I joined a startup company that grew over the years until it was eventually bought up by a publicly traded company, so I basically just worked at one place so far and my experience is rather limited. At least within that I can say though: Bigger companies are better, so I would aim at something that has at the very least 50 employees.
The startup time was extremely tough, as I had to do a lot of overtime and be available for customers and colleagues alike. Chances are also higher that you have to visit customers while fulfilling multiple roles and have to represent the company at events because the pool of people is so small. There was also a lot of peer pressure to join afterwork events, to the point of having to tell the CEO why you cannot come. It definitely tested my limits.
As the company size grew, I basically moved away from customer projects and instead built the product itself, which meant a lot less pressure and less need for availability and travel. Approaching the 100 employee number was kind of the golden time for me, combining the positive aspects of a startup (colleagues you can trust, strong association with the product, laid-back culture) with the ones from bigger companies (more shielded from customers by managers, less peer pressure for anything because there’s now so many people). It was probably helping that I had proven myself to the relevant people already and got away with doing a lot independently, though. I basically rejected all offers/​chances to move up into leadership or management positions, however, so basically holding back career opportunities to work more comfortably. My managers also tried to keep traveling demands away from me so that I can focus on my work.
After the company was bought up and the 100% remote time ended (that was kind of optimal for me), it feels like I am more at the mercy of the team tasks. In general, you have your team and mostly have to make sure that works out as long as you don’t go past a senior position. You don’t really need to join much outside of team events. However, you are just a number to the company and requirements can change. People come and go more frequently, buyups require sudden collaborations to integrate people and/​or software, initiatives you want to do require you to convince managers instead of just doing it, etc.. Chances are also higher that you have to deal with very uncomfortable people, that colleagues don’t care about the product and leave you hanging, and so on.
At the moment, the social aspects are often less of an issue for me and more the lack of care most people have. To many, it’s just 9-5 and passing the hours. I’d love to work on something again that everyone is enthusiastic about. But depending on your role, this lack of enthusiasm also makes the social aspects easier because so few people care.
In short: Mid-sized companies with moderate team sizes seemed to be the best to me so far. Startups always sound the best on paper, but working there is actually the most demanding, I’d avoid them at all costs. But I’m pretty sure this all heavily depends on who is working there—the chances are just higher you won’t have as many anxiety-inducing situations.
I’m not sure if any of this was helpful. All the best for you career in any case :).
I joined a startup company that grew over the years until it was eventually bought up by a publicly traded company, so I basically just worked at one place so far and my experience is rather limited. At least within that I can say though: Bigger companies are better, so I would aim at something that has at the very least 50 employees.
The startup time was extremely tough, as I had to do a lot of overtime and be available for customers and colleagues alike. Chances are also higher that you have to visit customers while fulfilling multiple roles and have to represent the company at events because the pool of people is so small. There was also a lot of peer pressure to join afterwork events, to the point of having to tell the CEO why you cannot come. It definitely tested my limits.
As the company size grew, I basically moved away from customer projects and instead built the product itself, which meant a lot less pressure and less need for availability and travel. Approaching the 100 employee number was kind of the golden time for me, combining the positive aspects of a startup (colleagues you can trust, strong association with the product, laid-back culture) with the ones from bigger companies (more shielded from customers by managers, less peer pressure for anything because there’s now so many people). It was probably helping that I had proven myself to the relevant people already and got away with doing a lot independently, though. I basically rejected all offers/​chances to move up into leadership or management positions, however, so basically holding back career opportunities to work more comfortably. My managers also tried to keep traveling demands away from me so that I can focus on my work.
After the company was bought up and the 100% remote time ended (that was kind of optimal for me), it feels like I am more at the mercy of the team tasks. In general, you have your team and mostly have to make sure that works out as long as you don’t go past a senior position. You don’t really need to join much outside of team events. However, you are just a number to the company and requirements can change. People come and go more frequently, buyups require sudden collaborations to integrate people and/​or software, initiatives you want to do require you to convince managers instead of just doing it, etc.. Chances are also higher that you have to deal with very uncomfortable people, that colleagues don’t care about the product and leave you hanging, and so on.
At the moment, the social aspects are often less of an issue for me and more the lack of care most people have. To many, it’s just 9-5 and passing the hours. I’d love to work on something again that everyone is enthusiastic about. But depending on your role, this lack of enthusiasm also makes the social aspects easier because so few people care.
In short: Mid-sized companies with moderate team sizes seemed to be the best to me so far. Startups always sound the best on paper, but working there is actually the most demanding, I’d avoid them at all costs. But I’m pretty sure this all heavily depends on who is working there—the chances are just higher you won’t have as many anxiety-inducing situations.
I’m not sure if any of this was helpful. All the best for you career in any case :).