I am graduating soon. Should I work at a small startup or a large company?

At Google or Facbeook, you would be well-compensated and comfortable while learning new skills in a still quite fast-paced environment. You will be surrounded by many very smart people, and that's probably the most important part.

Your ability to learn new things is definitely greater if you can wear many hats and accept a lot of responsibility at a small company, but at the same time, you may find that you are ultimately better equipped by working at a larger firm full of bright people and building not just your skills, but your network.

Who would you want to start a company with? While it is often difficult to entice away workers from such enviable jobs, you will find a large pool from which to recruit! This is something that you would find rather more difficult at the smaller company, though if it were in the SF Bay area, you could still do a lot of socializing. That's not quite a substitute for getting to work closely with people, obviously.

That's one line of argument there, but really, I suggest going where you think... A) you like the people best and B) you will learn the most. The rest is ancillary and will come out in the wash (a bigger bonus, etc, is much less important than being able to grow a little bit more someplace than somewhere else).

I struggled with many of the same questions myself recently, ultimately choosing something quite off the beaten path from what I originally imagined - we'll see how it works out next summer when I start work!

Small companies can't afford to specialize. We had three or four full time programmers, and seven or eight EEs. I designed and tested circuits, laid out PC boards, designed enclosures (that turned out to be the hardest task - whaddayamean customers won't appreciate taking out 40 screws to change the power supply? It's solid.), wrote microcode, talked to customers, wrote software for an automated tester I designed and built myself. All in the space of four years. It's not impossible to do that in a big company, but it's very, very unusual.

The downside to a company like that is you don't make nearly as much money. But for me the money came later, in spades, because I learned how to do things. If you go to Facebook or Google what will you learn?

Also, write down what you want to achieve in your first job. Financial stability? Engineering skills? Proficiency in a particular platform, framework? Ability to work in a team? Narrowing down what you really hope to get out of this job will really help you focus on finding the right workplace.

And finally, never say never. Both of them (large companies and startups) have their ups and downs. You'll learn _something_ from both.

Saying that I wouldn't knock the experience. Seeing how big businesses operate is probably an important education for every wannabe entrepreneur. And if you learn to play the corporate game you can do very well - and put away a few dollars for when you make the jump to something a bit more risky.

Startups will generally involve less pay, longer hours and a more unstable / insecure career outlook. So if you decide to go this route, choose your firm with great care. But saying that, in a smaller firm you'll be closer to teh day-to-day administration of the business which also would be great experience re starting your own outfit.