I thought about my experiences and especially the sentence "everything is good or everything is shit, no in-between." doesn't really hold up. I can see that often, many things are good or many things are bad, but there are usually at least a couple of things that are really good.
Company uses shit software, are wanky about the budget and have slow HR? They have great flexibility in working hours, you're not stressed about progress, you get great freedom in how to implement things.
Company gives you slow hardware, sends you too many emails and makes you jump through hoops? The colleagues are great, they have good food and you get to work on interesting projects.
I kinda wish it was black and white, as it would make it a lot easier to sort out the companies that are subjectively shit. For me, it has usually been a mixed bag, with one or a few show stoppers that eventually made me move on. While there often has been a great deal of correlation, the mediocrity didn't infect _everything_.
Company uses shit software, are wanky about the budget and have slow HR? They have great flexibility in working hours, you're not stressed about progress, you get great freedom in how to implement things.
Company gives you slow hardware, sends you too many emails and makes you jump through hoops? The colleagues are great, they have good food and you get to work on interesting projects.
I kinda wish it was black and white, as it would make it a lot easier to sort out the companies that are subjectively shit. For me, it has usually been a mixed bag, with one or a few show stoppers that eventually made me move on. While there often has been a great deal of correlation, the mediocrity didn't infect _everything_.