The "big show".

Where do the great software programmers go? The "big show."

After discussing it with a friend, we decided that there really is a big difference between working at a small-to-medium ISV, in comparison with going to the "big show". What's the big show? Well in baseball, it's the majors. In software...

Obviously, a gig at Microsoft is the big show.
Google recently has become the big show.
Ebay, Amazon, Yahoo -- The other sucesses of the internet age: The big show.
Apple, IBM, Novell, Borland (?), Redhat(?): The big show.
If your mom has heard of the software company: Probably, the big show.
AT&T Labs: Old-school big show.
NASA, NSA: The government big show.

So what's the big deal? Should we all be trying to get to TBS? Do the really bad-ass programmers typically graduate to it?

Does this have anything to do with why I know so few 50+ year-old programmers?

Give me a startup, any day.

-- Jorge.