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Senior developers are an essential asset for any development team: seniors have years of (often specialized) experience, are at the top of their game, and can train and mentor junior developers. Seemingly, having so much to offer a company means a senior developer would look for a position at a more prestigious, large company. However, an alternative may be even better.
Start-up teams are smaller and less established, but they can offer senior developers many benefits and high levels of job satisfaction. Here are seven reasons to work at a startup instead of a larger company.
Though it may not seem like it, startups actually offer more opportunities for growth than a larger company. Startups grow quickly, making it easy to climb the ladder if you prove yourself. Instead of getting a good position and then feeling stuck in it for years, you can rapidly gain more responsibilities and contribute to the team.
Also, you can carve a spot for yourself at a startup, whereas at a larger company, roles like project managers and architects are already filled. Instead of being just a cog in the wheel, even though you’re in a “senior” position, you can stand out and grow more quickly in a close-knit, smaller team where new opportunities are always being created.
When you’re hired at a large company, you’re hired to do your job and do it right. At a startup, however, they value learning and give all team members the opportunity to learn new things. One of our senior developers, Alex P., says, “I was hired on a different stack than what I had built my experience on, and it gave me the opportunity to learn new tech.”
Startups give you the flexibility to expand your knowledge into other stacks and emerging technology, ensuring you are keeping up with changes in the industry. They’re also more likely to give you the chance to work in something new and mentor you through it.
At large companies, processes and goals are often set in place already, and with so many people involved, it’s not likely that they’ll listen to your input. “You don’t have the same powerful voice,” Alex P. explains. In bigger companies, as the number of employees rises, you get fewer opportunities to provide input.
In a startup, you also have more opportunities to interact with all sides of the project and better understand what you’re working on. At a larger company, you only have visibility over your small work area. Whereas, you can also actively participate in choosing the architecture, technical stack, and direction of the project when you’re one of those who are setting its foundation.
As a developer, you probably want your work to feel meaningful. Of course, not all development projects feel especially impactful, but startups often work on innovative projects that want to positively impact or disrupt an industry. At a startup, “you’re working on something that is more meaningful in a project, instead of at an organization where work is more granular and less impactful,” says Alex I., one of our senior developers.
For some, it’s more important to have the chance to do impactful work, whereas others consider planning and meeting to matter more. This is where a startup can provide different opportunities to both types of professionals.
When companies grow, it increases the need to focus more on meetings and organizing people. Meanwhile, you don’t get to spend time on the projects that excited you at the beginning.
As a senior developer, you’re in more danger of this than someone with less time in the industry because you’re seen as a knowledgeable and experienced team member. When working on a smaller team, however, you have the opportunity to choose what your contribution is going to be, whether it’s actively working on a project or managing and mentoring others.
There’s no denying that startup work is fast-paced and constantly changing, and any project can be stressful at times. However, sometimes it’s more stressful working in a larger company. More people are affected by your decisions or mistakes (especially as a senior) and there’s more money at stake. If you want the excitement and challenge, but prefer to avoid the stressors of a large company, working at a startup is ideal.
Not all dev work is created equal. Many developers are hired by companies and never end up working on client projects at all. Instead, they build internal CRMs, HR software, and other infrastructure and administrative software. While this work is necessary, as developers we want to show off our work and feel that it’s being used by users outside of your workplace and making a difference. Meanwhile, at startups, you’re constantly working on exciting client projects — at Amplified, we even incubate our own projects.
Our senior developers said it best: working for a startup provides more opportunities, better work, a stronger voice, and less frustration. As we reach our 2nd anniversary and expand our team to 30+, Amplified is graduating from “startup” to something bigger. However, we value the benefits of a small company and are working to keep them even as we grow.
How? We take on startup projects and incubate our own, which are keeping our team excited and engaged. They’re constantly working on challenging projects and learning new technology. If you want to feel happy with your work and develop yourself professionally, join Amplified!
