Can I survive in a corporation?

Hate or love...?

Let me start with why. I wanted to write this because I think it is worth to share. Especially something that you’ve experienced. I see quite a lot of valuable articles recently so wanted to pay the debt. I am writing my own.

I do work for the corporation, pretty big one. That is not my first corporation I am working for. However, I’ve used to for a startup as well. I was programmer, team leader in both places. My role and responsibilities were very similar. Nevertheless, I see some differences.

Some people might say, I hate a corporation, it is too big, there are a lot of procedures etc. That is true, they are way bigger than small startups where you know your boss and all co-workers.

My view

In a corporation, it is harder to find who is your customer. Why? Most of the time there are a lot of people around. Business, marketing, HR might not sit close to the IT staff. This fact make things easy to lose the context of why you are doing what you are doing. Sometimes you are doing app for internal staff like Sales, HR or Marketing. Other time you do app for external clients. Due to structures in the company you might event don’t notice who needs your app and who eventually pays for it.

In a startup this is bit simpler, because most of the time there is a single product that earns money to pay the bills. Whereas in a corporation there are many products, sometimes only for internal use.

In the place I live, it is easier to find a job in a corporation than in a startup? Why? Most of the companies are going outsourcing here.

If I am able to identify my customers, I am able to get their feedback, this gives me satisfaction. So that, I can tell, I like working for a corporation. I don’t mind, as long as I know who my customer is.

Cheers