Ask HN: Working at a startup vs. working at an established company?

Working at a big company = more pay, better benefits, no "unlimited vacation" nonsense, better hours, stock that isn't Monopoly money and that you don't have to pay for, and often a better environment (much less likely to have "office music", distracting dogs, people making noise, "totally not mandatory" alcohol events, etc.).

I think if you're starting out in your tech career, the experience of working at a startup is more beneficial career wise then working at a big company. After a couple of years of startup experience, then you can re-evaluate and decide which type of company would best fit.

I've worked at 3-4 startups ranging from 4 to 20 people for about 4 years and at a big co for about 3 years now.

Cons of big co:

At my current company (600+ people) it takes ages to get anything done.

Days full of boring meetings where you repeat the same info to the same people.

Company claiming to be agile yet micromanaging and not really being agile.

0 autonomy.

Design by committee.

Mostly boring repetitive work (if you can get anything done from all those meetings.)

Corporate "culture".

Very few leaders, 90% middle-managers.

Pros:

Stable job. Extra healthcare + more benefits equaling to about 1/6th of your pay.

Rather than lumping more established companies into one bucket, realize that your experience at a large company is going to be determined by the team you are in and the managers who dictate the fate of your group. If the goals of your team and it's place in the company are aligned with what you want you will be fine. Otherwise you'll be unsatisfied.

With a small startup it's probably easier to see what you are going to get before you accept the offer. It may be easier to avoid jobs which are a bad fit since small startups may be less obfuscated than large companies.

Also realize there are plenty of large non-tech companies that hire tech people. These companies don't pay the salaries or provide the perks you see at large tech companies. But they may offer solid 9-5 jobs in locations with reasonable costs of living.

Bad management, politics, and bureaucracy will probably damage the motivation of somebody who actually cares about their work and wants to do a good job. I suspect you'll see more of this at large companies as opposed to startups, but there are probably plenty of startups (I worked at one) that have this issues. Many people don't seem to care about these things so this stuff matters less to them - they do their jobs and go home.

You can't compare startups vs established companies. Each organization has its own culture. I know a lot of big companies where the culture is horrible, but the perks are better. Where the mission is amazing but there is no work/life/balance. A startup of a 100 employees could have an amazing culture and a simple 9 to 5 schedule.

Plus, what you'd personally value in a company is not necessarily something I'd value the most. The mission? The location? The brand? The perks? The office? It's really case by case.

I have an alternative:

Work at an established old economy company, build a network and start off on your own as a single founder.

Startups are trying to come from almost nothing to billions in a short time span. Additionally, if they're in a market space that is not just some stupid idea/fantasy, there will be an intense competition from other startups trying to capture the same market (as software markets are largely winner-take-all). This creates large incentives for founders to turn it into a death march for the staff - and conversely, there's little incentive to keep staff happy with their work-life balance (because if we do that, the company may not survive next 24-36 months, and then who cares about happy staff).

I've done both. Now I'm working on my own company. Not a "startup" (high growth) but just my own company that I'm growing with the sweat of my brow. That's a possible road as well!

As mentioned here, it depends what your motivations and career aspirations are. Working at startups (worked at one mature startup, then consulted for a bunch of small ones) gave me experience dealing with customers directly and delivering high impact in a short timeframe. Working in a big company is teaching me to think really big (reach big customers, scalability/performance, high ROI, etc) and giving me the opportunity to learn from many, many brilliant people.

I've worked in both and have even been in a company that went through from startup stage to established company stage (IPO'd). I've been working in this field professionally for about 12 years, and more as side projects as a student before that.

Short answer, try both. People who think they prefer one over the other and never having worked in both, owe it to themselves to try different environments, over the years. You should be well aware that whatever choice you're making now is not permanent. In any industry and particularly in Silicon Valley, most people make a jump on average every few years (5 years or so seems like a good length).

I just think that there is enough experience and knowledge to gain from both types of environments that you shouldn't just think of one better than another.

Established tech companies are the best.