Types of workplaces

[fortnightlily]

My entire career I've been in tech, either at small privately owned consulting firms or investor-owned small or medium startups or established software-as-a-service companies.

I'm over it, looking for a change. Out of tech entirely maybe. Curious to hear from others who've worked in environments like mine and in something else, like nonprofit or civil service or even huge publicly-owned corporations.

Are all those worse? Am I looking at a grass-is-greener thing?

What's your favorite type of workplace?

[acr]

I'm in tech too at a mid-sized global org. As much as I dislike the reduction in perks we've had & current instability of the industry/employment, there's still enough to keep me around. I haven't found comparable benefits and work/life balance elsewhere. If I have to work strict hours, RTO, or lose open PTO, I'd be serious about leaving.

[mainelyfoolish]

In the 90s and 2000s I worked in IT as a defense contractor (for more than one company), at a .com startup, and for a publicly-traded insurance company. Then I was out of the workforce for 14 years (SAHM) before stumbling into a municipal government job; I am now a deputy tax assessor. I have no managerial or project management experience, I’m just an individual contributor.

The worst jobs by far were the defense contractors; low pay, bad benefits, terrible morale. The contractor companies don’t care about your growth or development, they just want a billable person so they can make as much money as possible. There was a lot of turnover. Working on site at a government office as a private sector employee was the worst of both worlds.

The .com startup was fun, but didn’t last long. That was in the early 2000s.

The large corporate job was reasonably pleasant. I had normal work hours (I was in a non-exempt position), decent benefits, office furniture that didn’t look like it came out of a dumpster, perks like an on-site cafeteria and gym. I could get almost any normal office supply I wanted without question. Most people worked there for many years.

The municipal government job I have now is also reasonably pleasant, but some of what I like is not employer specific, like my coworkers and my short commute. My position is non-exempt and covered by a collective bargaining agreement; the pay and benefits are not amazing but they are good. If I stay long enough, I will get a pension. I do have to work regular hours in an office (we are open to the public), our office furniture is shabby, and we’re still reusing folders another department threw out ten years ago. I imagine there are other municipal governments that have bigger budgets than my small town. I do like that I never have to worry about work outside of work hours. 

[livinitup]

The grass is not greener in the non-profit world. Maybe as a tech person, you might be insulated from the worst of it - too much need and too few resources to meet the need. And very poor management to meet the demands of documentation and staff training/coping.

You could probably find employment fairly easily. But your department will be small and the people you support & their managers will be tech dumb.

Right now, I am in a great spot. We manage health data. I would highly recommend that. Look for good funding sources.

[just]

So there's a lot of hate for Higher Ed - and rightly so, but when you find a good or even decent employer, it can be a joy.

I've worked in HE IT for the last 15+ years (at a for-profit - never again, a state university and a private but small university), and I don't think I'll ever leave. It's busy, but not "corporate-busy". You're dealing with limited groups of "clients" - yes many of them are demanding - but for a good purpose. It's mission driven which for me - really makes a difference.

Most HE IT departments are very resource strapped, unless you're in true ivy, or in a wealthy school in a bigger university. Some other issues are decentralized IT positions - if it's you, or not, those can be thorns.

IT is usually a better paid position on campus, but it will never compete with anything you get in industry. Cybersecurity individuals for example will be at 30-40% of industry, and I could move to industry for at least a 30% increase.

However, I LOVE higher ed. It tends to be very pro work/life balance, tuition benefits for you, spouse and kids are usual, I have a killer 403b plan that is literally worth it's weight in gold. I have ok advancement prospects, but I do probably need for people to leave to move up. Annual increases are minimal. I get 25 days a year vacation/personal, plus sick, plus the week between christmas and new year for free. Since COVID a lot of our employees are fully remote, and almost all have hybrid options.

Also, HE will contract/shrink in the coming 10-20-30 years, so choose wisely. I wouldn't move to a college without doing a dive into their financials - credit score, endowment, property ownership, strategic plans on the enrollment cliff, etc. - all of which are probably public if they're a non-profit institution.

