Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: FOMO by working in startups only vs. Big companies

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 95 posts

Re: Ask HN: FOMO by working in startups only vs. Big companies

#11

Post by beberlei »

klohto wrote: post #6

This isn't really a fight between corp and startups. I have seen the smallest startups more organized than the biggest corps. It's always about the people. Personally, I believe starting at a bigger company has many benefits, even though I would now never join one. Considering you never worked there, I don't think a short experience wouldn't be enlightening. Just to learn the rights and wrongs. Be vary about the team…

> It's always about the people.

This must be highlighted.

Pick a job based on people that can catapult you to the next levels.

Re: Ask HN: FOMO by working in startups only vs. Big companies

#12

Post by nnoitra »

30s is indeed a painful age to reach. There's a reason many celebs have checked out at 28/29. 30s is so depressing that no matter what you achieve it's like well it's expected or it's so late so no one is impressed.

- Made a great company. Big deal, he's in his 30s.

- Cured cancer. Pfft. Einsted redefined relativity at 26.

- Booked a trip somewhere. Checking off yet another goal off of the bucketlist.

- Built a great body. Well he's just desperately trying to hold on to youth.

I mean it's not even 30 it's 3O. The O stands for Over.

Re: Ask HN: FOMO by working in startups only vs. Big companies

#13

Post by cphoover »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #10

I've worked at small companies for 10 years, large companies for 5... and IMO you're not missing anything. After switching back to a small company it's a big relief, much of the big company "experience" is learning to deal with tons of bullshit. Small companies have their own problems to deal with, but to me they feel like actual problems... a lot of big company stuff is kind of corporate theatrics. Maybe it's necess…

this 100%

Re: Ask HN: FOMO by working in startups only vs. Big companies

#14

Post by glitchc »

Tooling is better at large corps, they will teach you how to build things at scale. Autonomy is greater at startups, they will teach you to do everything yourself.

At a large corp, if you don't like the tooling, it sucks because changing it is akin to pushing against a mountain (doable but you will burn an insane amount of time and value doing so). At a startup, there's the instability and the nagging feeling that what you cobbled together could have been done better "if you just had more time."

It's a tradeoff between autonomy and institutionalization, and that really comes down to personal choice. Some of the best roles are where you can exercise your autonomy in a large organization (within bounds).

Re: Ask HN: FOMO by working in startups only vs. Big companies

#15

Post by swagtricker »

Don't bother working for a large company. If you haven't seen it already, just watch the movie Office Space (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/) and you can see everything you need to know about doing software at a big company.

That being said, you have to understand that your new job isn't at a "Big company", your new job is at Amazon: a completely different beast. I live in the greater Seattle area and I can tell you there are two types of Amazon workers doing software development - those who quietly work their jobs and never talk to non-Amazon folks about it one way or the other (e.g. "my Amazon job is great! You should work here!" or "My Amazon job is hell"), or people who are Ex-Amazon who have NOTHING good to say about working there (except for the fact that they left the job). Be careful.

Re: Ask HN: FOMO by working in startups only vs. Big companies

#17

Post by dboreham »

It's mostly in your imagination. Big companies don't have any better idea how to do things, often worse. I think it's beneficial to work for a large company for a while, if only just to see how things are and to say you've done it. But as far as getting to : "doing things properly", that's something you will need to figure out as you go, by applying critical thinking and by trying to work with competent colleagues where possible.

Re: Ask HN: FOMO by working in startups only vs. Big companies

#19

Post by gorpomon »

You're not saying what roles you'd try and go for at a big company. If it's robotics, I'm sure they'll assess your tehcnical knowledge and then not sweat the size/scale of your engineering work. If it's a transition into non-robotics software engineering (which is what I'm guessing your friend did), you might not have the level of experience and skill to immediately get a software job at Amazon or other big companies, but you'll for sure find many companies willing to help you change careers. Just seeing robotics on a resume is enough to pique my interest and want to talk, I'd imagine lots of hiring managers feel similarly. I don't think I've ever assessed a candidate and felt that they missed the boat on doing things the right way. It's really about assessing potential and attitude, and if those fall into place, the "right way" can be taught.

Re: Ask HN: FOMO by working in startups only vs. Big companies

#20

Post by legitster »

I'll go against the grain and say that working in startups has been hugely overrated. Each time I worked way harder for less money, and dealing directly with the owner/ceo makes everything so much more complicated.

At a bigger company, sure it can be a bureaucratic mess - but I have been much personally happier every time. I get more resources, better pay, and much better work/life balance.

I didn't realize how unhappy I was working at startups until I took a corporate job again and my wife made me promise not to do another startup until the kids are grown up.

Post reply on HN