https://www.maxpixel.net/Rocket-Ship-Space-Shuttle-Spaceship-Launch-26556
The other day I updated my Linkedin for the first time in several months. After working professionally as software developer now for several months and gaining some new skills through my capstone project it was long overdue to add a few more lines to my professional profile. Almost like clockwork I started getting messages from recruiters. To be fair I have gotten messages from technical recruiters before but most were for very low paying programmer sweat shop type jobs. This time though I got an invitation to apply to a job that had a much higher pay listed than my current job but there was just one problem – it was for a startup. Startups have notoriously high failure rates if I took this job I would be out of a job inside of a couple of months right? This got me thinking about the pro’s and cons of startups. Is it better to work for a start up or for an established company? Is the excitement of a new company worth the instability that comes with it? After some thought I have come to a very unsatisfactory answer: it depends.
It is no secret that there can be a tremendous amount of opportunity in startups. Financially the potential is very obvious –being in on the ground floor of a tech company can be very lucrative. Stock options in particular could one day be worth a fortune. Anyone who has watched a large tech IPO knows that beside the founders- who often become millionaires or billionaires – there are a host of employees who also make hundreds of thousands or even millions from the sale of their vested stock.
In addition to financial opportunity startups can offer a tremendous professional opportunity. The opportunity to start on a new project presents itself with many exciting decisions. To have an input into some of the companies early technical adoptions, to help setup pipline processes or coding standards are all opportunities that are more readily available in a startup than in established companies. There are however clear costs for working at a startup that should also be considered.
The greatest risk of startup is that of failure. Startups fail at very high rates. Some estimates are that as many as 9 in 10 startups will fail[i][1]. If your company goes under than you as an employee are out of a job. To join a startup then means that you are willing to accept a heightened risk of unemployment.
Startups also have costs in terms of time. Startups are notorious demanding in there time commitments. I have had several smart and talented friends who have gotten fired from there Silicon Valley startup jobs simply because they wanted to call it quits at 6 each night. There are only so many hours in the day and to join a startup is to be ready to sacrifice other time commitments for work.
Finally startups can have costs professionally. Just as startups can provide a great chance to prove yourself they also can might not have opportunities that larger companies may have. Startups for example often do not have the senior staff that could provide mentorship needed to develop as a programmer. I remember working at a startup in college were nearly everyone in the company was in there 20’s. While the energy was great the lack of collective experience made it difficult to establish standards and to learn best practices.
The potential gains of startups are tremendous both professionally and financially. That said there is a tremendous risk you take on and a potentially high cost to your life outside of work. Ultimately it is a choice that everyone needs to make for themselves and to do what is best for them.
- https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/040915/how-many-startups-fail-and-why.asp
