This is not only a question, this is also a call for help.

Since I started my career as a programmer, I always tried to learn from my mistakes. I worked hard to learn best-practices and while I don't consider myself a C++ expert, I still believe I'm not a beginner either.

I was recently hired into a company for C++ development. There I was told that my way to work was "against the rules" and that I would have to change my mind.

Here are the topics I disagree with my hierarchy (their words):

• "You should not use separate header files for your different classes. One big header file is both easier to read and faster to compile."
• "Trying to use different headers is counter-productive : use the same super-set of headers everywhere, and enforce the use #pragma hdrstop to hasten compilation"
• "You may not use Boost or any other library that uses nested directories to organize its files. Our build-machine doesn't work with nested directories. Moreover, you don't need Boost to create great software."

One might think I'm somehow exaggerated things, but the sad truth is that I didn't. That's their actual words.

I believe that having separate files enhance maintainability and code-correctness and can fasten compilation time by the use of the proper includes.

Have you been in a similar situation? What should I do? I feel like it's actually impossible for me to work that way and day after day, my frustration grows.