

Corporate dev job or startup tech support? - ataleb52

I&#x27;m at a crossroads with making a decision about my job search so I wanted to get the HN communities feedback.<p>Would you personally rather take a job at a giant corporate consulting firm where you get trained to program in Java and become a software engineer, or take a much lower paying position at a mature startup (over 300 employees) with awesome culture doing product tech support with a possibility of growing with the company?
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avenger123
Take the corporate job. The upside when you decide to move on from the
corporate job will be so much greater. You might have fun but at the end of
the day you will be known as a tech support guy with a company that is barely
recognized by anyone.

With the corporate job, you'll have the tile software engineer and you get as
good as you want. Once you move on you'll have a lot more jobs to move on to.

It's a sad reality that if you stay small company for a lot of your early
career you tend to stay small company for the rest. That's a generalization
but it's not far from the truth.

With the corporate job, lets say you are talking about IBM Global Services or
Accenture, you'll have the opportunity to apply to interesting roles across
Fortune 1000 and Fortune 500 companies without them blinking since you come
from a known and reputable place. If you want to go work small company after
that, then no harm done, you still can.

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mrjatx
I absolutely despise working for large corps but this seems like a no brainer.
They're paying to teach you to become a Software Engineer?

It's not like this is a life or death decision. If you don't enjoy the job
down the road you can quit and go do tech support for thousands of other
companies. Thousands of other companies will not hire you and teach you to
become a Software Engineer. When I hire developers, unless they're interns, I
hire them because they already are Software Engineers.

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soneca
_... he also gave me some of the best advice I 've ever received. Trying to
decide whether to major in psychology or art history, I had gone to his office
to see what he thought. He squinted and lowered his head. "Is this a hard
choice for you?" he demanded. Yes! I cried. "Oh," he said, springing back
cheerfully. "In that case, it doesn't matter. If it's a hard decision, then
there's always lots to be said on both sides, so either choice is likely to be
good on its way. Hard choices are always unimportant."_

Adam Gopnik about Albert Bregman, professor at McGill University, on
[http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/28/130128fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/28/130128fa_fact_gopnik)

~~~
iends
This is terrible advice in this instant.

If you want to be a software developer, taking a job as tech support is a bad
career move. Our industry will type cast you as a tech support guy and you
will be fighting an uphill battle for your first programming job.

Better to take the programming gig for a few years, then go try to find a
great startup to work for....especially if you want to be a developer.

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jhwhite
It depends on where I saw my career going. Was I more interested in learning
java or going the product route.

It's also obviously a question of culture. Which would you thrive in?

Me personally? I'm not sure what you mean by product support, but if you mean
something like help desk/tech support for a product they make then I can't go
that route. I've done it before and I was absolutely miserable.

Between the two choices you gave I'd have to choose the corporate firm and
learn java even though I'd probably be more interested at the startup in a
different position.

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deadfall
I faced one issue with choosing between the two. Startups won't hire junior
level people or people without extensive knowledge about the technologies they
are using. With most startups they all have very different "stacks" so it is
hard to catch up on the all technologies. Startups are trying to get a product
up and running quickly for investors or create more value to get more
customers. I interviewed at startups that I would love to have worked at and
showed knowhow but was never sent an offer. I now work at a huge company with
way more flexibility in the projects and time constraints. I love bigger
companies as a software engineer for the learning experiences. Needless to say
take risks when you are young and have nothing to lose (paraphrasing Steve
Jobs).

P.S. I worked at a consultant software firm and it was the worst. I pretty
much worked by myself going to clients then coming back. No team atmosphere to
spread knowledge and challenges with.

~~~
pmiller2
+1 to your comment. I'm facing some of the same issues looking for a startup
job. I have 2 years of professional experience with Python, and have
concentrated on Python jobs, but haven't yet gotten better than a generically
warm response, except once when I was brought in for a week-long "audition."
(And, in that case, I feel that I just barely missed the mark and they were
able to find someone just slightly more suitable to their requirements.)

Since then, I've started learning Django (as I feel that's probably the
easiest route toward getting a job), and made some progress, but the state of
Django tutorials being what it is, I'm starting to hit a wall with it. To that
end, I've registered ReadySetDjango.com (no content there yet, so no need to
bother visiting) and am working on changing that situation.

And I wonder if the situation is significantly different with larger startups,
of, say 100-ish employees. At that level, it seems like they can afford to
hire for demonstrated ability in related areas rather than expecting one to be
able to ramp up in 2 days.

Anyone who has some advice or input on my situation, I welcome you to email me
(contact info in profile). I'm wondering if the results I'm getting are
because I'm just not what they want and I'm wasting my breath, or if I'm not
presenting myself correctly.

PS I live in the Bay Area and would love to meet up with any of you who are
also.

~~~
deadfall
I just learn Python/Django for a side project over the last couple months and
launching tonight. I like it way more than rails, that's for sure.

If you went to a big university try Google, Facebook, etc. They don't care
what you code in, they just want to see if you understand programming
fundamentals and problem solving capabilities. The bay area is flooded with
Junior and Entry level developers so it is hard to land a spot. You have to go
to networking places. The best way to find a job is by meeting someone who is
hiring.

come listen to Jeff Atwood speak (created Stackoverflow.com)
[https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jeff-atwood-founder-of-stack-
ov...](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jeff-atwood-founder-of-stack-overflow-and-
discourse-talks-online-community-
tickets-10013896835?utm_campaign=order_confirm&ref=eemailordconf&utm_medium=email&utm_source=eb_email&utm_term=eventname)

~~~
pmiller2
Unfortunately, I went to Small No Name College for undergrad, Large But Not
Terribly Well Known University for grad school, and didn't major in CS or
Software Engineering either time. So, yeah, I'm showing up to many, many
networking events these days. :P In fact, I'm writing this from the Bay Area
Python meetup where Guido is speaking.

~~~
deadfall
I went to a no name community college and learned everything pretty much
outside of school. I have found it not to be such a problem. People are more
interested in what you have created or what you are capable of building.

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wlmeldmanfloch
dude, listen up, I had a similar situation and went with the small startup.
BAD MOVE. you're going to be expendable. Doing some time at megacorp-x yet
learning production level java does not sound like a bad move (my alternative
was not as cool)

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htilford
Unless you really need the money, it's always best to find the position where
you will grow more. What skills will you pick up at the consulting firm? What
skills will you pick up at the startup?

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sjg007
Become a software engineer.

