Differences in small VS large organisations

[u/CeilingHamster]

Hello

I have been working in IT support from 2020 (hell of a time to start) to 2025. After a longer than intended break, I have a new IT support role.

My previous employers have been fairly small companies either offering outsourced support or within a smaller (sub-100 employee) company, generally being a jack-of-all-trades without any formal lines of support. My new role is with a very large multinational explicitly doing 1st line support.

I am just wondering what differences I can generally expect between the two kinds of employer. I found being on first-name terms with the CEOs of the otherplaces a blessing and a curse, so I don't know how to feel about that. I also assume much of the messages/tickets will be more impersonal as these people don't know who or where I am.

I am often one to worry too much, so I'm just trying to be as prepared as I can be.

Thank you all

[u/VA_Network_Nerd]

Resources and Opportunities.

Large organization already paid for Coursera, or LinkedIn Learning or Udemy or some other professional development platform.

Large organization has a tuition reimbursement program already established if you want to grind out a degree, or a second degree.

Large organization has hardware resource that might be able to be used to help you learn & grow.

Large organization has Account Managers and relationships with all kinds of large partners and providers. You'll start receiving spam inviting you to join a webinar to learn all about products & solutions small companies cannot justify or afford.

But large organization also includes increased exposure to terrible people with outrageous expectations.

[u/CeilingHamster → u/VA_Network_Nerd]

I like the sound of the learning opportunities.

Outsourced IT already exposed me to some interesting creatures...

[u/Mysterious-Print9737]

The biggest shift is moving from figuring it out to following the process. In small orgs you owned problems end to end, in enterprise tier 1 your job is accurate triage and clean handoff, not resolution, which can feel limiting at first but is a different skill that's definitely worth learning. Tickets will be more impersonal but the upside is clearer scope and you won’t get pulled into things above your pay grade at 4pm on a Friday. The CEO familiarity thing is a net positive at scale too, as you lose the personal relationship but you also lose the CEO bypassing the ticket system to call you directly.

[u/CeilingHamster → u/Mysterious-Print9737]

T1/2 support is the one I enjoy the most!

The CEO thing was always a double edge sword, depending on where I was.