Just read an insightful piece about the differences between working at a start-up vs a big company. It boils down to 10 points:

  1. Responsibility, accountability, impact
    Everyone is expected to take ownership of their own work here. Collective responsibility doesn’t fly as it encourages a no-blame, no-responsibility culture.
  2. Risk
    There is no guarantee that we’ll be around a year from now. Our only guarantee is that we will try to be around for that, and much longer.
  3. Opportunities for generalists
    Everyone is expected to do everything including random stuff that may not even be engineering related. Gives ‘bring your own bottle’ a new meaning.
  4. Ownership and leadership
    It’s like rowing – a team sport for individual leaders – each doing their own thing working towards a common goal. Everyone has to pitch in.
  5. Transparency
    There is nothing to hide here, not even compensation packages. We have very limited office space. There just isn’t any space to hide things in.
  6. Company culture
    We have been rated 10/10 for Gen-Y readiness and our culture is in flux all the time, as people come and go, both local and foreign.
  7. Hiring
    Everyone is in the loop on who is applying, interviewing, and coming. Interviews are public spectacles.
  8. Financial incentive
    We believe that if we pay peanuts, we will get monkeys; and we’d rather work with a bunch of great people.
  9. Politics
    Politics? There aren’t enough people around to take any sides. Also, code is a great way to settle arguments.
  10. Be a part of something bigger than you
    For sure!

I just wished that more people had the mentality to join a start-up instead of a multi-national.

Categories: Vox-Populi

1 Comment

alexlod · 2012-03-14 at 00:57

Here here! My intention in that post was to encourage more people to consider working at startups. Hopefully it helped to that end. Regardless, thanks for sharing the post :).

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.