The boredom is a symptom of the inefficiency of the large corporation.
Actually, I'm not sure I could say it's less efficient. It's just optimized differently. The company is deliberately set up to treat engineers as interchangeable cogs to minimize risk. Following the process is more important than getting stuff done (and boy, do big companies love process). Also, you are "protected" in a sense from gaining too much domain knowledge or having direct communication with users/customers, and you are shuffled around every so often (Matrix management, yay).
Small companies can't afford to do that. They can't hire a legion of average performers and hope to make up for it with byzantine processes and tightly defined roles and responsibilities.
Actually, I'm not sure I could say it's less efficient. It's just optimized differently. The company is deliberately set up to treat engineers as interchangeable cogs to minimize risk. Following the process is more important than getting stuff done (and boy, do big companies love process). Also, you are "protected" in a sense from gaining too much domain knowledge or having direct communication with users/customers, and you are shuffled around every so often (Matrix management, yay).
Small companies can't afford to do that. They can't hire a legion of average performers and hope to make up for it with byzantine processes and tightly defined roles and responsibilities.