I was nodding along throughout this and pretty much agreeing that overall a big company makes sense for most people.<p>Then I got to the final footnote. That kind of Kafka-esque bullshit is what keeps me working in startups. I could not stand working in a culture where policies which are widely seen as unhelpful and ridiculous are still routinely inflicted upon employees.<p>Yes, startup &quot;bullshit&quot; also exists, but the difference is that it&#x27;s totally possible to avoid that bullshit by picking a good startup to work at. I&#x27;ve never had anything like the experiences described in [1], despite working at 3 different startups. On the other hand, big company problems seem to be universal: it&#x27;s not possible to find a big company without at least some arcane and employee-hostile policies. (For example, Google&#x27;s blind hiring keeps me from ever considering working there.)<p>[1] <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;totalgarb.tumblr.com&#x2F;tagged&#x2F;startupbullshit" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;totalgarb.tumblr.com&#x2F;tagged&#x2F;startupbullshit</a>