| I haven't worked full time on my owns startup before. But I have worked at 3 different startups in the period of 3 years as an employee before landing a cushy job in a big corporation. Working at the startup before having my first child: not too bad, sometimes stressful, but I could handle it well. The work was always engaging, and it was hard to separate work from life. Working at startup post-child: stressful, because now having a kid means I can't put in long hours at work as my family needs me at home. I would much rather forget about work and focus on the needs of my family when 5 PM rolls by. I was more susceptible to burn out once I started my family + working at a startup. Big Corp: lack of stress, nice compensation + benefits = happiest workplace. The slower pace does not drive me crazy, and instead it gives me a chance to indulge in my technical curiosities. For now, I'm enjoying my big corp employment. It's only been 3 months so far, and I realize that may change if I have to deal with more corporate BS, but it's the most enjoyable workplace I've been at so far. The catch here is that my team here is top notch, and the section I'm in is very engineering/hacker oriented. |