None of the small company benefits with all the large enterprise drawbacks.
Pros
Friendly, fun, sociable coworkers. Laid-back work environment. Potential for flexible hours and locations. New projects every few months. Great place to get exposure to various technologies and business practices. Santa Barbara has wonderful weather. They have a pool table.
Cons
IT culture only adds frustration and inefficiency to development, resulting in a goldmine of software engineering antipatterns. Hesitant on using anything remotely cutting edge, instead opting for legacy or vender solutions. If it isn’t obviously and catastrophically broken, don’t fix it. Skimps on resources needed to get job done. Company nonessential employees are treated as disposable and paid as such. Seniority is far more important than correctness. Huge talent vacuum in mid-senior positions; it’s very rare to have a mentor or team lead, even rarer for them to actually mentor or lead. Completely reliant on senior management to get work. Usually only paid when there is project billing, but management expects extra unpaid hours put in building the business. Don't get fooled by the 'Developer' title – you’re still mostly doing enterprise IT or vender work.
