dude, listen up, I had a similar situation and went with the small startup. BAD MOVE. you're going to be expendable. Doing some time at megacorp-x yet learning production level java does not sound like a bad move (my alternative was not as cool)
Corporate dev job or startup tech support?
11–16 of 16 posts
Re: Corporate dev job or startup tech support?
#12Take the corporate job. The upside when you decide to move on from the corporate job will be so much greater. You might have fun but at the end of the day you will be known as a tech support guy with a company that is barely recognized by anyone.
With the corporate job, you'll have the tile software engineer and you get as good as you want. Once you move on you'll have a lot more jobs to move on to.
It's a sad reality that if you stay small company for a lot of your early career you tend to stay small company for the rest. That's a generalization but it's not far from the truth.
With the corporate job, lets say you are talking about IBM Global Services or Accenture, you'll have the opportunity to apply to interesting roles across Fortune 1000 and Fortune 500 companies without them blinking since you come from a known and reputable place. If you want to go work small company after that, then no harm done, you still can.
Re: Corporate dev job or startup tech support?
#13... he also gave me some of the best advice I've ever received. Trying to decide whether to major in psychology or art history, I had gone to his office to see what he thought. He squinted and lowered his head. "Is this a hard choice for you?" he demanded. Yes! I cried. "Oh," he said, springing back cheerfully. "In that case, it doesn't matter. If it's a hard decision, then there's always lots to be said on both side…
This is terrible advice in this instant.
If you want to be a software developer, taking a job as tech support is a bad career move. Our industry will type cast you as a tech support guy and you will be fighting an uphill battle for your first programming job.
Better to take the programming gig for a few years, then go try to find a great startup to work for....especially if you want to be a developer.
Re: Corporate dev job or startup tech support?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
+1 to your comment. I'm facing some of the same issues looking for a startup job. I have 2 years of professional experience with Python, and have concentrated on Python jobs, but haven't yet gotten better than a generically warm response, except once when I was brought in for a week-long "audition." (And, in that case, I feel that I just barely missed the mark and they were able to find someone just slightly more sui…
I just learn Python/Django for a side project over the last couple months and launching tonight. I like it way more than rails, that's for sure. If you went to a big university try Google, Facebook, etc. They don't care what you code in, they just want to see if you understand programming fundamentals and problem solving capabilities. The bay area is flooded with Junior and Entry level developers so it is hard to lan…
Unfortunately, I went to Small No Name College for undergrad, Large But Not Terribly Well Known University for grad school, and didn't major in CS or Software Engineering either time. So, yeah, I'm showing up to many, many networking events these days. :P In fact, I'm writing this from the Bay Area Python meetup where Guido is speaking.
Re: Corporate dev job or startup tech support?
#15I faced one issue with choosing between the two. Startups won't hire junior level people or people without extensive knowledge about the technologies they are using. With most startups they all have very different "stacks" so it is hard to catch up on the all technologies. Startups are trying to get a product up and running quickly for investors or create more value to get more customers. I interviewed at startups th…
+1 to your comment. I'm facing some of the same issues looking for a startup job. I have 2 years of professional experience with Python, and have concentrated on Python jobs, but haven't yet gotten better than a generically warm response, except once when I was brought in for a week-long "audition." (And, in that case, I feel that I just barely missed the mark and they were able to find someone just slightly more sui…
The jobs are in Rails because the momentum is there.
If you really want a dev job at a junior level working at a startup, maybe you should try switching your stack and including Rails.
Fortunately, they have a decent and welcoming community, so landing a gig won't be as hard as with Django (where most job posts require: Senior Developer with 5+ years exp.)
Re: Corporate dev job or startup tech support?
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
I just learn Python/Django for a side project over the last couple months and launching tonight. I like it way more than rails, that's for sure. If you went to a big university try Google, Facebook, etc. They don't care what you code in, they just want to see if you understand programming fundamentals and problem solving capabilities. The bay area is flooded with Junior and Entry level developers so it is hard to lan…
Unfortunately, I went to Small No Name College for undergrad, Large But Not Terribly Well Known University for grad school, and didn't major in CS or Software Engineering either time. So, yeah, I'm showing up to many, many networking events these days. :P In fact, I'm writing this from the Bay Area Python meetup where Guido is speaking.
I went to a no name community college and learned everything pretty much outside of school. I have found it not to be such a problem. People are more interested in what you have created or what you are capable of building.