| I was working at a similar company the last two years. I was completely bored and not learning anything. Now I feel like I am learning more in a daily basis than I learned in an average month in Big Co. at a startup. Working at the big companies is a bit like choosing a local maximum. Yeah you maxed out comp for whatever your role is in the industry. But now you flattened your growth and learning curve. There are extreme greater heights you can reach…out there in the jungle. But that is unsafe and risky to do. To go up, you end up having to go down, first. That means letting go of the false local
Minimum you have achieved (which feels like a maximum). That means less money in something more risky and nascent to get way more money and promotions and experience … later. Startups are a completely different “skill tree.” I realized I would rather make less money and work harder if I was learning more and meeting a lot more people. Easier to do when you are younger. Much, much harder to do when you are older. You need to write a coherent plan if you are going to take a risk. 1. What is your plan A,B,C and D if A fails? Seriously. Write it down. If I quit and the startup fails or whatever, then what? Write it out. 2. You better be choosing something very high growth and exciting if you are walking away from big money. I left to join Web3 because I believe Web3 is a $100 trillion (all money on earth) market and don’t see any indication that the incentives for it to grow are going to slow down. There are only a few markets right now that fit this bill. Climate Tech looks really good. If you quit and join some low growth market, what’s the point. You should quit to get a very rare combination of hard to get skills. FAANG sucks because it is a race to see who can sit there and tolerate FAANG the longest. If you are creative, you won’t last. Ideal FAANG employee is more patient. So do you have something better to do with your time? If you are just bored, but don’t have a goal, that is insufficient. |