Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
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Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
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Re: Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
#2In the bay area this seems an increasingly irrelevant question (join a startup vs. big company), compared to grads deciding between joining and startup and starting a startup. I'd be curious to see more discussion on that pros/cons surrounding that decision for new grads.
Re: Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
#3In the bay area this seems an increasingly irrelevant question (join a startup vs. big company), compared to grads deciding between joining and startup and starting a startup. I'd be curious to see more discussion on that pros/cons surrounding that decision for new grads.
Totally. This is definitely something I'm seeing on the East Coast as well (Although at a lower rate than those deciding between startup and big co.) The advice I've generally been given is to start a company as soon as possible, because nothing can prepare you for the world of being a founder. In reality, my experience working for a startup has been incredibly useful in shaping how I think about starting my own company. Looking back I feel I was relatively clueless right out of college, and working for a startup first has been an awesome choice for me. But again, I am just one data point.
Re: Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
#4As much as I enjoyed working at a startup and watching it go from debt to massive profit, I definitely don't think it's for everyone. Or even most people.
It takes a tremendous amount of drive and passion to deal with the negatives of working at a startup. Low pay, odd/long hours, uncertain future, non-existant code base...
For many people, taking that junior programmer job at the big corporation is much closer to their pace and risk level.
And let's not forget that if you have that much drive and passion, you might be better off being a partner at a startup, instead of being a hired hand.
Re: Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
#5Human beings are naturally divided into three different groups with different likelihood of risk-taking after graduating:
1. I can risk everything to be an entrepreneur.
2. I want to be an entrepreneur, but I'm not ready or I'm unsure to take the risk.
3. I just want a stable career and work as hard as I can.
The first group will start their companies; the second group will join start-ups to learn what it takes; and the third group will ultimately join big companies and earn a stable income.
Ironically, start-ups usually want loyal people to stay (especially when their businesses are uncertain), so they aim for the third group when choosing people. Big companies want to look for extra investment opportunities, especially from their employees (because they know them more and trust them more), so they may want to hire the second group instead.
It's always hard to match the mutual interest in hiring. I don't think there're any reasons to choose what to do either. It all depends on what the other companies want and which group you fall in.
Re: Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
#6In the bay area this seems an increasingly irrelevant question (join a startup vs. big company), compared to grads deciding between joining and startup and starting a startup. I'd be curious to see more discussion on that pros/cons surrounding that decision for new grads.
I posted about this issue a week or so ago: http://www.jeanhsu.com/2011/05/19/startup-or-big-company-aft...
A great point he makes is about friends and family (especially those not in silicon valley)--it's hard for them to understand why you would give up a stable job for uncertainty.
Re: Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
#7I still hold the best place for a person after graduation is a large but not monolith company. Avoid Google, Microsoft, Amazon, the giant companies where you're just a cog in a giant machine. Go to a company like LinkedIn/Dropbox/Square. They are growing and are hiring, they aren't startup level anymore but most likely you will many benefits of startup life (freedom to move around, less clearly defined roles) without the long hours and risk. You also have the advice and mentorship of people who have already built a successful company.
Re: Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
#8The biggest problem I see with joining a startup after graduation is more often then not, Startups don't use any kind of best practices, as they just want to Get Things Done(tm).
It's not uncommon to run into a startup that doesn't use source control, code comments, have failover servers, or even have a dev/staging environment. There are some things that are best to get a good foundation for your career, and large companies provide these in droves.
That said, there are Startups that have their act together, and after college is probably the best time to take that risk.
Re: Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
#9The biggest problem I see with joining a startup after graduation is more often then not, Startups don't use any kind of best practices, as they just want to Get Things Done(tm). It's not uncommon to run into a startup that doesn't use source control, code comments, have failover servers, or even have a dev/staging environment. There are some things that are best to get a good foundation for your career, and large co…
For what it's worth, we're helping dozens of startups hire, and I think every single one uses source control, some have failover servers, and I'd the majority have dev/staging environments (I haven't looked at their code bases, so I don't know how well documented the code is).
That said, you're right: Startups do focus more on getting things done and making sure people actually want what they're building, sometimes to the detriment of best practices.
On the other hand, startups tend to use use better (and certainly newer) tools. For instance, git vs. svn or cvs.
Re: Why to Join a Startup After Graduating
#10The biggest problem I see with joining a startup after graduation is more often then not, Startups don't use any kind of best practices, as they just want to Get Things Done(tm). It's not uncommon to run into a startup that doesn't use source control, code comments, have failover servers, or even have a dev/staging environment. There are some things that are best to get a good foundation for your career, and large co…
For what it's worth, we're helping dozens of startups hire, and I think every single one uses source control, some have failover servers, and I'd the majority have dev/staging environments (I haven't looked at their code bases, so I don't know how well documented the code is). That said, you're right: Startups do focus more on getting things done and making sure people actually want what they're building, sometimes t…
And not all big companies use source control; let alone failover servers and dev/test/prod.