Why You Should Work in a Developing Software Company [And How To Survive]

Working at a software company is hard. It doesn’t matter whether you work in a small, medium, or large development team – the challenges are universal and they don’t get any easier just because you have more people to help. Working at a software firm can be particularly challenging if you work at an organization that isn’t on the same growth trajectory as other companies in your industry. This is especially true of smaller development firms that operate in niche markets. While the advantages are obvious – less bureaucracy, greater freedom to innovate, and so on – these organizations also tend to be comparatively under-resourced and understaffed. Working at a developing software company poses its own unique challenges, but there are also plenty of reasons why this could be the perfect opportunity for you to enter the world of software engineering.

The Advantages of Working at a Small Software Company

By working in a smaller software development company team, you’ll have the opportunity to wear a number of different hats. You’ll get to understand the entire “pipeline” of the software process and have a better idea of how your job fits into the overall scheme of things. That’s something that is often missed when there are simply too many people involved in one project. The smaller the team, the easier it is to keep track of who is doing what and what stage each project or initiative is at. In a smaller company, you’ll also have the opportunity to mentor less seasoned developers. This can be both a rewarding and learning experience for all involved. More senior engineers can help mentor and coach less experienced staff, while junior engineers can benefit from the experience of their more seasoned colleagues.

You’ll Learn More, Faster

As we already mentioned, the smaller the team, the faster you’ll be able to work through your backlog of features and projects. This means that you’ll be able to make quicker progress with your code, allowing you to learn and improve at a much faster rate. In a bigger company, your code will be thrown in a massive queue and you might only find out how it performs in production after months of waiting. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does slow down the learning process. At a small company, you’ll have the opportunity to iterate and test your code much faster. This allows you to extract learnings and insights from your code much more quickly, helping you to become a better engineer.

Your Code Will Be Reviewed and Improved By Others

As a smaller company grows, it will eventually have to invest in code review and peer review processes to help minimize the number of defects that make it into production. In a smaller organization, these processes may begin sooner. As a part of your engineering workflow, you’ll have the opportunity to review the code of your peers. In turn, you’ll also be subject to code review from the rest of your team. This is an incredibly valuable experience. It gives you a chance to look at other people’s code “through a microscope” and improve your own code at the same time.

You’ll Have Immediate Exposure to Advanced Technologies and Practices

One of the advantages of working at a big software company is that you’ll benefit from the company’s scale. You’ll have access to custom software development company  budgets and be able to experiment with bleeding edge technologies that you might not otherwise be able to explore. Working in a smaller company, however, you’ll have the opportunity to work with the most advanced technologies right away. You’ll be able to experiment and have access to everything you need, without having to wait for approval from the “big bosses.” That’s particularly important if you’re working with rapidly evolving technologies. At a bigger company, it sometimes takes months to create an appropriate budget and then even more time to get the necessary hardware and software in place. At a smaller company, you can often get access to the exact same hardware and software right away.

You’ll Develop Critical Communication Skills

Communication is often cited as one of the most important skills for any software engineer. It’s a skill that can be incredibly valuable throughout your entire career and something that many engineers struggle to master. Working in a smaller team, you’ll have the opportunity to practice your communication skills more than you might at a bigger company. You’ll have to learn how to negotiate with your engineering manager, how to manage your time, and how to effectively collaborate with the members of your team. You’ll also have to be able to clearly and concisely convey your ideas to other members of the organization, such as your sales and marketing teams.

You’ll Learn How to Negotiate Within a Development Team

Negotiation is an important part of working with other engineers as well as your managers. You’ll often have to negotiate for things like better tools, more time to learn new skills or the ability to manage some aspect of your workflow. You’ll also have to negotiate with your team about features and bugs, as well as prioritization. At a smaller company, you’ll have to negotiate more often. That’s what being part of a smaller team is all about: collaboration and compromise. Negotiating within a team is an important skill and something you’ll have to keep doing throughout your career.

Conclusion

Working in a smaller Software Development Company has its own set of unique challenges, but it can also be a fantastic opportunity to learn and grow as an engineer. Working in a smaller team will give you the chance to experiment with new technologies and drastically accelerate your learning process by reviewing other people’s code and having it reviewed by your peers. Negotiation is an important part of any engineering team and you’ll have to learn how to navigate that as part of your day-to-day as a smaller company engineer. That said, the advantages of working at a smaller company are undeniable. You’ll have the opportunity to work with the most advanced technologies, experiment with bleeding edge practices, and learn from your peers in a much shorter timeframe than you would at a bigger company. Working in a smaller software company can be challenging, but it can also be incredibly rewarding.