[sharkweek]

Good points, but one thing to keep in mind - a lot of people just enjoy working at smaller companies.

I did some time at a large financial institution making great money, but absolutely hated how empty it all felt. Nothing got done, nothing changed, nobody listened to me.

I work at a much smaller company now, and almost everything I do on a daily basis has a measurable impact. I can literally watch the things me and my team do increase the bottom line. I derive value from this myself, as it allows me to grow my team, hire new employees, give people responsibility of their own, etc.

[pm90]

I can totally relate. I mean, I've only ever worked for small companies for that very reason.

Have you tried working for a big software company instead of a financial institution? I know that banks don't treat software devs all that well, but shops like Google, FB, Rackspace etc. have a pretty good reputation of having a great culture and work environment.

Personally, I've only worked for small shops. Nearly all the places I'm currently interviewing are BigCo's though, and I'm not sure how that is going to turn out.

[seivan]

This would be the main attraction for me as well. What kills me at larger places (and even smaller soul-less companies) is the amount of dead weight and inefficiency.

Bullshit work created by people with bullshit titles for bullshit reasons.