Hello dev community, what is your view about working on small company vs large company? What is your preference and what do you suggest to the fresher or intern?
I am working as ML Engineer(from few months) on startup and I also did a internship on 2019 on another startup and I found very hard to manage myself as intern on startup because there were no PM and tech lead. What I am feeling now is if I had never been to the startup then I would have never learned what I am doing now.
Top comments (2)
Having worked in both, startups and large companies, as an entry I'd suggest large companies.
While Startups offer, mostly, more interesting projects and work, the main reason for me to not recommend them is simply stability.
In my career I worked in three startups, one went bankrupt after a year, another had regular problems with pay-days and the third was actually just fine.
If the startup is planned correctly, I would have no qualms recommending them, but most of the time you don't get a businessplan along with your contract. So you never know the answers to questions like these:
Most of these questions don't even occur in my head if it's a reputable company that "already has made a name of itself".
Maybe it's just me being biased, now that I am an employer myself, but I always thought "when my salary is concerned, the friendship ends"
If stability is not a concern, because maybe it's a startup that exploded with funding, you know the numbers some other way, or simply don't have to worry about money, then knock yourself out, startups are (mostly) fun!
As you mentioned, you do a lot of things in startups that is normally split up between many people/teams in larger companies.
Startups offer a lot of room for growth that large companies can't afford with their more "strict organization".
To sum this up, I'd say it's a balancing act between fun and stability. If both seem to check out, go startup. If stability is not guaranteed, either through you or the company, swallow the pill of "not as much fun" and go with the large company.
I strongly agree and respect your view. Thank you for the suggestion Raphael.