Ask HN: To work at Google or a Startup?

Andy Rachleff has advice about this: "go work for a big company and learn how the best of breed does it, then go start something when you know how and are ready." There are a few caveats to this:

1. Make sure you have a great manager who will help you learn, expose you to good experiences, and support you in your career 2. Join a company where you will be doing something where you learn a lot. Google is a mixed bag for this from what I understand.

I specifically didn't follow this advice. I graduated (from grad school) and started something immediately, but I do believe roughly in the mantra: "if you aren't sure if you want to do a startup, you probably don't want to do a startup."

My advice, if you go to a big company, though, is to extremely aggressively save. Live like you would on a startup paycheck (or less). If you get used to sweet benefits and a big paycheck, it will make it much harder to leave and start something.

The founder of the startup I'm at now, imgix, had this to say about it:

http://blog.chriszacharias.com/cruise-ships

Google is a cruise ship. You're young and agile in a way that you'll likely never be again. As a result, you're more risk-tolerant as well.

Risk accordingly.

Despite that, don't confuse commitment and risk. The bay is a big place. It's expensive to live in, and full of unlikely opportunities in equally unlikely places.

Find a month to month lease if you can, or crash with somebody you know. Don't lock yourself down with a long lease, the environment moves too fast and your priorities will evolve even faster once you hit the ground here. I think you'll appreciate the agility. It's a mistake I made, and would probably change given a do-over.

Another miscellaneous thought: there are so many startups and things like this going on in the bay that it's actually a bit of a blur, and while it's easy to meet many people doing what you describe, they're all very much wrapped up in their own version of the story. A job at google actually gives you proximity to bigger names, for longer, and with more purpose. From a networking standpoint, that has value. I don't think it negates the sole-suckingness of a giant org for someone with your personality, but it's at least worth noting.

Just remember, live the present! So follow your dreams, it must be difficult to say no to Google. But it will be more difficult to regret all your life, that you did not follow your dreams when you can. Just keep in your head, you only live once, so follow your DREAMS, it's your life you have TOTAL control of it, and never regret from any decision you take and took because all of them are Correct in the time you take or took them, there are not incorrect ones just less accurate, and more accurate ones, but you only will discover that in the future! So good luck! and be sure whatever you choose will be the CORRECT decision.

If you work at Google but that doesn't work out, you can always leave and do the startup thing.

If you work at a startup and that doesn't work out, you're thoroughly screwed.

(Re-posting comment since edit doesn't seem to work?)

I'm 23, and I graduated from Computer Science in 2012. I worked 8 months at a subsidiary for a FTSE 100 company, then I left and joined a much smaller company. Through that move, I gained an opportunity to work in Asia, which I took, and I've been here for almost 12 months now. I love every single minute of it. Rather than try to advise you on decisions I've only recently made myself, I'll offer a brief overview of my time at each company:

Startups/small companies in general are different (I did several bits of work between school and leaving University, my two jobs listed above are only "salaried" experience, not all my experience). Things are "fast and loose" - I read that somewhere, but it's true. I've had decisions made one day turned over the next, and this really screws with the development process. They're fun places to be, with people motivated and passionate about the company vision, and every opinion counts in a small company.

Larger companies let you learn things. I learned so much from my time at a large company, I'm still figuring some of it out. At least half of my marketable skill-set came from those 8 months. When I left University, I'd written a single implementation of Boids in JavaScript. Now I am employed full time as a Front-End JavaScript developer in a foreign country. Larger companies can still be fun places to be, but they're a lot more robust. Things change slowly, and this can be frustrating. But they also use some awesome tech, and they can be an excellent place to "skill up".

With regards to other comments:

If a startup fails, you are not going to be thoroughly screwed unless you had a primary role in screwing it up - you took a risk, you took initiative and you will have had significant input on the company's product or solution - employers will value that

The comments about getting used to benefits and a big pay-check are true - a variety of factors caused to me to move companies, and I took one hell of a pay-cut doing it - that's not an easy thing to adjust to

Great managers are a must. If you go for an interview anywhere, ask to meet your supervisor, or whoever you'll be reporting to most of the time. I learn as much from my managers as my colleagues.

Talk of larger companies exposing you to other large companies and brands is true, but at the same time we are a company of <150 employees working in partnership with Google, Red Hat, and Samsung. Smaller companies do not automatically equal smaller opportunities.

Sometimes I think I should have chosen the smaller company first. However, I realise that I only think that because I have the experience of a larger company to draw upon. If I did choose the smaller company first? I imagine I'd sometimes think I should have chosen the larger company instead :P

One final comment: I'm originally from the UK, and we don't have anything like the Valley, despite what various MPs and Ministers would like to believe. San Francisco is not a requirement for life in a startup, and I've never understood the glamour associated with it - maybe that's because I've never been so I don't know what I'm missing, but I'm perfectly happy here :)

Experience trumps all, whether you start at a large corporation or a bootstrapped startup.

I know a handful of people who've worked at YouTube, Microsoft, etc. who earned great experience and ended up starting their own companies shortly after.

My personal recommendation would be to go the startup route, and even if it doesn't pan out, future employers will take notice of your effort and will make you more employable.