Every time I’m looking for new opportunities, I always find myself in a dilemma of choosing a big, established company or a startup.

I want to hear the insights of big corporations and startups.

I searched on the internet but only found some short articles or videos that briefly discussed the pros and cons of them and the author’s personal experience.

They are great content indeed. However, they only give me stories instead of insights. I know many versions of “someone with that background joined a big corporation because of y and later he/she found z”. They don’t actually help me to make a decision. I need to know the fundamental principles or the intrinsics of startups or big corporations.

This book gives me that, and beyond.

Its value for a university student

You’re going to trade 4 years of the best part of your life and a significant amount of tuition fee for something.

The problem is: what the “something” is? It would be ridiculous that you don’t even know what you’re buying. Unfortunately, that’s true for most of the people.

This book tells you what is available in the shop and especially and carefully explains the startup category.

I agree that big and established companies would be better for new graduates. I still highly recommend this book for two particular reasons for new graduates.

First, “Invert, always invert”, said Charlie Munger. As startups are the opposite of big companies, you can’t fully understand the value and uniqueness of big companies if you don’t know startups well.

Second, sometimes, you just don’t have that much choice. Or you’re exactly the type of person who should go directly into a startup or even found your own startup. Who knows?

Its value for a junior developer

My first job was in a big company. After a few months of working there, I couldn’t help but think that I may repeat those mediocre daily routines for my whole life. That idea terrified me to my bones! I wanted to commit myself to making a difference. But I didn’t know what difference I could make and what I should make.

I wish I could have had this book at that time. Then I would know there is another different world I can fly to (of course, evaluate your own situation before making any decision. Don’t escape from your own problems) and how should I prepare for picking and applying to a startup.

What if your first job is in a startup? Then this book is just for you!

Have you wondered if your company is doing right on something? Have you been stressed out but don’t know if it’s because your resilience level is low or simply because the work environment is toxic? Do you want to make a change to your company but don’t know where to start?

This book can answer all of the questions that are related to a developer. After reading it, you would know what’s the benchmark of startups and you can go from there to do whatever you want.

Or you want to start a company

Starting a company is nothing the same as working for a startup. This book covers the technical aspects like

• what kind of working culture your company should have?
• what kind of tech stack there should be?
• what is important to your codebases, and what could be trade-offs?
• how to hire talents for your company?

As a co-founder, your understanding and attitude of engineering would impact many people who build products for you. Sometimes, that’s exactly why a company succeeds or fails.

My review

After working for many companies, including big companies and startups, I find everything this book articulates exactly what I feel in a clear, fun, and straightforward way.

I would recommend it to the 10-years-younger myself. I’m a bit late now to read it though I still get a lot of nutrition from it and I believe it can help to boost my career to a new level.

Resource

The official site of the book: https://www.hello-startup.net