[sfuller]

Having done both startup/agency work and working as a "cog in a big machine", hands down a "cog in a big machine" is far better for someone early in their career, looking to build good engineering habits.

1) Most startup code is hot garbage.

2) High caliber engineering practices rub off on you. - Surrounding yourself with talent and writing software is the best way to be good at what you do. Being in a small startup, that is almost certainly not going to happen. The numbers just don't allow for it.

3) Don't underestimate the draw of a major player like Google on your resume. - Before working for one of these companies, my LinkedIn mailbox would get maybe one or two messages a year from recruiters. Now my problem is making sure to politely decline all of the messages I get in a timely fashion.

4) A hefty sign-on bonus, HEALTH INSURANCE, and in most cases bonuses or stock offerings normally come as part of the deal with a Google offer. - Do you want a house, car, education, children, retirement? If you answer yes to any of these, a company like Google will give you a great financial foundation to work from so that once you've established yourself you can take more calculated risks with a much better safety net.

[Noumenon72]

Maybe the market's kind of hot, I've been getting recruited on LinkedIn almost since I started (non-BigTech) employment two years ago. We had a contractor fresh out of bootcamp who got recruiting messages too and left after seven months. I never considered responding because I considered it spam, but it looks like there are some good canned responses you can send: https://www.themuse.com/advice/5-email-templates-to-respond-....