I've had a long career and have worked in both environments. A small firm can be fun but lonely as frequently you are the expert without peers. The large firms I have been in have always had a commitment to research staff. You can order any books you want, get sent to conferences that improve your skills and they regularly have pay raises. You also work on bigger more exciting projects and have people around you that can share your excitement about technology.

Growing food consumes the resources of the land, sooner or later that will be exhausted. Fertilizers are used to pep it up, but then they are made from petroleum. So we'll be able to power our cars until the land fails and then we starve. Larry