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I have worked in two corporate companies. One that had 300 employees based here in Chicago and the one I am currently at that has over 700 employees globally based here as well.
The first one sucked. I was straight out of college and had a lot of energy. I personally liked the job, but hated the culture of the company. It was the type of culture that they would constantly monitor your computer, you had to follow a strict dress code (even the graphic designer had to dress with a tie on!) and ran the place with an Iron fist. They wouldn't allow you to socialize with others at work as you would get in trouble nor were you allowed to have personal items at your desk, well first they had to be approved. I only lasted there a year.
Where I am now I love it. The culture is amazing. You can come to work dressed casually, it's a very open environment. They have lounges where you can take your laptop and work with others while watching TV. It's a big deal come the time of March Madness, World Cup, etc. They have alcohol for your drink, catered lunches and breakfast. The is just the tip of the iceberg. It's an amazing place to work at!
So with that being said, companies are very different from one another. There are some corporations which are terrible to work for and some that are amazing. Then some in the middle.
In regards to the corporate life, I think it's best when you are young. As much as I love my job and company, I also get sick of the corporate politics, the beaucratic processes for everything, the gossip and backstabbing. However, because of the size it also means great company parties, lots of areas you can move up in, lots of friends you can make.
For me at least I think I can do the corporate lifestyle 5-10 more years, and then will want something smaller. My ideal size of a company is a place where where there are 60-100 employees. Not too small not too big.
Working in the Loop is also awesome. Being surrounded by all that energy and knowing that you are surrounded by people like you, educated, professional and most likely (assuming) hard working. However, I think maybe after 5-10 years it wears off. Like the commute. I get sick sometimes of being on jam packed trains to get to the loop. In 5-10 years I would like to work somewhere that I can easily walk to within a 20 minute walk.
Where I am now I love it. The culture is amazing. You can come to work dressed casually, it's a very open environment. They have lounges where you can take your laptop and work with others while watching TV. It's a big deal come the time of March Madness, World Cup, etc. They have alcohol for your drink, catered lunches and breakfast. The is just the tip of the iceberg. It's an amazing place to work at!
Yeah, my former coworker's new company (well, as of a few years ago) is like this. He showed me their full stacked bar in the office.
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In regards to the corporate life, I think it's best when you are young. As much as I love my job and company, I also get sick of the corporate politics, the beaucratic processes for everything, the gossip and backstabbing. However, because of the size it also means great company parties, lots of areas you can move up in, lots of friends you can make.
Yeah this is true. The thing that gets me is that I work for a wing of my company which does hire artists but also technology people (like me). Most people are cool..very chill..have personalities, etc. Then we have a few managers who are not like that. They don't fit in at ALL, but they have power and they ruin it for some people. They try and act cool, fit in, etc but it just doesn't work out. Then the people in management above that are mostly the same thing (except one or two people). You basically see two sides at least where I work. There's the people who are cool and chill, and then there's management who has NO ****ing idea what they're ever talking about and only have the job because they've been in management for awhile. You see a lot of brown nosing and a lot of the b-school mentality of "oh man gotta get recognized from everyone even if what I did is completely and utterly bull****!"
Since it's a large company, you have to adhere by the overall company or large division's set rules, which is very bureaucratic and often times ridiculous. As much as I like being able to travel around for free, get free meals, say "hey i need this $1000 software suite" and get it (sometimes)...I'd rather work for a smaller (but successful) company now.
Yeah, my former coworker's new company (well, as of a few years ago) is like this. He showed me their full stacked bar in the office.
Yeah this is true. The thing that gets me is that I work for a wing of my company which does hire artists but also technology people (like me). Most people are cool..very chill..have personalities, etc. Then we have a few managers who are not like that. They don't fit in at ALL, but they have power and they ruin it for some people. They try and act cool, fit in, etc but it just doesn't work out. Then the people in management above that are mostly the same thing (except one or two people). You basically see two sides at least where I work. There's the people who are cool and chill, and then there's management who has NO ****ing idea what they're ever talking about and only have the job because they've been in management for awhile. You see a lot of brown nosing and a lot of the b-school mentality of "oh man gotta get recognized from everyone even if what I did is completely and utterly bull****!"
Since it's a large company, you have to adhere by the overall company or large division's set rules, which is very bureaucratic and often times ridiculous. As much as I like being able to travel around for free, get free meals, say "hey i need this $1000 software suite" and get it (sometimes)...I'd rather work for a smaller (but successful) company now.
Agreed, I have also worked for smaller companies. One that was 25 employees and another that was 10. It was nice that it was not so beaucratic. For instance, when I had to have Adobe Creative Suite downloaded in those smaller companies, the purchasing of the software took less than a day to get approved, and as soon as it was I could download it. With my current company, I had to wait a week to have it approved by the Finance department, then after approval, I had to wait TWO days because youhave to set up an appointment with IT to have it downloaded on there. For Security reasons it won't let you. On the flip side, the type of design software I could get in the smaller companies was extremely limited, as they were very tight and small with budget. With my current company, that's not really an issue at all.
