Background: Mostly startups (10 person, 30 person, 3 person accelerated at Imagine K12) but also large companies (Amazon, Bosch, Oracle)
Pros:
1. Depending on your own personality and the size of the company, regardless of your role you have the opportunity to actually drive direction across the company.
2. While titles aren't important in my opinion, startups do allow you climb the proverbial ladder faster. I became head of engineering 5 years in, that opened doors to skills I didn't think I'd pick up and opportunities I didn't think I'd have until I was 10 years in.
3. It is mighty fun to work in a small team and see results of your work everyday. You care a lot more about customers, product, your team. You learn empathy.
Cons:
1. The stock option sell - lets call it what it is, it is nothing but a justification for a pay cut with the sell of riches in the future. Every time I hear the stock spiel (shpeel?), I nod my head but I forget about it and always try and negotiate a salary that works for me in that I'd be happy to give a lot of my time for that amount of money.
2. If you start your career and remain in a startup for a long time, it is very very difficult to transition to a large company if you want to {political klout, diplomacy, all skills you pick up at a large company are harder to pick up at a small startup}. I found this very hard when I transitioned from startup head of engineering to
management at Amazon and quit within a few months
Pros: 1. Depending on your own personality and the size of the company, regardless of your role you have the opportunity to actually drive direction across the company. 2. While titles aren't important in my opinion, startups do allow you climb the proverbial ladder faster. I became head of engineering 5 years in, that opened doors to skills I didn't think I'd pick up and opportunities I didn't think I'd have until I was 10 years in. 3. It is mighty fun to work in a small team and see results of your work everyday. You care a lot more about customers, product, your team. You learn empathy.
Cons: 1. The stock option sell - lets call it what it is, it is nothing but a justification for a pay cut with the sell of riches in the future. Every time I hear the stock spiel (shpeel?), I nod my head but I forget about it and always try and negotiate a salary that works for me in that I'd be happy to give a lot of my time for that amount of money. 2. If you start your career and remain in a startup for a long time, it is very very difficult to transition to a large company if you want to {political klout, diplomacy, all skills you pick up at a large company are harder to pick up at a small startup}. I found this very hard when I transitioned from startup head of engineering to management at Amazon and quit within a few months