Do you prefer startup or corporate life?

Comments

[Itachi Uchiha]

IMHO, Startup life is better than corporate life.

If you work for a company, your working hours already defined :P

You might think everything is good because everything is clear. Your managers always saying "flexible working hours". But there are no flexible vacations. I think people are who work for companies feels like "I'm a robot".

But also your salary guaranteed. You don't need to think about what if your company fail this month.

On the other hand,

If you work for startups, you have to work a lot until your startup successful. Maybe your salary isn't enough if you compare with companies.

But I'm sure you enjoy more than companies. There should be a soul in startups. You and your teammates are should be hungry for success.

End of the day, you still have questions on how we can more successful and productive.

At least, these are the thing what we learned from my friends who work for startups and companies.

These are my thoughts. Maybe all of them is wrong.

[Bhupesh Varshney 👾]

Besides that everyone can share a point of view for the success of start-up compared to corporates 🤪

[Maciek Chmura]

I work at a big company and I feel like an unnamed cog in a machine.
I would love to try my best at a startup surrounded by people who care.

[Coding Sam]

Why don't you do it? :)

[Maciek Chmura]

Last week I updated my Linkedin and CV. Now I am starting the search :)

[Coding Sam]

Hell yeah! I wish you the best 👊

[Maciek Chmura]

Right now I am sitting in the lobby and waiting for an interview. It will take 1,5 hour 😬😬😬

[Coding Sam]

Awesome. I hope everything goes well. If not, don't worry, there's plenty fish in the sea :)

[Maciek Chmura]

Thank you ;)

[Ash]

Same feeling. In the corporate world, you're just another number. In the start-up realm you have a name.

[Ben Sinclair]

I've never worked for a startup. I've worked for small businesses (which is what they used to be called) and enjoyed the small team environment. I haven't enjoyed chasing my money and missing rent payments because of bad management.

I don't think I'd work for a startup unless I had enough money to cover a few months' rent - which is also the main reason I wouldn't be a contractor. There's stability in corporation.

In terms of lifestyle, a small team in a big company can be pretty much the same as a small team that is the company, but in terms of, I don't know, personal development maybe? it can be wildly different.

[Adam Crockett 🌀]

Corporate for me, we all do "work from home" on Friday which is very convenient and you never do overtime. Call me crazy but id rather do my own stuff at home in my own time, not constantly worried for my future.

[Antonin J. (they/them)]

I would say I like aspects of both so any company that can blend the best of both has my vote. What I mean by that:

1. ability to shift technology and use modern tools -- meaning that you're not stuck writing 1997 Java
2. flexible schedule + remote work
3. if working at an office, an office with cublicles or individual offices (please no open floorplans!)
4. health, 401K, and other benefits
5. competitive salary
6. exciting product or at least a product I'd be excited to work on
7. well-funded or with a good profitable business model

Do companies like that exist? Yes, absolutely. I've worked at several companies that offered benefits, good salary, great focus on technology, and so on.

[Ben Halpern]

I don't think I'd much enjoy this kind of corporate life...

But I can't say I wouldn't mind experiencing the big company thing at some point later in life in the right situation. I'd have fun being in charge of some kind of "lab" situation, like an experimental wing of the corporation with lots of freedom to try things with some budget you don't get on your own.

I also know that that sort of truly fulfilling situation is pretty rare and the grass is always greener. So I'm pretty happy with what I'm currently up to. 😄

(It would be really concerning for DEV if I wasn't, TBH)

[Andrei Rusu]

It depends where you are in your life. I've had both for more than 10 years now in different countries. I think I can say I have had quite a bit of the glamour of the startup life for a while in Amsterdam. It was great for a while - Friday beer, company events, boat trips on the canals and not to mention the location was right in the middle of the historical canal ring!

Then after a few good years everything came to an abrupt end and I was left with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. But then we moved to Norway and I worked for a company which was in between a startup and a corporation. It was alright, but I was missing the sense of living in the present so I tried the startup life again some time later - this time it was partly in Oslo, partly in Geneva (at CERN), but I couldn't see myself enjoying the startup life anymore and after only a few months I got the hell out of there and started working as an independent contractor, mainly for large corporations in the Oslo area.

I have to say this is the most fulfilling type of job I've had so far, because I have enough financial flexibility to work on various personal projects and also by working with large corporations as a bit of an outsider you don't get to become just a piece of a machinery. You are still working for yourself. The only problem of course is job security and continuity, but so far I have managed somehow.

[Dinesh Pandiyan]

A bit of both. I would want startup life if I'm in a place where I could do things on my own with less supervision and be adventurous and ambitious. But I'd prefer to be in a corporate (established) ecosystem if I'm starting from scratch and would want massive peer support to grow. The latter is only because corporate lifestyle is a bit laid back and there's no you gotta run everyday pressure. So there's more stability and people have more time to help and nourish you.

P.S. I don't mean that you can't get that in a startup ecosystem. But given the records, it's more likely in corporates than startups.

[Max Ong Zong Bao]

I prefer a startup due to the learning environment and the talented people you are surrounded with than being in a corporate environment.

It might be that I grow up in not conforming to authority figures while I was young.

Lastly being conscripted in the army burn away my love for anything related to bureaucracy & red tapes to get things done regardless of whatever the obstacle is presented.

[Adam Crockett 🌀]

I'm talented and corporate. But that's Dyson for you. We are engineering focused so it comes down to the company.

[bvmcode]

I'll take the security of corporate life and then try to make the best of the opportunities within it. I think generally (generally being the key word), you have better hours and more security within a long standing company and though the work may be more red-tape-laden and not as exciting, there should be opportunity to do good things and expand.

This coming from a guy that has 0 startup experience.