

Ask HN: To work at Google or a Startup? - Bagel

My career is at a crossroads and I would really appreciate the community’s insight and experiences.<p>I’m 22 and graduating next year. I’m currently an intern at Google in a business development role. It’s likely they will offer me a role in the AdWords sales team which would interest me but having spoken to existing people in the sales team, I am beginning to think it’s not for right role for me.<p>My passion, however, is in startups and I’ve dreamed of moving to the Valley to join a startup and soak up the entrepreneurial spirit and network among the people I have read the blogs of for so long. In the past I’ve worked at a fast growth tech startup in a European Incubator (business development) and loved the challenge and the fact I could make a big impact.<p>Do I take the ‘ok’ role at Google for a few years and enjoy the perks, stable pay, and brand recognition? Or do I follow my dream now and join a startup in the Valley? It’s hard to turn down Google (my parents can’t understand why I would even think about doing that) but I know I’ll end up in a startup anyway so I feel ‘why wait’- join one in a years time.<p>It’s important for me to move to San Francisco- I feel I need to experience it at least for a few years. I’m interested to hear your thoughts based on your experience on what would be the best way for me to develop my skills out of college. It’s a tough life decision and I really appreciate your insight and advice.
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gjmulhol
Andy Rachleff has advice about this: "go work for a big company and learn how
the best of breed does it, then go start something when you know how and are
ready." There are a few caveats to this:

1\. Make sure you have a great manager who will help you learn, expose you to
good experiences, and support you in your career 2\. Join a company where you
will be doing something where you learn a lot. Google is a mixed bag for this
from what I understand.

I specifically didn't follow this advice. I graduated (from grad school) and
started something immediately, but I do believe roughly in the mantra: "if you
aren't sure if you want to do a startup, you probably don't want to do a
startup."

My advice, if you go to a big company, though, is to extremely aggressively
save. Live like you would on a startup paycheck (or less). If you get used to
sweet benefits and a big paycheck, it will make it much harder to leave and
start something.

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Bagel
Thank you for your thoughts. It makes a lot of sense to work for a large
company, see how things are done, and then apply these to either my own
company or a startup I join.

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discordia
(Re-posting comment since edit doesn't seem to work?)

I'm 23, and I graduated from Computer Science in 2012. I worked 8 months at a
subsidiary for a FTSE 100 company, then I left and joined a much smaller
company. Through that move, I gained an opportunity to work in Asia, which I
took, and I've been here for almost 12 months now. I love every single minute
of it. Rather than try to advise you on decisions I've only recently made
myself, I'll offer a brief overview of my time at each company:

Startups/small companies in general are different (I did several bits of work
between school and leaving University, my two jobs listed above are only
"salaried" experience, not all my experience). Things are "fast and loose" \-
I read that somewhere, but it's true. I've had decisions made one day turned
over the next, and this really screws with the development process. They're
fun places to be, with people motivated and passionate about the company
vision, and every opinion counts in a small company.

Larger companies let you learn things. I learned so much from my time at a
large company, I'm still figuring some of it out. At least half of my
marketable skill-set came from those 8 months. When I left University, I'd
written a single implementation of Boids in JavaScript. Now I am employed full
time as a Front-End JavaScript developer in a foreign country. Larger
companies can still be fun places to be, but they're a lot more _robust_.
Things change slowly, and this can be frustrating. But they also use some
awesome tech, and they can be an excellent place to "skill up".

With regards to other comments:

If a startup fails, you are _not_ going to be thoroughly screwed unless you
had a primary role in screwing it up - you took a risk, you took initiative
and you will have had significant input on the company's product or solution -
employers will value that

The comments about getting used to benefits and a big pay-check are true - a
variety of factors caused to me to move companies, and I took one hell of a
pay-cut doing it - that's not an easy thing to adjust to

Great managers are a must. If you go for an interview anywhere, ask to meet
your supervisor, or whoever you'll be reporting to most of the time. I learn
as much from my managers as my colleagues.

Talk of larger companies exposing you to other large companies and brands is
true, but at the same time we are a company of <150 employees working in
partnership with Google, Red Hat, and Samsung. Smaller companies do not
automatically equal smaller opportunities.

Sometimes I think I should have chosen the smaller company first. However, I
realise that I only think that because I have the experience of a larger
company to draw upon. If I _did_ choose the smaller company first? I imagine
I'd sometimes think I should have chosen the larger company instead :P

One final comment: I'm originally from the UK, and we don't have anything like
the Valley, despite what various MPs and Ministers would like to believe. San
Francisco is not a requirement for life in a startup, and I've never
understood the glamour associated with it - maybe that's because I've never
been so I don't know what I'm missing, but I'm perfectly happy here :)

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RickS
The founder of the startup I'm at now, imgix, had this to say about it:

[http://blog.chriszacharias.com/cruise-
ships](http://blog.chriszacharias.com/cruise-ships)

Google is a cruise ship. You're young and agile in a way that you'll likely
never be again. As a result, you're more risk-tolerant as well.

Risk accordingly.

Despite that, don't confuse commitment and risk. The bay is a big place. It's
expensive to live in, and full of unlikely opportunities in equally unlikely
places.

Find a month to month lease if you can, or crash with somebody you know. Don't
lock yourself down with a long lease, the environment moves too fast and your
priorities will evolve even faster once you hit the ground here. I think
you'll appreciate the agility. It's a mistake I made, and would probably
change given a do-over.

Another miscellaneous thought: there are so many startups and things like this
going on in the bay that it's actually a bit of a blur, and while it's easy to
meet many people doing what you describe, they're all very much wrapped up in
their own version of the story. A job at google actually gives you proximity
to bigger names, for longer, and with more purpose. From a networking
standpoint, that has value. I don't think it negates the sole-suckingness of a
giant org for someone with your personality, but it's at least worth noting.

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shantkiraz
Experience trumps all, whether you start at a large corporation or a
bootstrapped startup.

I know a handful of people who've worked at YouTube, Microsoft, etc. who
earned great experience and ended up starting their own companies shortly
after.

My personal recommendation would be to go the startup route, and even if it
doesn't pan out, future employers will take notice of your effort and will
make you more employable.

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htapiardz
Just remember, live the present! So follow your dreams, it must be difficult
to say no to Google. But it will be more difficult to regret all your life,
that you did not follow your dreams when you can. Just keep in your head, you
only live once, so follow your DREAMS, it's your life you have TOTAL control
of it, and never regret from any decision you take and took because all of
them are Correct in the time you take or took them, there are not incorrect
ones just less accurate, and more accurate ones, but you only will discover
that in the future! So good luck! and be sure whatever you choose will be the
CORRECT decision.

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yen223
If you work at Google but that doesn't work out, you can always leave and do
the startup thing.

If you work at a startup and that doesn't work out, you're thoroughly screwed.

