Startup vs Amzon

Amazon
asffc

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asffc
Aug 9, 2021 11 Comments

Hello Blind.
I have two offers both in EU.

Context: I have a bachelor in business and master in ds. I just graduated and I am trying to figure out what to do with my life. In the future I would like to try to switch to ds / swe and give it a try but I am not 100% certain about this choice yet. I plan to work in large companies especially FANG in the future.

Amazon offer, business analyst. Not enjoy the work, is mainly dashboards and KPI.
Advantages: Maybe I can change to better opportunities after 1 year. Show that I worked in a big company so more interest by other big tech. Is in London, so better for networking.
Disadvantages: The idea to do this work for 1 year really bothers me because it is really frustrating. It is only metrics with low possibility to innovate. Furthermore, other FANG will be interested for other business roles, not ds roles.

Startup: quantitative finance, better in term of quality of work, not a lot of ML but they are planning to do that in the future. I am concerned because is only 9 employees. I talked with an ex employee and she told me that you learn a lot about quant finance and you code as well.
Advantages: I think this opportunity is more related to ds and will help me to understand if a tech job is right for me or not.
Disadvantages: very small, difficult to show you did solid work in a small environment and land big companies in the future.

I would like to accept startup but worried to be blacklisted by Amazon ( accepted offer but not signed contract) and not able to land a FANG offer in the near future (2-3 years).

Please explain in the comments and thank you for your help.

YOE:0
TC:45k£

11

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  • Brex
    egJz48

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    egJz48
    Startup all the way. You’ll learn a ton, have proximity to the founders, and front row seat to building a company. That kind of experience will be highly valued by FAANG or others later on. You’ll actually have MORE chance to have something to show for than by joining Amazon.
    Aug 9, 2021 2
    • Amazon
      asffc

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      asffc
      OP
      Thanks for sharing your opinion. I agree with what you say, the thing I am concerned about is that in a startup with a low number of people you are not able to show you did “structured” work, like understanding that to complete one project you need to involve 10 different teams to analyse the impact and work with them to complete your work.
      Aug 9, 2021
    • Brex
      egJz48

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      egJz48
      I don’t think it has much bearing. You’ll still need to get XFN alignment with stakeholders, and that might directly be the C-level of the company. You’ll also be super close to customers and external partners. That’s a lot more valuable.

      At least that has been my experience after working in startups and going to FAANG :)
      Aug 9, 2021
  • Amazon
    slAV32

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    slAV32
    You won’t be blacklisted from Amazon, but I will say the small startup worries me a bit. That is SMALL. Is the offer competitive? Can you survive a few months if the company went under and you were left without a job and had to interview?
    Aug 9, 2021 1
  • Amazon
    snkp233

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    snkp233
    Which offer did you accept OP?
    Nov 19, 2021 1
    • Amazon
      asffc

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      asffc
      OP
      Amazon. Different reasons: brand name so better opportunities to rebrand with an mba and the door in the startup is still open.
      Nov 19, 2021
  • Amazon
    deznus199

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    deznus199
    To my knowledge DS jobs in FANGs turns out to be BA kind of role involving SQL, KPI tracking, creating dashboards etc. The roles that require building ML models usually are offered to candidates with PHDs. There are some exceptions of course.

    Joining as BA and later trying to switch to SDE is a good idea. I feel like DS roles usually don’t have a lot of satisfaction rate in general. Mainly due to their idea of DS is different from the work they do at job. SDE roles have a clear milestones to reach in terms of career development. And the skills you learn as SDE could later be made use in combination with DS knowledge in roles like ML engineer.
    Aug 9, 2021 1
    • Amazon
      asffc

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      asffc
      OP
      I completely agree with you. I do not mind to take additional education if need ( no phd but another quantitative master) once I figure out what I prefer among the two. The problem is until I do not try, I do not know and the BA job will surely not help me in the choice.
      Aug 9, 2021
  • Tc?
    Aug 9, 2021 1