Startup work life - Pros and Cons
Santiago D.
Regional Talent Acquisition Sourcing Manager | Certified Scrum Master? | Psychologist
Working for a startup is such an appealing goal among young professionals and I don't blame, it is easy to see why.
All that has been written, spoken and twitted about it is certainly true. The opportunities (and pitfalls) that carry playing inside the very womb of a growing company are priceless.
Great days are great, bad days suck - not much to say about it but the learning that bad days impregnate is something that I will cherish with my heart. I will discuss this further into this article. But first let's dive into the fun part.
THE GOOD DAYS
Why people love the idea of working at a startup? Simple.
A smart startup will hire skilled people, cause founders know they need new hires to hit the ground running, there's not much time or any other type of resources to waste.
Trust plays big, that is a good reason why Startups will hire based on referrals first.
The Learning
Implicit - imagine you land into a sandbox and the goal is to navigate from point A to point B, no further information is available. The only way to survive is being CREATIVE.
People will act friendly if you ask for help, but they are busy figuring things out too! So two minutes of their time is a LOT.
That is why BEING RESOURCEFUL IS A MUST.
Flexible schedule
It's like, JUST GET THE DAMN THINGS DONE.
No matter how you do it, where you are or if are a morning or night person , the expectations will be to deliver quality and timely results. PERIOD.
Benefits and perks
Let's be straight with this one - founders are (typically) smart.
They know that senior staff require a good amount of pampering so they will invest in benefits to keep employees as satisfied as possible.
It just takes two minutes of job hunt to figure out that there are tons of startups looking for talent.
No brainer.
No micromanagement
Micromanagement will occur when managers have (or think they have) a lot of time to dig into details. But not in startups.
TIME IS SCARCE and TRUST PLAYS HUGE at startups - this can only happen if hiring goes as planned though.
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Playground for innovation
If you are a true senior you will find yourself in the middle of a playground with (hopefully) all the tools you need and if they're not available, you need to craft them yourself.
This is soooo much fun! This the cornerstone of my decision to work again and urge people to work at startups.
This is not for everyone though. If you are the type of person that needs a clear structure, blueprints or just not willing to navigate into uncertainty, stay away from it - it will mess with your blood pressure, sugar levels and back pain.
I would do it a hundred times, even if there's risk of crash (again).
You know the old tell, great things won't happen in comfort zones.
No true learning in swimming pools but in turbulent seas.
THE BAD DAYS: The elephants in the room
Job stability - Sucks getting mass-laid-off but this is a recent trend. Salaries can be great and I will suggest anyone looking to work at a startup to save as much as possible, cause in the very minute things change, founders will push the red button and that's it, you are "Open to work". Believe me, been there done that.
The Heavy Lifting - So you might get days, weeks and even months of heavy-duty workload to pick, you will have to be ready in every single aspect. Physically, mentally and emotionally.
No paid OT - This one depends on what's your working style, if you can really focus you can walk it through, but there will be certain days that you will need to walk that extra step (but in any other company is the same too)
Uncertainty in all expressions - Looping back to uncertainty, you will most likely face lack of structure and will need to swim in dark water. Not for everyone.
Change - This is the day to day in a startup. This week priorities are one and the following things turn out to be different. This also means that there might be a lot of work, effort and hours invested in projects that will never come to life.
So, Are Startups For Everyone?
No, you will have to be well informed to not fall into the dangerous charming of glamorous startup life-style (if such thing exists). If you are resourceful, you don't panic with uncertainty and need little to none managerial support, THIS IS FOR YOU!!
But if you rather like the cold and many times insipid yet safe (kinda) arms of the corporate world, just stay there.
TL/DR > It's worth the risk, I would do it 100 times.
Hey thanks for reading - if you like this content please share or like.
You are also welcome to exchange tweets at (1) Santiago Duchez (@LuminoLuxx) / Twitter
Until next time - Stay Strong!