Working at a non enterprise level is weird.

I’ve swapped back and forth from enterprise to smaller orgs over the years. And it is certainly odd to go from working with the largest companies on the planet planning networks that serve 60,000 people to a smaller place where a user base of 60 people is considered huge.

At the smaller place, you’ll still do some complex networking and other stuff¹ but you’ll also be pulled into calls with three people who have tried and failed for half an hour to help a salesperson unmute her headphones. Or you’ll have to crawl under the desk to plug back in an Ethernet cable someone kicked out of the wall. And then five minutes later, jump on a call with the Federal Reserve (happened to me a few months ago when I went to a physical office for a few in-person meetings). Even if none of the above is your job, it becomes yours because you’re the only one who can solve things.

1. The difference is at a smaller org, you’ll be doing it all by yourself with no assistance at all. You either figure it out or it does not get done. At the larger orgs, I could have 10+ people to help me out when I got stuck.