Some generalizations that may or may not be true about your situation:
One thing about smaller companies, where everyone knows each other and hangs out, is that work often becomes your life. Smaller tech companies in my experience demand a much bigger time investment from their staff, the people you work closely with will be your friends and you will not want to slack off and let them down. Based on the description, in addition to the increased time investment of a smaller company you are making an additional investment of time in the car. Basically you will be either asleep, in the car, or at work.
In general, at a larger company, you can work your 8 and go home. Sure it might not be flexible, you might be expected to be there at 9am every morning or whatever. But your real hourly rate will be much higher, not only with a much larger increase in pay, but also fewer hours worked to bring that pay home.
Regarding career progression you can have the best of both worlds here. Working as a cog in a machine can give you a lot of time for off-work activities. You could invest some of that time per day developing or contributing to an open source application. If you find that the life of a cog does not suit you, having some open source development experience on your resume could really impress a hiring manager at a smaller shop. And of course of you choose to stay at larger 'enterprise' companies, the.NET experience will be very relevant.
Disclaimer, I'm working at a small shop/startup right now, and took a pay cut to do so. The hours are brutal but the work is interesting and the people are great. But I would have stayed at my cushy IT management job if it weren't for the big upside (stock options, party like it's 1999). My decision also had a lot to do with where I was in my life; this is probably the last opportunity I'll have to work in a startup kind of atmosphere. Once my wife and I start having kids I won't be willing to swing those kinds of hours.
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Some generalizations that may or may not be true about your situation:
.NET experience will be very relevant.
One thing about smaller companies, where everyone knows each other and hangs out, is that work often becomes your life. Smaller tech companies in my experience demand a much bigger time investment from their staff, the people you work closely with will be your friends and you will not want to slack off and let them down. Based on the description, in addition to the increased time investment of a smaller company you are making an additional investment of time in the car. Basically you will be either asleep, in the car, or at work.
In general, at a larger company, you can work your 8 and go home. Sure it might not be flexible, you might be expected to be there at 9am every morning or whatever. But your real hourly rate will be much higher, not only with a much larger increase in pay, but also fewer hours worked to bring that pay home.
Regarding career progression you can have the best of both worlds here. Working as a cog in a machine can give you a lot of time for off-work activities. You could invest some of that time per day developing or contributing to an open source application. If you find that the life of a cog does not suit you, having some open source development experience on your resume could really impress a hiring manager at a smaller shop. And of course of you choose to stay at larger 'enterprise' companies, the
Disclaimer, I'm working at a small shop/startup right now, and took a pay cut to do so. The hours are brutal but the work is interesting and the people are great. But I would have stayed at my cushy IT management job if it weren't for the big upside (stock options, party like it's 1999). My decision also had a lot to do with where I was in my life; this is probably the last opportunity I'll have to work in a startup kind of atmosphere. Once my wife and I start having kids I won't be willing to swing those kinds of hours.