Small vs Large Engineering Company Which one should you choose? - Employee Perspective

[@JakeJWr]

Great video, thank you. Having worked for both, I do prefer the structure of working for a larger firm, but the amount of responsibility I had working for a smaller firm helped me a lot in terms of my technical competence.

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Jake, thankyou for watching. Agree that additional responsibility you get at a smaller firm helps you alot at bigger companies. Also give you a better perspective on finances and dealing with clients.

[@billj5645]

Think about the types of projects you will get to work on. Think about the variety of experience you will get. Think about the training, learning and mentoring you will get. Some companies and some supervisors will give you good training, others won't. This may not even relate to the size of the company. The best choice may be a larger small company.

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Bill I agree thinklng about the type of projects is really important consideration.

[@neilwright1259]

Keep up the good work from an engineer working in the country and previously worked for prestigious engineering consultants.

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Neil, thanks for the support. hope to keep it up and hope to keep improving.

[@shazebmirza9336]

thanks man , commenting so that this profession can get more marketing ♥️

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Shazeb Mirza, thanks for watching, and comments on my videos help soo much your support is greatly appreciated.

[@hamishallan4573]

Recently joined a large engineering firm as a graduate fire engineer having studied a masters in structural and fire engineering. I can tell you 3 months in, you will be involved in highly prestigious projects in a heavily involved manner running various packages and dealing with the client and architect etc one on one IF you manage to find a niche branch of the field you study, mine being the fire engineering side

[@BrendanHasty]

Thank you for sharing your experience Hamish!

[@DeepakKrishna11]

Insightful Brendon, keep going.

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Deepak, thanks for watching and your continued support.

[@TheunsGideonJudeel]

Great video with some good insight. Having worked for only a small firm my whole career up to now, I'm getting to a cross-road where I need to consider if a move to a larger company will be beneficial. This has been weighing heavily on my mind lately, as I'm keen on getting into a new environment with new challenges and opportunities, but also being mindful of not losing what I've been "building" at the company so far. I suppose it will come down to where I will learn, grow and develop most to serve the rest of my career.

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Theuns, thankyou for your support. Changing roles or company is always daunting, you need to carefully select the right company and what experience you will get there. Engineering careers are long, and provided you leave on good terms you can always come back to you old company, but if you are still progressing and learning maybe stay. You just don't want to get stagnated for too long.

[@santa3103]

I've been working for a boutique engineering firm in Melbourne for the last 5 years, working to become registered. I get paid about the same as the big firms for the same 'job title', however I feel that what you've said regarding the advantage of start to finish, hands on experience working for a small firm is absolutely true. The other thing I could mention is that some small firms in Melbourne don't have draftspeople, so as a graduate you also pick up an additional skill producing structural documentation, which is also a transferable skill if you wanted to focus on drafting over engineering. BUT you can hit a ceiling in a small firm, right now I'm looking to work at a larger firm to diversify my experience, however a lot of larger firms like to hire those who have experience in other blue chip firms (not all, but quite a few) Maybe you could do a video on how to land a job in a larger firm specifically?

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Santa, it can be hard to get that step into the big compaines, this will be a video I will make in thr future but as a quick tip you may need to use a recruiter, but I will recommend avoiding that if you can through getting contacts you have. But it isn't always possible.

[@leearningjourney]

Hi, so you recommend the career development is Early stage - either small or large Mid stage - large Final stage - small

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi, thanks for watching. Final could be small or large, just depends on optunities. Both have benefits lot of people only thing large companies late career.

[@jonathanm9200]

I gathered from this the best compromise is a medium sized firm. That is large enough to scalp big projects from the multinationals due to fees/specific experience, but small enough to give all levels of the design team a lot of involvement from day 1.

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Jonathan, not necessarily medium firms may only work on large projects thus do not get the quick project turnaround, and not have the diversification on projects types and locations of larger companies

[@davidroofier8675]

Great content as always!

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi David, thanks for watching and your support.

[@Kaviownzu9]

Hey Brendan, Thanks for your insight ! this will be really helpful in my decision making process when I start looking for graduate positions.

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Kaviownzu, thanks for watching. Wishing you luck on future graduate applications.

[@niilespunkari8832]

Maybe make a video of the same topic but from the prospect client point-of-view?

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Niiles, I can do that. thanks for watching and your suggestion.

[@jahazielsolares]

Thank you for this video. Happens that I’ve just graduated and I’m in a position where both a small and large company want to hire me and it’s being too difficult for me to make the right choice, being that I have almost no experience.

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Jahaziel, congratulations on graduating. Hope this video has helped, and good luck on your engineering journey

[@leitongkun5766]

What do u think about working in the building department in the city government as a structural engineer? What is the pro and con comparing to working in a large consulting firm in a private sector?

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Lei Tong Kun, working for the government can be good typically working hours are better but pay will typically be lower. Depending on the work experience in structural engineering can be limited.

[@muhammaduuu]

Hi brendan are you also an architect? because i heard you said you won architectural award. Do you recommend structural engineers to learn architectural design. Thanks for this amazing video

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Muhammad, I am not a architect. The designs I was involved with won several architectural awards. To allow for architectural designs to come together, you need both the architect and engineer to come together to push the boundaries. Having some understanding of architectural design is useful, as you will know what problems they may have and, with your engineering knowledge, how to address them. However, you can also pick this up by talking to the architects you work with, so you can understand the intent of their designs, allowing you to come up with a creative solution to achieve their vision.

[@thesage1096]

is it true that the larger firms, the work tends to be more stressful ?

[@BrendanHasty]

Hi Sage, thanks for your continued support. Either small or large it can be stressful, in general I would say larger firms are more stressful but this is just due to the size of the projects. But this is really subjective and based on the projects you are working on. I would tho reccomnded some additional stress as it will help you grow as a engineer, and approach it in a way what is causing the stress and how can I make it easier

[@EduardoFerreira-rh7dk]

Benfits or benefits? 🙊

[@BrendanHasty]

yea I need work work on my spelling, thanks for the good pick up on the miss spelling.