Life after FAANG

Nutanix
ajwshsvh

Go to company page Nutanix

ajwshsvh
Jul 17, 2019 26 Comments

Hello everyone,

I’ve been at Netflix close to a year now. My performance, WLB, team are all great and I’m also up for promotion. The only thing is that I feel like in this point of my career prestige doesn’t matter to me, impact does a lot. I worked at G, early Nutanix, and now N. I’ve been thinking, I feel like I want to join a startup and have a huge impact. What do you guys think. Where does one go from here?

YOE 8, TC 560

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TOP 26 Comments
  • You should try Nutanix next.
    Jul 17, 2019 3
  • Uber / Eng
    TC or GTFO

    Go to company page Uber Eng

    TC or GTFO
    Netflix isn’t offering enough impact? Isn’t the the engineer to market cap ratio huge?

    If you join a startup you're gonna miss taking home 30k a month. Do you have enough capital saved to continue your lifestyle while you work for paper money?

    Startups are risky beyond the obvious financial risks. The ceo could be a sociopath, your manager incompetent, your coworkers green, the list goes on. There's a lot of nice guarantees that come with working at a FANG that we start to take for granted. You'll either have to be prepared to handle a much more challenging work life, or hope that Netflix will take you back with open arms if things don't pan out (which, given their firing policy, seems unlikely).
    Jul 17, 2019 2
    • Nutanix
      ajwshsvh

      Go to company page Nutanix

      ajwshsvh
      OP
      Everything you said is 100% right. Netflix is great it really is and I never take it for granted. It’s impactful but I feel like I want to help scale an actual company. Trust me I know it sounds stupid but it’s just what’s on my mind. And no I don’t have enough net worth yet to continue my lifestyle if I worked at a startup. I’ve been saving aggressively for the past 4 years but I have ways to go... Also what do you think if it was a reputable startup like Airtable, cohesity, gusto, snowflake etc.?
      Jul 17, 2019
    • Uber / Eng
      TC or GTFO

      Go to company page Uber Eng

      TC or GTFO
      I haven't heard of any of the startups you listed, but that's probably just me being out of touch. If it were me, and I didn't have the savings, I would either work at NFLX for at least another year living more frugally, or at the very least, like you said, join a startup with a good reputation. One that is more likely to become liquid than go bankrupt (airbnb, stripe) would be ideal, but that's almost always going to be a tradeoff for potential impact.

      I'd generalize the above by saying the longer to let yourself save up, the riskier a move you can make.
      Jul 17, 2019
  • Adobe
    excusme

    Go to company page Adobe

    excusme
    Are you at Netflix or Nutanix?
    Jul 17, 2019 1
  • Facebook / Eng
    mturtle

    Go to company page Facebook Eng

    mturtle
    You are making 560k with 8 yoe; you pull. I would stay at NFLX for several more years until you have enough money to start your own venture. Then you can have the most impact.
    Jul 17, 2019 0
  • New
    galo

    New

    galo
    Impact depends on how you look at it. A small feature you do there helps millions of users. A new product you launch at a startup can help from a few people to thousands. Of course the startup can grow and your can get to more people, but it also might fail. YMMV
    Jul 17, 2019 2
    • Nutanix
      ajwshsvh

      Go to company page Nutanix

      ajwshsvh
      OP
      I agree with you man. The impact I’m looking for is actually helping scale a company. Obviously I would join a good trajectory startup not something random.
      Jul 17, 2019
    • New
      galo

      New

      galo
      You won't have difficulty finding a company in need of your talent, but expect a big pay cut and a lot of paper money.
      Jul 17, 2019