Pros
Besides the access to benefits (like say, health insurance), one of the biggest advantages to working in a large company is that you can change jobs – often multiple times – and stay within the company. For someone like me who is always up for a new challenge, being able to move from a development team, to a marketing group, to services, and back again, provides the intellectual challenge that many people seek – without having to update the resume and embark on a job search.There’s also more flexibility in moving from technical roles to project management roles, to personnel management roles in a large company, simply because those jobs exist. At the same time, if you are the type that likes to become an expert in something – to go deep – then large companies can be a great option because the technical career paths extend higher into the company.
Cons
There’s a phenomenon similar to a Vulcan mind meld that happens within large companies. Each company has a culture, and successful employees conform to that culture. This can be a good thing, but for many it means that it’s harder to be seen (and heard) as an individual. And large companies really do have more red tape. It’s harder to get decisions made, and employees have less autonomy. You may have a brilliant idea, but by the time you follow all required processes, and review it with all the stakeholders, and get your executive team to buy-in, there’s a good chance that it may not even resemble what you started with. Of course, there’s also a chance that the end product may have improved with all the input and collaboration. What do you think?