Work for huge company or small company that makes products for huge company?

Question

I'm facing a career decision. I currently work for a huge, huge, huge company (this should bring 3-4 companies to mind) as a programmer. I work on a really big (3 million lines of code) J2EE web application. I've been out of college for 2 years and I pretty much know that big corporate life isn't for me.

There is a career opportunity to work for a small company that has a lot of funding and huge potential to sell their main project to this huge company I work for.This company makes kiosk software and works with a nearby kiosk software company. The deal isn't done, but I would come straight in to work on this project. This would be more of a interactive media position and I would do the development in flash/action script. I personally think this will be more interesting work then what I do now. This company does have other clients right now, just not on the scale of this potential huge client.

I was told that my initial salary would be equal to what I'm making now, but if we land this client it could go up a lot more.

I have a wife and child which should and will play a part in my decision if I should take this job. We do though have family that if crap hit the fan we could live with until we got back on our feet.

So with the information provided, does this sound like a good opportunity and should I take it? This is a huge decision and the reason I'm asking the question here is because there are a lot of people here that have probably faced this decision before.

Answer 1

Personally, I would rather work for a very small (<10 employees) to small (<100 employees) company. I've worked for some rather large companies (fortune 100) and some small companies, and I have always been MUCH happier with the small companies.

Small companies usually give you a lot more freedom, both from a technical perspective, and a social perspective. The only downside is that you have to know more (e.g. you may be responsible for setting up a server).

Answer 2

The way you said it, you want this job. You told us how great the small company is and how bad you feel in your current job. The small company seems to be alive and well (it would have been a problem if there were focused on only one single customer). So what are you waiting for ? You shouldn't throw your life away on a dream (like a guy who promise you a big bag of money once he find someone to buy his imaginary product), but this is not the case here. This a job you want to do, that will makes you happy to get up every morning, while allowing you to feed your family.

Answer 3

There is no way to tell what the future will hold, so you should do what you think will make you happier. It sounds like taking the job at the smaller company would do that.

Life is short, and it seems shorter the older you get. Make the most of it!

Good luck with whatever decision you make.

Answer 4

I think a lot depends too on the kind of life-style you and your wife are living. If you have big credit card debt, a mortgage, and two car loans, then it might not be responsible to leave a safer job with the big company. However, if you've been more financially disciplined and are living below your means, then you have more freedom to take a chance on the smaller company. Hopefully your situation is the latter, so I'd recommend going for the new job!

Answer 5

If the new company only has one programmer, make sure you both get along with that person and respect them a peer. You don't want to find out that you're working with somebody incompetent or insufferable. That's a key priority: keeping the eye-rolling moments to a minimum.

Answer 6

This is a huge decision and the reason I'm asking the question here is because there are a lot of people here that have probably faced this decision before.

Occasionally I wish I'd stayed with the big company. They kind of knew what they were doing, at least. In comparison, IMHE, a smaller company tends to work harder, with longer hours.

Answer 7

If you stay with the huge company in the belief that this makes your job safer, you're deluded: the days when your job with a large company could be considered safe as long as you did your work well are long past -- nowadays, even large and successful companies are quite likely to lay you off, without any fault on your part, simply because they're closing a division, or have done a merger and are getting rid of now-duplicated positions, or are outsourcing that part of their development, etc, etc.

So, staying in a job you don't love, out of a mistaken belief that at least it's safe, would be a serious mistake -- it isn't really all that safe anyway.

Therefore, go with the job you think you'll love, and with huge upside potential too -- heads you win (i.e., the upside materializes), tails you basically break even at worst (risks in both cases, but at least you think you'd be enjoying the new job).

Make sure you and your family are prepared for one reality of working in a small, intense development firm: long hours, and no real boundaries between work and "real life". I wasn't, really, back when I first left a huge firm for a startup -- and, worse, neither was my (first) wife, even though she encouraged me to take the new job.

