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My personal preference was for small companies/startups. This was a good match for my personality. The pay was always as good (sometimes better) as the larger companies. The benefits were sometimes less, but stock or stock options were a gamble that I valued more. I had two absolutely top-notch mentors (at two different places). As soon as I had enough money to tide me over (5 years), I detached and started contracting on my own. That's indicative of what I mean by my type of personality. As a contractor, I was every bit as loyal to my client as any full-time employee. I also looked around and picked up pieces that employees were neglecting and did those jobs, in addition to what I was hired for. This virtually always resulted in an offer of a full-time position. I always turned it down until I got into the area of fixing engineering management problems. Then, I'd take the job until it was done (people frown on contractors firing permanent employees), and detach again. As you can see, one has to have the personality for that; it isn't everyone's cup of tea. If security is an issue, best not to do it.
To address some of your points, from my view:
You get more experience with a small company because you wear more hats.
You do have more performance pressure.
Mentors developed by personal relationships are available, but formal training usually is not.
You will be encouraged by the bottom-line oriented if you do a good job, but you will be discouraged by those who perceive you as a threat.
There is definitely a good chance for the company to go under. If you can drive profitability by reducing costs, increasing performance, increasing quality, and increasing efficiency, you will be highly valued and rewarded for it. You will best be able to do that by broadening your range of disciplines.
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