I previously worked for a large consulting firm and in the Australian side the software arm was seen as 'just another billable unit' even though we built software primarily for internal engineers to use, this has some nasty side-effects
(wasted time/money on busywork, inability to do useful work without 'proving usefulness' first).
The London arm was much more of a 'startup' focus, billing time was second to doing good work and delighting clients (internal or not).
I'm now at a London startup that 'gets it' and when I inevitably move back to Australia I'll be taking these learnings back with me and hopefully be Senior enough to try and encourage change in whichever company I end up in (assuming it is needed).
I previously worked for a large consulting firm and in the Australian side the software arm was seen as 'just another billable unit' even though we built software primarily for internal engineers to use, this has some nasty side-effects (wasted time/money on busywork, inability to do useful work without 'proving usefulness' first).
The London arm was much more of a 'startup' focus, billing time was second to doing good work and delighting clients (internal or not).
I'm now at a London startup that 'gets it' and when I inevitably move back to Australia I'll be taking these learnings back with me and hopefully be Senior enough to try and encourage change in whichever company I end up in (assuming it is needed).