I've asked myself that a lot over the years. A friend of mine started there several years ago with me, took a different path, and is still there, as a senior dev/tech/depthead/something (a tech bigwig). I just don't think I was cut out to play/work in such a large organization (even though it means missing out on a lot of the financial perks that come with that sort of employment).
I might try to go up the chain a bit higher faster than I did. I tried to play along with following the standard 'chain of command' (as best as I could find). However, I took the opposite approach with another problem I found (it wasn't just me - when I showed it to other people they basically agreed it was an operational problem too - made us look bad to potential customers). I went to the top (as he invited dialogue) but it quickly became a bit of a hooha that was never adequately resolved - I'd rocked the boat, was threatened vaguely (not physically, just with dismissal) by a senior company officer, and apparently became a marked man because of that.
So... I guess in retrospect, I'm not sure what I'd do differently. Not work at a large company? I don't want to swear off them entirely - never say never and all that - but there's far more politics involved in working at large companies (well, the couple I've been at or seen inside) than I was comfortable (capable of?) dealing with.
You'll need to find out what your work style is - do you enjoy working on teams? Or do you prefer to work solo? I don't mind teams, but need to have more autonomy/control when the time calls for it, and I've never been in that situation. It's made all the more frustrating when you have 'corporate HR' stuff telling you to 'take ownership of a problem', and 'take responsibility for things'. Fine, but when I have no authority over any resources to make that happen, it ends up just being a 'take the blame for other peoples' crap' sort of situation.
I've been self-employed for the past several years, and while I'd like to do something else eventually, I enjoy probably 80% of what I'm doing now, instead of, say, 40-50% at traditional 'employement' situations. Again - never say never - I may work for someone else again in a traditional capacity, but it'd have to offer something more/different than what I have now. I'm at mgkimsal@gmail.com if you have more questions :)
This is not a warning to avoid large corporations, just an observation ...
When you work at BigCo, your daily activities and your goals involve operating the machine that BigCo is, and becoming part of that machine. You may be a programmer, or software engineer, or technical staff member, or Sales Guy or Web Dude[1]. You may code in some language or collate TPS reports. But your main job is to serve the machine, regardless of what the machine produces.
At SmallCo success is defined and recognizable by shipping, internally or externally. At BigCo success is defined and recognizable by how many people know you, and how many weeks of vacation your grade is given.
Do you work at BigCo or SmallCo? William Least Heat Moon, in Blue Highways[2], had a rule for guessing whether a restaurant was going to be good or generic, and that was to count wall calendars; the more calendars, the better the restaurant[3].
You can recognize BigCo by sheer physical size, but also by walking around the cubes and counting company certificates on cube walls. The more certificates of relationship training, management training and Microsoft training that you find, the Bigger the Co. Those certificates are there because those employees are learning and demonstrating the skills of operating, and being a cog in, BigCo.
You can also recognize how far into the machine individuals have progressed, by measuring the ratio of animal books[4] to certificates.
I might try to go up the chain a bit higher faster than I did. I tried to play along with following the standard 'chain of command' (as best as I could find). However, I took the opposite approach with another problem I found (it wasn't just me - when I showed it to other people they basically agreed it was an operational problem too - made us look bad to potential customers). I went to the top (as he invited dialogue) but it quickly became a bit of a hooha that was never adequately resolved - I'd rocked the boat, was threatened vaguely (not physically, just with dismissal) by a senior company officer, and apparently became a marked man because of that.
So... I guess in retrospect, I'm not sure what I'd do differently. Not work at a large company? I don't want to swear off them entirely - never say never and all that - but there's far more politics involved in working at large companies (well, the couple I've been at or seen inside) than I was comfortable (capable of?) dealing with.
You'll need to find out what your work style is - do you enjoy working on teams? Or do you prefer to work solo? I don't mind teams, but need to have more autonomy/control when the time calls for it, and I've never been in that situation. It's made all the more frustrating when you have 'corporate HR' stuff telling you to 'take ownership of a problem', and 'take responsibility for things'. Fine, but when I have no authority over any resources to make that happen, it ends up just being a 'take the blame for other peoples' crap' sort of situation.
I've been self-employed for the past several years, and while I'd like to do something else eventually, I enjoy probably 80% of what I'm doing now, instead of, say, 40-50% at traditional 'employement' situations. Again - never say never - I may work for someone else again in a traditional capacity, but it'd have to offer something more/different than what I have now. I'm at mgkimsal@gmail.com if you have more questions :)