[heygrey]

I worked in two non-profits - one was religious based, one was not. Neither paid well. Both had some questionable money saving at the expense of employees practices. (At the second, we were pressured to sign an overtime waiver - if we worked overtime we were paid straight time, not time and a half. All in the name of serving the people... which we were doing by taking the low paying job in the first place.)

Now I work in public education, which pays more, but I still wouldn't recommend it. It might be better in an internal department like IT support though. 

[sadlebred]

I work for a large corporation. The pay tends to be somewhat market rate a big companies. Raises the last few years and bonuses have been minuscule to non-existent. Whether or not you like it really depends on your manager and management chain. I have a good manager that expects a lot of his team but also is fair, encourages growth, and supports everyone. Hours can vary wildly. I am expected to work several weekends/year.

[niq]

So the sweet spot for me has been 2000-5000 total employees, 1000 of them so in engineering, and in industries with lots of customers (as opposed to chasing huge deals with a small number of customers). But I think it really depends on your personality and the company mission. Also eventually the 5000 person company becomes a 20,000 person company and you have to adapt or find a new place to work.

I volunteer as a MathCounts coach and in part it's a chance to consider transitioning into k-12 teaching in my mid to late 40s (I'm currently in my ... early to mid 40s). It doesn't pay very well, but if I can figure out how to have fewer bad days and more good days I might do it as "semi retirement".

[fortnightlily]

Feb 8, 2024 23:24:15 GMT -5 niq said:

So the sweet spot for me has been 2000-5000 total employees, 1000 of them so in engineering, and in industries with lots of customers (as opposed to chasing huge deals with a small number of customers). But I think it really depends on your personality and the company mission. Also eventually the 5000 person company becomes a 20,000 person company and you have to adapt or find a new place to work.

I volunteer as a MathCounts coach and in part it's a chance to consider transitioning into k-12 teaching in my mid to late 40s (I'm currently in my ... early to mid 40s). It doesn't pay very well, but if I can figure out how to have fewer bad days and more good days I might do it as "semi retirement".

The largest company I ever worked for is my current one, which had about 1200 people before the three rounds of layoffs they've done in the past year. But the size was the result of Private Equity buying 4 companies (including my origin one) and trying to smoosh them together. It has gone poorly, so I don't have a good barometer of how a functional large company feels

[Susie]

I've spent 18 years at the same small law firm (12ish attorneys).  We used to be fully in person of course, and now we are hybrid and talking about downsizing our office space to become more remote.  But it's the same group, culture, etc.  I'm very autonomous, but I work long and hard hours.

MH has moved around more.  He started at a very small (3 attorney) firm doing matrimonial and family law.  It was pretty toxic.  He left ASAP for county service, spent a decade there, then went to state service.  Fortunately county + state is the same retirement system.  He has been in two different state agencies, which had very different cultures. 

I am doing fine at my firm, obviously, since my tenure there is now old enough to vote, lol.  But I think I could also do ok in a laid back state role like H has now, and doing more of the hands on family stuff that he covers for me since I work a lot more.  The most important thing to me is balance between us.  We can't both charge hard at the same time with little kids at home. 

[midwestmama]

Honestly, the best thing about any of my workplaces has been my coworkers and boss. I liked my boss and coworkers at my last company, but was ready for a change after 10 years and didn't love the industry anymore. I like my current boss and coworkers, but the fact that things are always changing here based on what it seems like are whims of the executives (it's privately-held company, so changes like that are easier), that part has been exhausting.

I think my favorite will be when I can retire, lol. (Hopefully in 13 years!)

[lust2hart]

I've only ever worked in higher ed. When I was interested in leaving, I could find no company that offered more time off and workplace flexibility, which I value above pay and paid benefits. So I ended up staying at the university but changing jobs. Our IT folks are paid head-and-shoulders above any other staff position, but I don't know how their pay compares to similar positions outside of HE. Mid-level employees don't seem to be super stressed/busy - not sure what the day-to-day is like for our CTO or their direct reports.