| > Definitely not true, and a generalization... Just because you haven't been at such a place doesn't mean it doesn't exist. That in itself is a false assumption and generalization. Are we talking product or culture? Because, if it's culture, then startup vs. established company doesn't matter anymore. Either can have good or crap culture, and what is good/crap is wholly subjective, and usually more dependent on where the employee is in their life than the company. For example, I could care less what amenities I have and how nice everyone is if I don't get to go home and put my kids to bed except once in a blue moon. I could care less about working from home if I'm expected to crawl out of bed in the middle of the night and work during fire drills that always seem to happen. The question is, are you in programming primarily because you love the art, are you in it to stroke your ego, because it's bleeding edge, or a combo of both? Startups convince low-level employees with minuscule equity that they should care as much about the company as the founders through stroking of egos. I'm not making the argument that you shouldn't work for a startup, I'm making the argument that working as a everyday software engineer at a startup is almost always a bad, long-term career investment for experienced engineers. |