[zeroonetwothree]

Big companies build new things all the time. And you can easily join a startup which is several years old and has massive tech debt that you are stuck cleaning up. So I don’t think wanting to build new stuff from the ground up necessarily means a startup is best.

Knowing everyone you work with is certainly nice. At big companies you usually work as part of a team of, say, 8-12. And depending on your role and level you might rarely interact with others. At a startup you might have to talk to customers or other partner companies. So I wouldn’t even say it’s universally better in that way.

I do think a big benefit of startups is it’s much easier to get a sense of ownership for what you are doing which generally leads to more job satisfaction. Feeling like a mere cog can be demoralizing.

[cudgy]

> So I don’t think wanting to build new stuff from the ground up necessarily means a startup is best.

This is true, but why the focus on building new things? Improving and utilizing existing code bases is where most of the value from a software developer can be gained.