Big brand or awesome startup?
What is better career-wise, working a boring position at a brand name company (Google, Microsoft, etc) or a exciting position at a smaller name company ( 500 to 1k ppl)? Context: I’m about to graduate college. Is the software industry like the investment banking industry where it is great to go big co. for 2 years after you graduate and then do whatever? Or does it not matter? Similar TC
> Is the software industry like the investment banking industry where it is great to go big co. for 2 years after you graduate and then do whatever? Yes.
I'd look for an interesting role to learn as much as you can. Big company = potential to get stuck doing same ol sht for a few years
Snapchat seems like a sweet spot between the two. Was that an internship?
For vibrators?
Brand name no last. Work for experience
Go to a place like Facebook in order to reach senior level in <5 years. Then go wherever.
You want the place you’ll learn the most. For a small company, you’ll want to make sure that there’s quality engineering going on and lots of smart people there you can learn from. If it’s a particularly “hot” SV startup that’s a good sign (based on funding, CBrank, any top X startup list, experience of founders are all decent signals). If your startup is one of the good ones my advice is definitely the start up. You’ll have more responsibility which means you’ll learn more and probably end up with more experience than you would have had at a larger company. Usually more exciting work too so you’ll be generally more driven and passionate about working. If you do it well, your resume will be fine, probably better than if you went to a big name (but that depends on a lot of factors of course). Especially if you’ve already done internships at big names. Also it seems from your post that you already prefer the startup but are really just tempted by the safety of a big name. Do yourself a favour and choose the startup. You don’t want to start your career bored and miserable.
Why not go to a big company and work on interesting stuff?
Lots to learn at both big and small - do both. Don’t get stuck though. Once you feel like you’re not learning anymore, move on to your next venture
Probably best to work for big co first to build resume before joining a startup.
Do internships count as building a resume? I’ve done a couple at big name spots
No, one reasonably long stint at a brand name after graduation is better than four internships at brand names. It's about how much responsibility and influence you have at the company.