small vs large company
kleos
Registered Users Posts: 4 ■□□□□□□□□□
I currently have a decent paying sysadmin job for a small 50 user company. Lately I have been thinking of applying for a general IT staff job at a large local hospital. I think I would enjoy the challenge of a large company environment and the satisfaction of working for a company with a purpose other than solely making money. I imagine the pay would be similar or even a little less.
Am I stupid to be considering this?
Am I stupid to be considering this?
Comments
When I worked in Las Vegas for five mega resorts, a corporate office, two airport offices, a golf course, and various remote offices, I was part of a large overall team of IT Professionals. My responsibilities were very specific to what I did since other tasks were performed by other sections of my department. While the experience in working with larger, more complex systems were always a challenge, you did not get very many opportunities to learn what the other department is doing. You were simply too busy and had too much on your plate to be able to focus on other things. Think of a person working in an assembly line. The job had its advantages however, I had more stability there, and if I found time to learn about the other jobs I could build myself a very good reason to be promoted or moved to that new job within a reasonable time, given that I had the spare time outside of work to understand it all.
I also worked for a smaller company of under 30 people as a DBA. Every person had to be able to perform more than one task. If a person was off, sick, unavailable, etc you had to fill in for them. A lot of last minute situations where you had to think on your feet and out of the box, very exciting stuff. Also, because we were very small we ran into some other administrative issues like payroll or staffing levels but that usually comes with a starter company.
Now, I work for a large organization but it is divided into its own separate entities so you still get that small company feel in a large corporation. I enjoy what I do here because I am learning something new everyday. As a manager and as a systems administrator.
Oh yeah, it's also good to have a larger company on your resume if you're building it up.
Hope this helps ^_^
The smallest company I've ever worked for is the hospital I work at now, and it has over 3000 employees. I can't see myself working for a small company, and hope to get back to working for a much larger company again soon.
As long as it is an increase in not only pay, but title and responsibility, then no, you aren't stupid for considering it. However I would not consider moving to a larger company just for the sake of moving to a larger company if the position is going to be a step backwards in your career.
They took a short-term lowball salary, but gained precious experience, and sometimes the company would pay for vendor training and industry certs. I know first hand these guys are doing great now, some of them even joke "what recession?!?".
Everything comes with tradeoffs, you'll have to reflect and compare what your current position offers compared to what the hospital position can offer. If its a non-profit hospital, the salary may not be the same or even less, but, if it gives you opportunities for experience on more systems, it might be worth it in the long run.
After that I worked for almost minimum wage for a rediculous amount of experience and now I'm making at least 2.5 times the original amount and in a much better position
I am just starting out in my career and don't want to miss an opportunity to hop on a better track. What do you think is better experience? Handling the entire IT for a 50 user company or being 1 of several handling a 5000 user company?