What would you do?

Lets say you would be changing jobs soon into a new environment. You know you will be part of one of the most successful companies of our time.


You have never worked at a large company, and the thought of it makes you slightly sick to your stomach. It also makes you wonder if you are 'good' enough to really hang with the best of the best.

You don't know really where you will fit in there, or what you are going to do there.

These are the conclusions I have come to about this question.

First off, I love to architect software and really understand why some designs work and other designs do not. I figure that being involved in a company like this I should have access to developers and software like never before.

So professionally, I would look to get my hands on one large project other than my own probably every month. This will also give me common ground to work with and speak to amazing developers so that when it comes time to lead an interesting project I don't have a problem finding good talent.

Another thing is that I would probably be ready to study yet another culture that you didn't come from and you don't really understand.

It seems I have really made a life out of working with and being with people of different cultures. I think just as I like to study software architecture, I like to study social architecture and really understand how the different cultures handle various different things. One thing I know is that different cultures have different strengths, but there is a equal weakness to any strength. There are no real dominant forces unless there are extenuating circumstances or something like that. So when someone from a different culture does something that really bothers you most likely you don't understand what is going on.

Anyway, I think that is all you can do. You are part of a system that is much larger than you and the best thing you can do is really try to understand each new world that you become a part of so that you can carry the strengths of the last world with you.

Chris