Ask HN: No-FAANG-like-Perks, is it worth it?

[lonewolf9]

Hi, I interned in a Bangalore based cashflow-positive startup last year, and later on got a Pre-Placement-Offer (PPO) from them right after my internship ended. Things were fine until the placement season came and most of my friends ended up joining MNCs. Although my startup offered me a salary compeititive to Microsoft / Amazon at that time, Now I feel like I'm missing out on a lot. I see them getting better Macbooks, with lots of perks (monetary & non-monetary), and to some level this bothers me. The work that I do at this startup, I like it, I get to make my impact faster, code ships to production fast enough (as I'm the one deploying the code to the server), it does feel like I am a step back from everyone, I get almost no perks as compared to what other get. Also, the work isn't structured much, there is not much focus on code reviews here, since projects get handled by single developers here most of the time. So for eg, right now I handle the entire backend code of the project I've been assigned to, so I can obviously make things better by me, by following code quality practices, but that isn't the point here. People have been telling me continuously that WORK > PERKS, but I cannot make up my mind around that, I still feel a little bit like a loser. My question is, Is it all worth it in the end ? Will this work be beneficial for me ?

[dylz]

What is "I see them getting better Macbooks"? What do you actually do on your Macbook?

I haven't ever thought about this because I use work hardware explicitly for work due to the sheer amount of remote management and spyware on it.

[lonewolf9]

Basically it means they get Pros and I get a Air. I know this may sound crazy to you but if you read the question this is more of a psychological-related question rather than fact based.

[mongo-db-hater]

Looks like you have a good job without fancy perks. i would say that is very well worth it. i know some people working in FANNG and feeling miserable because of manager/project etc.

[lonewolf9]

So I should be satisfied here ?

[mongo-db-hater]

I think yes - because you are only dissatisfied with perks not in the work/company/team itself.

Having worked in FANNG & Non-FANNG in long run, you will be happier/successful in where you are than in some fancy FANNG.

[lonewolf9]

Thank you for your perspective... hope so !

[steffan]

Stay at your startup for now. You presumably make enough money to buy your own MacBook if you care that much. Ultimately it doesn't matter, it's just hardware.

Focus on the advantages you have in your situation - likely you'll be able to work on a broader part of the business than them and be able to leverage that into a more senior position elsewhere later.

Obviously (or not) you need to evaluate your progress over time. This early in your career it may not be advantageous to stay at one company too long, especially in a fast-paced environment as I understand Bangalore to be.

Re: The psychology of it, over time you'll realize that the perks, while nice, don't actually cost that much. Free snacks at work? Laundry service? Do the math yourself to understand the approximate cost, which will help you value them and help you realize that you're overly concerned about minimal things. Trying to keep up with your friends is just a trap that will make you unhappy.

tl;dr - You have plenty of time to join an MNC later. Learn what you can from your current startup.

[lonewolf9]

Thank you for the reply.... this is the kind of reply I was hoping for, something to bring a little clarity to things and perspective. I guess it's true that it's just a hardware, and anyways I'm just going to use it for office work so it shouldn't matter.

Could you suggest any article/pointers to what I should be evaluating myself on as well as a something of a roadmap for a early stage Software Engineer ?

[PaulHoule]

My take.

I told a friend that I wasn't creating enough value at a job I was at to pay my salary and he thought that was great: I wasn't getting ripped off the way Karl Marx said workers get ripped off (e.g. I make $1 of value, get paid $0.80, capitalist pockets $0.20)

I told him that no, that I was either going to lose that job, the firm was going to go out of business, I was going to face unbearable stress, somehow it would be end in tears.

If you get perks for a few years but don't pull your own weight, don't develop your skills, and don't have the confidence that you can pull your weight, you will pay the price someday, that's certain.

[lonewolf9]

So what would you have me do given my current situation ?