Startup vs Large company: where to go to work?

Question

Programming

Imagine that, while looking for a job as a programmer, you receive two offers: one from a fairly large company, and the second from a small startup.
Both offers offer interesting work in similar areas and the same salary level.
The main differences between the companies, on the left is a large one, on the right is a startup.
You are in a team of more experienced people - you are the only programmer.
You can consult with more experienced - you are alone and there is no one to ask.
Preference for reliable and proven solutions - For the first time, you need something that would somehow work.
You need to grow above yourself in order to make serious decisions - You can do as you can, no one will find fault with the implementation.
Skills develop more in depth - Skills develop in width.
Established protocols, libraries - Greater freedom to choose and invent your own.
Many things have already taken shape and you need to accept them - Greater freedom to build processes in your own way.
Standard schedule from 9 to 6 - Flexible schedule, the ability to work remotely from time to time.
Some implementation methods are defined at the top - you are free to solve the problem however you want.
There are a lot of past developments on which the current ones are based - you need to create everything almost from scratch.
Participation in projects brought to completion - In the first 1.5 years, only the layout will appear.
The company is confidently holding on to the market leaders - a startup can expect complete uncertainty in a couple of years.
You should also consider that you are a programmer who has just left a tiny firm and you have no experience in serious industrial development.
What would you like more? Why? What information do you need to make a decision?

Answer 1

I prefer a big company.
Stable salary, stable company.
But that's just my opinion.

Answer 2

I'm not very experienced. And so I would choose a large company. After all, experience, it seems to me, is the main thing in independent development.

Answer 3

I have more than a year of experience in a startup that may still not take off.
I never regret making this choice. I work in a team of very good professionals. No legacy code, only best practices, everything is discussed and a great team leader. There are many situations when you have to think and design. This is the best option for rapid professional growth. But we are an experimental division of a larger business and the salary is good for the whole team. So not all startups can be as great.
Going into an old project, there is a risk of running into shit code, looking at which hands will fall down and no one will reckon with your opinion. I had one, I was swimming.

Answer 4

I myself went through a similar choice this year - I was offered to participate in a startup and a little later I was invited to work in a large company.
I chose a large company, because with a startup, there were no guarantees that in a month or two or three I would receive the same salary.
In addition, to implement a serious project, you need good experience behind you.
Now, while working in a company, I communicate with other developers, learn new information from them, and develop myself. And there comes an understanding of how little knowledge I have to launch a large project on my own.

Answer 5

Forgive me, but
this startup is 90% likely to fail.
If a startup is done correctly, then most likely:
- there is a lot of work and it needs to be done quickly,
- versions of the application / site should be released - and as quickly as possible
- at any moment you need to be ready that everything needs to be redone
- at any moment the founder can make a turn with mobile application to the website and he will no longer need you, thus. you say goodbye very quickly.
but it's fun

Answer 6

Also consider that you are a programmer who has just left a tiny firm and you have no experience in serious industrial development.

Of these two - the choice is obvious in favor of a large company. Although, of course, there are exceptions, but they are really rather exceptions. The first is if you can very quickly understand the technologies yourself and you have a circle of people with whom you can consult and consult. Secondly, the project is not technically complicated, and at first it is important to launch at least some minimally possible product, and then the search for investments and the formation of a team of programmers.
As for the rest, even if you solve the tasks set, then, firstly, it will be objectively much longer (and delay is like death in the market), and secondly, you can eventually step on such a number of rakes, create such an architecture, that then, instead of developing the product, its decline will begin.
If there was a similar choice, but working in a team with experienced programmers, and even better with an experienced mentor, then of course there is a start-up (provided that the business idea is ok and the manager is not from the series "ooh, startups are cool, I'll torture my dike too, they say investors distribute money right and left").

Answer 7

I had work experience both there and there, although I had extensive work experience before them.
The main problem of a startup is that even if you make a product, it is not a fact that your manager has enough experience and brains to sell it. As a result, with a high degree of probability, all your heroes will be unclaimed to the right extent. The second point - if you hope that being at the start of a startup you will have a percentage of its profits, then this is often not the case. Usually you will still work for a salary. If you are promised shares, you can then dilute the shares, not pay dividends on them, or make a separate preferred class of shares for the top.
The problem with big companies is bureaucracy. If it becomes stuffy for you to work in them, you can change the company, for example. Once every three years, it's kind of refreshing. And not all large companies have a high level of bureaucracy.

Answer 8

In my opinion, if the salary is the same, then this is only a matter of personal preference. I worked for two years as a PHP developer in a large company, a leader in its market. I don’t know where, but many of the problems of companies, although not always, are bypassed. We had a 10-year-old legacy code, but refactoring was carried out as far as possible. There were many rules and well-established things, but they served as a safeguard against stupidity - when it was necessary to bypass some rule in order to solve the problem in a real way, it could always be done. There were a lot of old developments, but there was a place to try new frameworks, and tools / libraries, and a development approach. A lot was done to share experience and train employees.
I have now gone freelancing. Why? Well, I can’t when they are above my soul. I want to be given a task of any complexity, and I did it. It's not that I'm a super-duper-megacoder, but I've encountered complex tasks more than once, and if the customer himself knows what he wants, then a solution can always be found. In addition, there are forums, communities, habr and a toaster, finally.
On the other hand, if I was at the beginning of my journey, and fell under your definition of "a programmer who has just left a tiny company and you have no experience in serious industrial development", then I would choose a big company, which I did at one time . Because at first the programmer works for experience, and then - where the soul lies. I'm not with big companies. :)

Answer 9

If you are young, have no wife and children, go to a startup. You will always have time to leave a large company, but over time it becomes more and more difficult to take the risks of leaving a large company for a startup.

Answer 10

For a beginner - a large company. Colleagues who will pull you up.
Experienced will become - you decide.