Comment by donatj
8 years ago
My thoughts as well. I've spent the last decade+ working for sub-500 person companies, largely sub-100. I find myself now through acquisition in a 1,000 plus person company and I find it… stifling.
It's bizarre to me to work for a company where I don't know close to everyones name. This kind of junk never happens in small companies.
In a small company, you don't get the protection of the bureaucracy either. You're likely to know the CEO, but that means everything depends on their character and the culture they institute. And even if they are generally ethical, a small company CEO who does a good job probably sacrifices a lot and then feels entitled to sacrifices from employees. And if you can't deal with politics in a small company, you can't transfer to another division. There are lots of potential drawbacks of a small company, like a small town.
Talking to my friends who work for very large companies, at least in their cases it seems like it's often easier to get a new job at another small company than to get a transfer - for what it's worth.