I loved it, myself -- every hour was a joy! -- but she didn't, not at all, which was a large part of why I say "first" wife;-). I can't really complain -- the huge successful firm I was with, soon after I left, suddenly turned "not so successful any more" after all, and had ferocious layoffs; the job at the new firm launched my career on a new orbit; I've remained on civil and even friendly terms with my first wife, and very close to our kids; and I now have a wonderful second wife who's perfectly fine with thoroughly mixing work and "real life" (as she does exactly the same thing herself). But, at the time, the transition was quite painful, and for years.

Answer 8

Go with the smaller company and if they don't land the big deal or don't let you ride the big wave, switch to a company with bigger teams.

At this stage in your career you need exposure to lots of ideas usually found only in bigger teams in order to make informed decisions on what you do or do not enjoy. Don't sit in a two man team for five years before realizing you're falling behind.

I would also consider switching projects inside your huge employer.

Answer 9

I've worked for more than one in each category, big and small. I always thought I wanted to work at a tiny company, and I'm glad I did, but there are pluses and minuses. Very generally:

• Big company plus: They are more likely to have the "rules of business" down pat, and to be better places to learn what it's like to work and make money in the business world. They operate with rules, policies and procedures, rather than the whims of a few key individuals.

• Big company plus: Despite what some may say, big companies are, generally, more stable than small ones. We've seen a few implode lately, but countless numbers of small companies go under every year.

• Big company minus: There's plenty of room to hide deadwood at big companies, and you can find yourself working with the apathetic and incompetent easily. Depends a lot on company culture and industry.

• Small company pluses: All you imagine -- they can be dynamic, informal, exciting, fast-moving, driven by extraordinary people, and afford an opportunity to make serious cash. One of the small companies I worked for was all of these things, and it was a great ride.

• Small company minus: Small companies are much higher-risk scenarios. They are much, much more prone to single-event risk: loss of a key employee, key client, key source of funding. Their one market can sour.

• Small company minus: A great many small companies are small for a reason: there isn't sufficient talent in the small employee base to grow the company into a larger one.

Of all these, it's the high-risk aspect that I least understood and respected when I was going through changes such as you are considering. Talk to as many people as you can who have been through this, and don't get yourself into a spot that you think you would have trouble getting out of. This may be a great risk for you to take, but whatever you do, don't underestimate the true size of your risk.

Answer 10

I've worked at large companies and founded a successful startup. I'm a big believer in taking risks, but you have to weigh that against the likelihood of success.

One way to determine how successful the smaller company can be is by looking into the track record of the management team. Talk to them and to as many folks at their previous companies. Discount their success from the internet boom period ('97-'99). If they are truly good at what they do and capable of making things happen at a small company, then you should make the move.

Answer 11

My Nine Levels of Bosses

I worked at NEC a while back. Our chain of command went

• CEO of NEC
• President of NEC
• VP of NEC, President of NEC America
• Vice President, Telecom
• General Manager, Switching Systems Division
• Associate General Manager
• Director
• Manager
• Team Leader <-- I finally made it to this level!
• Me

Needless to say, the guys at the top probably probably weren't even aware of our division's existence except for some line item in a footnote of an annual report. It was a good job, but very Dilbertesque. I like smaller organizations.

Answer 12

I've worked for large and small (ironically, one kiosk company that went out of business).

There have been pluses and minuses to both, of course.

The one thing that was always a problem with smaller companies was selling, keeping the revenue streams alive, and making payroll every two weeks. Big companies usually have that stuff figured out.

I have a wife and two daughters. I had a responsibility to get them through college, so after my 3rd small company in a row failed out from under me I went back to larger firms, all with over $1B in annual sales. The checks have consistently cleared, but the price I've paid is working in large organizations that were overhead instead of primary revenue generators. There's a certain wooden-headedness that sets in when an organization's size exceeds the Dunbar number.

I'd say go for it if you have your wife's blessing and the local economy looks like it would provide a reasonable chance of an alternative in the next six months if things didn't work out. Check out the finances, management, and sales team to the greatest extent possible before you sign up. And don't anticipate a huge upside. What's the future of kiosks when everyone has an iPhone or its equivalent? Be critical and dispassionate in your assessment.