[eropple]

Doing it for the love of the game is certainly an option, I don't mean to exclude that. I'm going to my next gig for something a little under-market because I think they're good people and I like the vibe there. (It helps that there's a big video component to what they do, and I do a lot of video stuff for fun already and want to learn and contribute there in addition to my usual infra/mobile/frontend/backend nonsense.)

Just saying that most people coming in the door, the sorts of folks who are going to be asking this sort of question, are just not in the same position as you or I are. ;)

[balabaster]

I went from corporate to startup... and now I just don't seem to be able to go back to corporate. Once you've had that baptism, if it didn't kill you, it's part of you. There's no going back to sitting in a cubicle after that kind of excitement.

[eropple]

The heroification and myth-making is, again, I think a little much. It's a job, it's working to make somebody else wealthy. It's not "a part of you" any more than any other job; it just becomes what you're used to.

Frankly I think most people who have taken a few turns in startup-land should try freelance consulting on for size. I'm explicitly not doing it right now for other, personal reasons, but I'll go back to it eventually; it's the arena in which your skills are really as-fairly-as-possible valued and where you can realize some really outlandishly-sized gains for a lot of organizations if you hustle.

And, having spent time in startups, you've already internalized that your job might disappear tomorrow. ;) Consulting at least lets you spread out that risk both in terms of clients and in terms of billing.

[balabaster]

It's not about heroification and myth-making or what you're used to. It's entirely about the excitement found in the chaos, and either you thrive on that, or you hate it... or you get Stockholm Syndrome and learn to love it because of the psychological trauma of running that gauntlet.

It's stressful for sure, in a manner not dissimilar to jumping out of a plane for the first time. The rollercoaster of emotions. The dread and worry about how the fuck you're going to pull off the impossible. The heartbreak you feel as you think you're just not going to be good enough to pull it off this time. The relief when you manage it again. The exhilaration of having come through it, perhaps with some bumps and bruises, but you made it and it didn't kill you.

Work in this kind of environment long enough and it will either break you or make you feel like there's nothing you can't do. One thing's for certain though, it does change you, in a way that those who haven't worked in startups will never quite understand.

Consulting is certainly a different mindset. You can either become attached to the project and make it as much your baby as the rest of the team, or you can function as mentor and help them to grow to the point they can handle it themselves. There's a lot of satisfaction in this. I find that the more emotionally involved I am in a project, the more fulfilling it is. The more detached I remain, the less so. I get a lot of enjoyment about being part of a team coming together for the achievement of a goal - even if that goal is to make someone else rich. When a project is personal, and by personal, I mean I'm emotionally attached to the outcome and I am vested in seeing it succeed, the emotional highs and lows are where the magic is found... that's what makes me feel alive and that is what I live for.

[raviojha]

I went from startup to corporate and back to startup. You can't resist the desire for instant gratification and feeling of accomplishments that you get at a startup. You become this "T-shaped person", and your knowledge bar on the _T_ keeps expanding because you get the chance to wear many hats, while still being able to expand the vertical bar of your expertise/develop new specialties.