Jeremy D. Miller -- The Shade Tree Developer

Sponsors

The Lounge

News

Advertisement

Images in this post missing? We recently lost them in a site migration. We're working to restore these as you read this. Should you need an image in an emergency, please contact us at imagehelp@codebetter.com
The Difference Between Big and Small Companies

Roughly speaking, the first half of my software development career was spent in, or consulting for, Fortune 100 companies.  The last couple years I've been working in mostly small companies.  Here, in a nutshell, is how I see the difference between the two basic environments:

In a big company it's often hard to figure out who knows the answers to the questions you have.

In a small company, it's obvious who has the answers to the questions you have, but they're too busy on 5 other projects to help you.

 

 


Posted 11-24-2006 5:53 PM by Jeremy D. Miller

[Advertisement]

Comments

Claudio Brotto wrote Small & Big Companies
on 11-25-2006 3:10 PM

In a big company it's often hard to figure out who knows the answers to the questions you have. In...

A New Hope.... wrote My Thoughts Exactly...
on 11-26-2006 9:21 AM

I've always felt this way (at my current job with SMALL company) but now I have someone else telling me the way I feel is normal!!! Jeremy D. Miller's Blog

Sean Chambers wrote re: The Difference Between Big and Small Companies
on 11-27-2006 6:37 AM

Every other company I have worked for were small companies and you are correct there. I now work for a fairly large school district and I find that it doesn't follow the same mold of a large company, we have alot of staff but I know pretty much the right area to ask questions and most departments are pretty helpful in helping me out with software development questions.

Maybe government funded agencies are different?

Cheers!

Yex wrote re: The Difference Between Big and Small Companies
on 11-28-2006 3:11 PM

Amen. You hit the nail on the head there. Having worked for Northrop Grumman, and then moving to a small consulting company to do in-house custom software development, and now working for an even smaller consulting company as a contractor for Lexis Nexis...that is the best way to describe the difference between the two. At least from our perspective anyway, heh.

Claudio Brotto wrote Small & Big Companies
on 01-27-2007 4:13 AM

In a big company it's often hard to figure out who knows the answers to the questions you have. In a

Add a Comment

(required)  
(optional)
(required)  
Remember Me?