AT&T

Pay and benefits have been great, along with abundant opportunities. I have had almost 10 different jobs through 4 big phases with AT&T... by choice. You absolutely do not have to sit idle in one spot. You can have a positive impact on the products, your career, customers, and people, if you have the will to do so. This allows for an important sense of job security that is more within your control.

AT&T is not small and never will be. If you want to be known by name, by all the bosses and executives, it will not happen just because you exist. The reality is you are a resource of a behemoth company.

There will be times you feel like you are pushing against a brick wall. Business decisions are not always good business decisions but rather appeasements to the influence and will of Wall Street and their analysts. If you can't accept that, take advantage and navigate all that in a healthy way, it's not for you.

But you don't know until you give it a shot.

Push responsibility and decision making down as far as you can. Reward risk-taking with zeal. Stop waiting for competitors to make mistakes for us. Execs need to realize a simple question can lead to a ton of wasted time on "fire drills."