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Comment by ivanstojic | Hacker News Reader

I would strongly disagree with the author about the following:

   Frankly, looking at most people I know who want to
   work for big companies but don't, these people aren't
   cut out for big companies.

Having spent about three years working for a large software company that is actually horrible at software, I can firmly say the following: size does not matter. A lot of the old-school large companies moved sideways into software and don't really have the competence to deliver good projects.

Also, since when do the large companies value creativity?

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I would argue that these small companies are simply at an even higher level. My last paragraph deals with that type of company. Those people, the real difference makers that can do amazing things, are often better than anyone you'd find in any big company (examples like Google are outliers). Furthermore, I restrict the statement you're quoting to people who WANT to work in big companies but don't. The people you're talking about would never want to work in a big company because it sucks so much.

I'd say big companies in general don't value creativity. That's why they can't in general make good innovative products. I talk about that in some of my other posts on innovation, disruption, etc. However, I do believe that one needs to be creative to get through all the crap and problems that one experiences at a big company. It's a different type of creativity than what is required to develop a groundbreaking new product, but it's still creativity.

I can buy the argument that there's a certain kind of creativity that can help you work around management attempts to stifle initative.

But I cant help thinking the people best suited to those roles are the people without strong creative impulses that are simly very competent at handling the work assigned to them and succeed because of rather than in spite of the officially-sanctioned structures and processes.

Yes. Let's say you have a limited amount of creative energy, which based on what we know about exhaustion of Executive Function & decision-making, is probably true.

Do you want to waste a large portion of your allotted creative juice on figuring out how to make them let you do your damn job right?

That right there is why I've sworn off jobs forever. I've had high-paying jobs ($200k/yr, 5 weeks paid vacation, & a practically unlimited expense account). But when you're wasting your precious life fighting for the right to make something that IS NOT CRAP, it's just not worth it. Life's too short to make crap.

I think it really depends on what "big company" means. The author was likely talking about big software companies that recruit the best, such as Google, Facebook or Apple. Your comment makes me think of big companies that do software badly on the side, such as banks or telecoms.

edit: I see you said software companies. Maybe I have been brainwashed by their HR materials and those companies employees aren't so special.

Even apart from banks and telecoms that mainly do other stuff, there are a whole range of companies whose businesses are largely software which don't have technically-focused cultures. SAP is sort of a canonical example. Then there's the whole shadow world of large consulting firms, outsourcing firms, defense and aerospace contractors, etc.

I have had friends who've gone to work for Yahoo & the Big Goog. They've all quit save one, who is a fun guy but one who, professionally speaking, (sadly) likes to be told what to do. The reasons: boredom, not enough freedom, being stuck using inefficient tools, politicking, and at one point my friend's boss's boss pointed at my friend in a meeting like she was a secretary and asked, "Why is she here?" -- when my friend was responsible for launching a big web property for said boss just a few weeks prior.

All big companies are pretty much the same. The trappings are different but at heart, you can't grow to a huge size and maintain a great culture… unless you do something truly radical. And free lunches and nannies -- that's not radical enough.

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