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Size does matter

I am talking about size of the company you working for. Usually people who are working for small companies are dreaming about big corporations and opposite. Big corporation workers want to work for smaller company. The reasons are obvious:  there are plus and minus for both

visibility
in corporation you are typically anonymous, only few people really know you. It is possible to spent a month by doing almost nothing and nobody cares. On other hand if you are top performer - again nobody cares. The average is enough. In small company usually everybody knows each other and work of each team member is visible across whole company. So if you did something wrong everybody knows it and it could have bad consequences, you cannot hide yourself in anonymous mass

stability
typically we consider big companies more stable and reliable, but if big company is going down the result is more painful and you are is not good position to find a new job if hundreds guys like you are in the same position. Nowadays also big companies rise fast and fall fast, I am referring to internet bubble or start-up culture

flexibility
if you want to be successful and leader in your business then time to market is very short. You have to be innovative, agile and flexible. This is a common problem of big corporations with heavy processes and big management structure. On the other hand garage style small companies are often too flexible (rather chaotic than organized) and it is not easy work like this for a long time

work scope
small company means wide scope, you probably wear more hats and switch between more roles, usually never get bored. It is no surprise that in big company your work scope is limited to your position and if you would like to do something else you must change your position (do rotation)

culture
big corporations usually provides various nice benefits (parking, meals, sports) and professional atmosphere but also politics, rumors and stupid games (intrigues). Small companies prefer very open style of working where most valuable benefit is interesting work, but people do not act always like professionals and you have to care where to park your car

For me it is 4:1 for small company, only 1 point for corporations is for stability reason. Therefore my ideal company is: stable small company which has drive and ambitions, where my work is pretty visible, management is agile, processes are lean, work scope is wide enough to see more then my desk and culture is very, very open

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