The thing is though, there is still a lot of value in working for Google to make their webserver 3% faster because you would most likely learn quite a bit, especially if you are a newer developer, arguably as much or more as you would working for a startup, its just WHAT you learn is different. in a startup you would probably be more of a generalist, with a google project on an existing server, you are going to learn about something most people never get access to and this could also benefit one down the road. What I guess I'm saying is that sometimes working for a big, successful tech company first can help a startup career later on. When you get to see firsthand, how a successful company has built a system, and you aren't just guessing, it can lead to expertise in an area that can help down the road when going out on one's own.
