Honest question: is it really possible to do that sort of work as a cog inside a huge corporation?
I'm asking because I'm looking at very likely being gobbled up by such a large corporation ...
I'm asking because I'm looking at very likely being gobbled up by such a large corporation ...
But I too wonder how it is to work there. From other companies like Google or Microsoft there are more stories available, from the hiring process to rants from happy or disgruntled employees. Compared to that Apple is even post-Steve an enigmatic black box. Like, how many hacker news comments are there in which the user is outing herself as an engineer at Apple? I don't remember ever reading one.
The company was making billions and I didn't even have stock options, whereas the executive team was getting paid several thousand times as much me. They always said "our pay is competitive with the valley", but it didn't feel right. It came out later that Apple and other Silicon Valley firms were involved in an illegal wage fixing agreement.
As an immigrant, I can't start my own business in the US so I went into finance, where the employees are generally more cognisant of their market value. I got a 50% base-pay and 125% overall increase right off the bat as finance is desperate for anyone who is genuinely passionate about technology.
All I can say is that if you have a choice between a large investment bank and a hedge fund, always go with the hedge fund. They are more agile, more casual, and there's a more direct link between your activities and the organization's profit. Overall, it is more similar to tech.
If you find the right tech company, your work can be very visible, and can be part of a product that will exist for decades.
If you have the right personality, you can also become very visible outside the organisation as well such that people inside and outside will know you.
Who knows, maybe by framing yourself right to begin with, you can move into being one of those people in short order... On the whole, of course, it's impossible to tell who gets to do interesting work, and who does mundane work...except by talking with your future colleagues and trying to ask a lot of questions :)
Don't forget, that at a tiny company (3-5 people say), you will be far more likely to have to do things that are ridiculously mundane and boring: at the smallest companies it's just part of the job description. I think there's a better chance at a company where for the position you're filling, the job description is making mountains move.