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Top differences between working for startups and corporations

blog.startupcvs.com

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Re: Top differences between working for startups and corporations

#21

Post by superplussed »

vkjv wrote: post #18
GeneralMayhem wrote: post #3

I always trust sites dedicated to getting people jobs at startups to tell the honest truth about what it's like to work at a startup. I work for a large corporation, and almost every single negative thing listed here is false. The main one that's not (and I'm not sure this is even really a negative) is the high risk/low upside - I'll be quite comfortable here, but I'll never be pulling down millions in a year as I wo…

This. Although, in my experience it's more relative to team size than company size. I work on a fairly small engineering team within a large apparel company and it seems to match the bullet points for start-ups more closely.

One important point is that because large corporations often try to emulate the culture of startups (and never the other way around), if you try to make an article contrasting the two cultures you are inevitably going to miss the mark on your description of large corporations. Essentially you are trying to describe a divergence when much of the world is seeking a convergence between the two.

Re: Top differences between working for startups and corporations

#23

Post by normloman »

Korturo wrote: post #22

Corporations: People who find pleasure in their personal lifes Startups: People who don't If you don't have friends, just work hard and be good at something at the very least. Even if its annoying people for a living (I am looking at you, Tech-Recruiters!)

I sense the same thing. I always see HN types bragging about their long hours, or how dedicated they are to their startup. I suspect a lot of these people don't have hobbies outside of work.

Re: Top differences between working for startups and corporations

#24

Post by maddening »

Korturo wrote: post #22

Corporations: People who find pleasure in their personal lifes Startups: People who don't If you don't have friends, just work hard and be good at something at the very least. Even if its annoying people for a living (I am looking at you, Tech-Recruiters!)

I've worked for 2 corporations - each time I ended up tired, burnt out and devoid of any social life.

They delivered a lot of perks - money, sport pass, private health care - but in exchange created a very stressful workplace filled with meetings, performance reviews and many people who didn't bother to help when I struggled with some part of project I was not familiar with. I've gained 20kg in a year, was nearly depressed and hated myself for working there. I hated how with all buzzwords and bullshit smiled managers made me fill guilty that I don't sit there more than 8h a day and that I were slower than people who had 12 times (literally!) more experience than I did.

Now I work remotely for startup on B2B. My wage is bit lower, I have no medical and sport perk but finally I have enough sleep and enough time to take care of myself. I often go out and meet my friends as often as I can. I am finally rested enough to workout and I feel my life improve each day.

Whether corporate life makes one shine or feel miserable is a matter of particular company, manager, team, stack and several other factors. Some people are truly happy for being there, some, like me and most of my friends, promise themselves to never ever work there again.

Re: Top differences between working for startups and corporations

#26

Post by onaclov2000 »

I think your job is to some extent what you make of it. While it is true that work is handed down to you, it is possible to create your own work, and in a lot of cases (in my exp) it shows favorably on you as an employee. Plus its more fun to get paid to do what you want while having to do what you are told.
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