So everything really has it's pros and cons. I think corporate lifestyle is better when you are young, becuase the lower you are in the ladder the less corporate BS you have to deal with. Once you get into the Director and Executive levels for large corporations, it gets very political, and it's not so much your job that will cause problems more so the egos and backstabbing of those that are on the same level as you. It makes sense, because you are in charge of a department, so you will do everything to defend your dept, even if it means going to war with another. Then all the execs and directors in the other departments have the same mentality.
I hate the dress code, wish I could come in wearing shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops during summer. Office jobs are not that great.
There's companies out there who will let you do that. Again, just because you are in an office doesn't mean you can't wear whatever. It depends on the company. For the same company I'm at now, in Minnesota you could literally wear whatever you wanted and these were office jobs with good close to 6 figure salaries (which goes a lot further in minnesota than here). It wasn't Minnesota policy, it was the company which is in 70 countries. I remember seeing some of my coworkers wear beer t-shirts to work, sandles, shorts, etc. Nobody cared because it was on the honors system and none of us were client facing.
My dad had an office job and he'd go into work everyday with a short sleeve tshirt and jeans. Nobody cared. It's the company not the setting.
There's companies out there who will let you do that. Again, just because you are in an office doesn't mean you can't wear whatever. It depends on the company. For the same company I'm at now, in Minnesota you could literally wear whatever you wanted and these were office jobs with good close to 6 figure salaries (which goes a lot further in minnesota than here). It wasn't Minnesota policy, it was the company which is in 70 countries. I remember seeing some of my coworkers wear beer t-shirts to work, sandles, shorts, etc. Nobody cared because it was on the honors system and none of us were client facing.
My dad had an office job and he'd go into work everyday with a short sleeve tshirt and jeans. Nobody cared. It's the company not the setting.
Correct. Where I work now you can literally come in shorts and flip flops in the summer. This is also a large global company and very professional, but young at the same time. It falls in the same range of companies like Google, Facebook, Apple, in regards to company culture very casual but a very professional industry.
I choose not to wear shorts or t-shirts, because while allowed, I think you should demonstrate some sort of professionalism, and not dressed like you are going to the beach. Everyday I wear jeans, with either casual gym shoes (ie, like converse, puma's, etc) and a polo or button up, sometimes a sweater. Practically what I would wear outside the office. So one cannot really say that all offices are like this, but this proves that not all offices are about getting dressed up.
Agreed, I have also worked for smaller companies. One that was 25 employees and another that was 10. It was nice that it was not so beaucratic. For instance, when I had to have Adobe Creative Suite downloaded in those smaller companies, the purchasing of the software took less than a day to get approved, and as soon as it was I could download it. With my current company, I had to wait a week to have it approved by the Finance department, then after approval, I had to wait TWO days because youhave to set up an appointment with IT to have it downloaded on there. For Security reasons it won't let you. On the flip side, the type of design software I could get in the smaller companies was extremely limited, as they were very tight and small with budget. With my current company, that's not really an issue at all.
That's not even that bad. One of my coworkers had to get the latest version of excel. It took them 3 months to OK it.
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So everything really has it's pros and cons. I think corporate lifestyle is better when you are young, becuase the lower you are in the ladder the less corporate BS you have to deal with. Once you get into the Director and Executive levels for large corporations, it gets very political, and it's not so much your job that will cause problems more so the egos and backstabbing of those that are on the same level as you. It makes sense, because you are in charge of a department, so you will do everything to defend your dept, even if it means going to war with another. Then all the execs and directors in the other departments have the same mentality.
Yeah, it's absolutely insane how political things are once you've worked in the environment. The thing is that this goes on and yet companies are still like that. If there were smarter people in managerial roles sometimes, it could be even better and you have no idea how much better of things would be out there for some products if it wasn't so political all the damn time. It has to be sometimes to ensure you make money, but I feel as if some people do not think through their actions all the time regarding this.
This is a good thread. Not to take over the OP's thread, but how hard is it for an outsider (not living in Chicago) to break in? I want to move there.
Documentable skills that are in demand is all that is really necessary. Connections are helpful, but not the only way in for someone who has experience. They help a lot starting out, or in making moves that are a stretch skills-wise, but for lateral moves into Chicago all it really takes is experience and skills.
That's not even that bad. One of my coworkers had to get the latest version of excel. It took them 3 months to OK it.
Yeah, it's absolutely insane how political things are once you've worked in the environment. The thing is that this goes on and yet companies are still like that. If there were smarter people in managerial roles sometimes, it could be even better and you have no idea how much better of things would be out there for some products if it wasn't so political all the damn time. It has to be sometimes to ensure you make money, but I feel as if some people do not think through their actions all the time regarding this.
True. I have seen a lot of bad behavior. If an issue arises, the Managers and people above focus too much time on finding who to blame and then defend their own departments, instead of putting that energy on really identifying what the problem is and how to fix it. In just turns more into a war of who did what and how it's not one's fault.
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