I know this is a startup biased crowd, but the claim that this is a comparison article is pretty thin.
I'm not going to claim that working for a big company is the perfect solution for everybody, but it has some great advantages. My favorite is that I can actually be just a software engineer and not an engineer/tech support rep/sysadmin/manager/etc. I actually think I spend more time on technical challenges at a large company than I did in my time at a startup.
I also think that point #10 is really dependent on the company. Is working at a social gaming startup really "being part of something bigger than you"? If you work at a company and you believe in their vision, that's way more important than the size of the organization.
I love an In-N-Out burger as much as anyone, and make a point to stop there every time I'm in Sunnyvale, but I have to really doubt a reheated In-N-Out burger sent through the mail retains the freshness that makes them better. If I'm paying $25 for a burger, I can get a pretty darn good burger in any city.
I'm not going to claim that working for a big company is the perfect solution for everybody, but it has some great advantages. My favorite is that I can actually be just a software engineer and not an engineer/tech support rep/sysadmin/manager/etc. I actually think I spend more time on technical challenges at a large company than I did in my time at a startup.
I also think that point #10 is really dependent on the company. Is working at a social gaming startup really "being part of something bigger than you"? If you work at a company and you believe in their vision, that's way more important than the size of the organization.