[celadon]

Nice. I feel you almost sold yourself short making this about "considering a startup", because you have some great general advice on how people should choose the best working environment for them, period.

"You become the people you spend time with...Here's a heuristic to keep yourself honest: if you were competing with a somebody for a job, would you be scared? If so, you want them as a co-worker."

IMO, framing the question of "where should I work?" from the perspective of "what will develop me into a better engineer/person in general?" is a really good idea. The time you spend at your job should be an investment in becoming more knowledgeable/thoughtful/capable, so you can better pursue your professional goals in the long run.

[brandonb]

Thanks for the comments! Yeah, some of the heuristics apply to non-startups, but some of them (like looking at investors in the top quartile) were very particular to the technology startup world.

I like your framing.