6 things that no one told me about transitioning from Bain to big tech
From dress codes to all sorts of document and org chart rabbit holes
Some of you may recall a previous post on this topic about transitioning from Bain to startup life. Today, I’m back with part two! All things considered, I had a pretty soft landing with my transition into big tech given my 2.5 years at a startup in between. However, with the timing of the pandemic and the startup being fully remote, there are still things that take me by surprise now. Also, it’s crazy to think that I’ve been out of the professional services world for almost five years, and yet some of the lessons and “rules” still feel so deeply ingrained.
Without further ado, here are the six things I’ve learned:
🩴 People wear sandals to work!
This probably sounds super silly to anyone who’s never worked in a formal workplace, but coming from consulting—where jeans were only allowed on Fridays—seeing open‑toed shoes at work still takes me by surprise. More broadly, the dress code is very flexible. I’ve seen the full range from very casual to very dressed up. It’s kind of cool that people get to pick and choose and it definitely feels more like a form of expression than in consulting, where conforming tends to be the norm. That said, it is definitely a double edged sword. It’s nice to be able to dress more casually, but I do also spend more time thinking deliberately about how to dress because that could shape how others perceive me.
🔃 For the most part, flexibility is real
I really appreciate that people can make work fit around the rest of their lives. Stepping out for daycare pickup/dropoff or a doctor’s appointment is never a big deal. And when I go into the office, I’ve noticed that the flexibility also shines through where many people have nontraditional arrival and departure times. I love this for myself because it means I can avoid peak commuter hours when I go in. I can also split my day up to work from home partially and go into the office when I have in-person meetings.
🗓️ Calendars are mostly transparent to everyone
Last time, I talked about generally migrating to Google Workspace. In my opinion, the most interesting consequence of being on Google Workspace is that their default calendar setup is for all events to be visible to all members. Others can see what's actually happening on your schedule. This makes it easier to actually maintain flexibility because people can see, understand, and schedule around your holds/blocks. (In contrast, Microsoft Office defaults calendars to busy/free, so you can’t see meeting details. I think that plays a pretty significant role in shaping workplace culture in subtle but significant ways.)
Of course, calendar transparency also leads to the occasional calendar‑stalking rabbit hole, so it’s a bit of a double‑edged sword. It’s definitely shocking at first to have this level of transparency across a large organization and can make one feel a little naked/exposed. But once adjusted, I’d say this is a productivity multiplier.
📬 Learning to triage between Slack and email
Back in startup land, we basically only used email for external communications with customers, partners, etc. Internally, it was all Slack, all the time. In big tech, the lines are a bit blurrier. Most internal conversations still happen on Slack, but there are also things like shipped emails, onsite logistics, and company‑wide announcements that live in Gmail. You end up having to check multiple places, and over time, build an instinct for what goes where.
In the setup at my company, there are also a plethora of email distribution lists set up through Google Groups that one can opt into. Many of them are open to whoever wants to join, and so there’s a treasure trove of email subscriptions you can basically opt into. Likewise, on Slack, there are countless Slack channels that you can join. Back at Bain, there was relatively little in terms of the information sharing infrastructure, given that most cases are relatively confidential. For the most part, we only had such shared resources for “extracurriculars.”
👨👦👦 Finding the org chart is only step one
Every company handles org charts differently. Sometimes they’re integrated into the HR system; sometimes they live on an internal tool. Coming from a 20‑person startup to an 8,000‑person company, I had to get way better at not just finding but understanding the org chart. My friend who’ve worked at other big companies speak similarly about the importance of being able to navigate the org chart and make sense of it.
When I first started, I had to spend a while learning the names of key leaders and figuring out their respective scopes of ownership before I could follow rapid‑fire conversations. Even today, I frequently reference the org chart to better understand where different teams sit. Org charts are super helpful to reference when starting cross‑functional projects. They help me understand incentives, goals, and making sure that I have the right folks in the loop.
🔍 Document diving is a crucial skill
At Bain, we had a tidy folder for each case team, and we rarely needed to go outside of that. Client files came in via a third‑party file transfer service and generally got merged into the same folder. In startup land, we were building the team from scratch so everything lived in the same shared drive that I set up.
However, in big tech, where I’ve parachuted into a massive company? Document diving has become a whole skill of its own. I’ve had to spend time learning where to go for which type of document—whether it’s likeliest on Google Drive and searchable, not searchable (and therefore requires tracking down the right person), in our dev team’s wiki, in a Sales document repository, etc. For each platform, there are different search features and some work better than others. It definitely took a while to figure it out, but getting good at hunting down files and data has been a huge part of being able to move quickly.
That’s a wrap. If you’ve made a similar leap, I’d love to hear what caught you off guard in the comments:
this is SO accurate! :)