An essay by John Melonakos
Considerations Between Working In a Startup vs a BigCo
I have written many times about considerations prospective employees must make when considering the option to come work at ArrayFire versus working in a BigCo.
Recently on Hacker News an article became popular that does a good and fair job explaining the pros and cons of many different considerations at play.
I recommend reading the full article here. The questions asked and answered include:
- Is this start up company something I can build a career off of?
- How will the startup manage risk? With a larger company, they tend to have more diversified components and are better braced for the unexpected. If a particular event occurs, will that bring down the business?
- How many hours can I expect to put into the startup on a weekly basis?
- Because I’m dealing with a smaller company will I have a significantly larger impact?
- Am I the kind of person that WANTS to have to have a larger impact or am I the type that would rather just sit back and not make big decisions?
- Will I incur more stress from working for a startup versus a larger company?
- How will my career decision be viewed by others (friends/family)?
- Would it be better to begin with a bigger company just to have the name on my resume?
In our hiring process, we ask all candidates to submit written essay responses to 4 questions. One of those questions asks the candidates to list the differences between working for a startup vs working for a BigCo.
What are your thoughts on the considerations of working in a startup vs a BigCo?