[smokinn]

That's very debatable.

While you may think that people working big companies are wasting their potential, those working there might think the same for people at startups.

Let's explore a counter-argument:

At a big company you get incredible leverage for the work you do. Most large companies (Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, etc.) don't bother with a few thousand clients. Your work goes out to millions. That's quite an impact you can have.

Startups on the other hand usually fail. And they fail after having affected relatively few customers. Very few ever make it to even tens of thousands of customers.

So which is is the bigger waste of human potential? The person working 80+ hours a week whose company goes bust after a year after being used by barely anyone or the person working 40 hours a week on a product being used by 100 million people?

[aswanson]

Please read my response to jsprinkles.