Rapid Graffiti

I went to a tech company in NOIDA today.  A typical “$100 million” revenue company, with coffee table work culture and “we are the next winners” attitude.  Not at all a bad company to start your career.  If you are determined and enthusiast about the profile you get there, you can certainly make a huge difference to the company and to your own career.  The industry recognition you get would be immensely helpful for the next jump.  The confidence that oozes out of you when you have a fast track career is something most of us would personally enjoy, and that is something I’m looking for. 

There’s this perpetual argument, whether to work for a big company or a small company.  Working for a small company can mean having a significant share of responsibilities right from the beginning.  Your opinions are given serious considerations.  You mostly work in small teams, and hence have a genuine chance to highlight your work and efforts.  You know you team better.  New initiatives require less number of reviews, which means fewer delays.  You get an opportunity to interact with the senior managements a little too often.  The policies are devised to nurture the creative spirits, and hence flexibility is more.  Most important is the learning and the exposure part.  A two year break at a mid-size company would certainly give you much more exposure, and hence more learning, then a two year break at a big company. 

Some disadvantages of working for a small/medium scale company include less recognition outside your industry.  There might seem to be a perpetual resource crunch, no matter how much the topline improves.  After a certain time span, you might reach a saturation point in career with regards to the company.  You suddenly find that you are doing the same kind of job with the same kind of people.  Nothing has changed since the last review except your pay packet.  This might be suffocating.  Although you love the job, you decide to leave it because career advancement is just not visible in the near future. 

In a big company, apart from the above points, you get a chance to meet a lot of achievers (and a chance to get inspired for a few people, like me, who are always looking for inspiration).  I believe that to a certain extent, the attitude towards work is shaped by the people we are working with.  A big company does not have all achievers, but has enough number of people to get you going. 

The career in a big company remains slow track for most of us.  High fliers from big companies are very less.  Most of the movers and the shakers of the industry would attribute a reasonable part of their success to the small company they’ve worked for. 

More gyaan on this coming soon.  Let me know if you’ve got something to say.