Why I turned down job offers from some big companies

When there are more job seekers looking for work than jobs available (think: the Great Recession) it’s rare for candidates to turn down a job offer. In a labor market favouring employers, candidates have to take what they can get. But in a tight labor market like today, where candidates have the luxury of being a bit more discriminating, it’s not uncommon for job seekers to turn down opportunities unless until there are solid reasons.

I would love to share my personal experience on this. I was working in Bahrain in a big company as senior software engineer but had to move back to Pakistan in December, 2019 due to some personal family commitments and straight away informed the recruiters in my contacts list that I am currently open for the opportunities. Obviously I needed a job as I belong to a mediocre family and has dependants to feed.

Luckily recruiters started contacting me as soon as they came to know about my availability. In between 11th December, 2019 & 22nd December, 2019, I gave interviews in 6 different software houses ranging from small to big companies and by 25th December, 2019 I had 4 offers in hand (no exaggeration) from small as well as big companies. Now it was finally the time to decide which company to choose and whom to reject. A difficult decision obviously.

Just to let my readers know my little background that I have been ex-employee of some big companies including:

1. BlueEast (Technology development wing of Orient Group of Companies) who developed Pakistan’s first in-house developed IoT platform MEVRIS. I worked as senior software engineer here.
2. Careem. It is a vehicle for hire company based in Dubai, with operations in over 100 cities in 14 countries in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. I worked as senior front-end developer on this product under the umbrella of VentureDive.
3. INTECH Process Automation. It is a renowned system integrator and automation solution provider for the oil & gas sector globally. I worked as senior software engineer (team lead) on their Industrial IoT product.
4. TCIG. It’s a big company in Bahrain working in travel domain. I worked as senior software engineer on Saudi Airlines product.

And few more companies too.

Now if I had a thought process of a typical employee, I would have gone for some big name with around 500 employees (I won’t name the company but again without any exaggeration, I had offer from a big company with 500+ employees headquartered in US). Instead I chose to join silicon valley based Unlayer which is 5 employees company merely.

Bad Decision? Let’s discuss :)

Have you ever heard about low-code market? The low-code market tends to get drowned out with other buzzy tech trends. But it shouldn’t. According to a research, the global low-code development platform market was valued at $5.6 billion in 2018, and is expected to reach $52.3 billion by 2024, progressing at a CAGR of 45.2% during the forecast period. Isn’t it huge?

Low-code is focused on making it easier and quicker to develop applications as well as to use applications, such as a drag-and-drop interface and low-code integrations.

“With low-code, innovative apps can be delivered 10x faster and organisations can turn on a dime, adapting their systems at the speed of business,” said Paulo Rosado, who is the CEO at OutSystems. His firm is one of the top operators in the sector, with more than 1,000 customers.

Another thing is SaaS based model. Heard about this? According to wikipedia:

Software as a service (SaaS) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. It is sometimes referred to as “on-demand software”, and was formerly referred to as “software plus services” by Microsoft.

So when you are developing a low-code SaaS based software solution, you are actually targeting the companies as well as the developer community around the world as your clients. You can’t imagine the learning you can get by developing a low-code SaaS based software solution because you are not just developing a typical web app which will be used by a specific industry and a targeted audience, instead you are targeting developer community working in any domain, any industry and in every part of the world.

That was the stuff related to the company while I made my decision. Now let’s look at another aspect.

I was working with some big names as I mentioned above for last 4 years or so and what I realised that I was more inclined towards front-end development while in my current company I am working in full stack capacity. I develop the back-end of a module, then the front-end and finally glue them using latest cutting edge technologies including ReactJS, Apollo-GraphQL and Sequelize. That’s what I love to do and that’s what I should be doing ideally.

Another advantage of working in this model is your success is visible. Unless you work near the top, accomplishing something significant at a large company will probably never reach the ears of the CEO. At a small company, however, great work can be seen by everyone. This makes it easier to distinguish yourself with certain skills. Your actions are also more significant. As Dean Medley, Senior VP of recruiting at Medical Methods points out:

Every success you have in a small business is magnified by a hundred. When you land a new account, it’s a huge deal.

Being able to work closely with all of your coworkers doesn’t just mean they can see you. You also have access to a lot more of the company’s moving parts. Being able to speak directly to your upper management and voice concerns or pitch ideas can result in much faster movement.

Last but not the least, I am not saying to compromise the salary package in choosing your employer. Negotiating a better salary is something that everyone should be focused on. If you are confident enough on your skills and experience, there is no point that you don’t get your expected salary.

My decision is making more sense now, right? Let me know in the comments section please :)

Conclusion:

Don’t just go for the name or size of the company while choosing the employer, thing that matters the most is the type of work you are going to do and the contribution you are going to make in the company. Always remember, learning should never stop.

About the Author:

Having 7+ years of professional software development experience in various cutting edge technologies, currently working as a Principal Software Engineer in a silicon valley based company in full stack capacity using ReactJS and Apollo-GraphQL.