privacy, regulatory compliance, etc. A lot of things that you would just do at a startup require consultation with lawyers at a big company. And my other big company experience really really sucked. I won't go into the details here but I ended up quitting in about 3 months. [1] http://www.reddit.com/r/Chromecast/comments/22n3uv/squirrels... |
That really hit home for me. Part of the severe burnout I'm experiencing is from years of dealing with people from a pill-popping, paranoid nutcase founder to plain old manchildren who thrive on creating drama.
(This was in the SV/SF "startup" scene, though most of the "startups" were actually just small, privately held companies who seemed to use that label when they were in the red, didn't have a clear direction, and wanted people to work more hours.)