Start career at a company VS startup | Pros and Cons

If you want to enter the world of technology or if you are looking for new opportunities, it is necessary to look at startups, which are defined as small companies that seek to quickly develop a product or service through the Internet. Working in a startup has its advantages and disadvantages because of the need for constant investment but nevertheless, the experience is worth it.

Advantages of company VS startup

• One of the main advantages is that everything has to be done. Any idea is welcome and you can contribute to improve it, test it, and feel part of the success of the company.
  This generates a feeling of belonging. If you work in a multinational company you rarely manage to connect with the majority of employees in a company. Unlike a startup, the flexibility of having small, cohesive teams provides advantages in communication and flexibility among employees.
• Professional growth develops much faster in a small company since it provides the opportunity to get to know many more areas of the company to achieve a promotion in the desired direction.
  The contact with the market is much more personalized and the details and needs of the client and the market are known in depth.
  Even if your contract says that you have to work so many hours, you will soon learn that this is not true: you will work twice as hard and you will do it without anyone forcing you. You will learn that if you don’t do a certain task, there is no one else who can finish it for you. And that will hurt the group.
• Working with people from different countries is very enriching.

  One of the most important characteristics of startups is continuous teamwork. Decision making is within a flat hierarchy, which leads to an important responsibility and organization within the company.

  Many startups are formed by people from different countries, with the cultural differences that this entails. This, far from being a problem, is very enriching: it will make your mind open and can teach you unsuspected things.

• One of the first things you learn when you start working on a startup is that you have to get as involved as possible in the project. Salary and job security are not the most important thing; the only thing that counts is that the company succeeds: If the company does well, everyone will do well. In reality, you are not an employee of a company, you are a member of a team.
• A typical startup does not usually have enough staff for each person to do his or her own thing. By working in a startup,
  You will learn to focus on several things - sometimes even at the same time - and perform tasks that are not specific to your sector. Click To Tweet
• In a startup, money does not flow freely and often the budgets dedicated to certain tasks are scarce or even non-existent. You will have to learn to find cheap and fast ways to do things. You will also learn to distinguish between what is really important to do and what would be good to do, but it is not essential: there is neither time nor money for everything.
• In line with the previous point, you will have to learn to think in an imaginative way; not only to make up for any possible lack of resources with imagination, but also, and above all, because imagination put at the service of innovation -in all sectors of the company- is one of the bases of the success of any startup, and of those who work in it.
• In a startup, the control of the employees is usually more relaxed than in a consolidated company, which has a marked hierarchy. But this does not mean that they will not demand results from you: on the contrary, they will demand even more from you. This means that you will have no choice but to learn how to be extremely responsible and organized.
  As a result, you will learn to be unaccountable and consult the boss every step of the way. Startups usually have a flat hierarchy, which will force you to be independent and make your own decisions, often more important than you would expect.
• And you’ll also do more hours because, despite – or because of – all of the above, you’ll learn that, if you’re embarking on a project you like and your colleagues are the right ones, working under these conditions can be a lot of fun and rewarding.

Disadvantages of company VS startup

• Perhaps one of the disadvantages is the uncertainty of the company’s development. Depending on what stage you are at, if you are looking for much more security or a stable job, it may not be a good idea.
  Since the company is starting its process from scratch, there may be times of stress and work, extended hours, working on weekends.
• The work/life balance is worse or non-existent. It’s better than consulting/banking but it’s heavy. If you are not willing to give up your free time to work on last-minute projects, working in a startup would not be a good idea.
• There is job uncertainty, the startup can quickly break down. As they are constantly growing, they need an injection of capital from new investments, and only with the result of productivity can they obtain this investment. It is possible that in a period of crisis, the company will have to give up most of its human capital.
• Stress is high because there is nowhere to hide. If you don’t go to your job in a multinational for a month, nothing happens. If you don’t work two days in a startup everything falls apart and you don’t move forward. The responsibility in a startup of 50 people is much more important than a multinational of 5000 people.
• The career plan is not clear: as well as they can grow a lot with the business, it is very likely that they will be in the market looking for work soon. As a consequence of their incubation and development period, the company may close prematurely and your professional development may stop for a while.
• Pressure and stress is the common denominator of startups, the learning process is autonomous and is learned by doing. Mentoring may be reduced by the rapid need to act according to the productivity obtained. Sometimes people become the developer, the seller, or even the accountant.

The world is changing at enormous speeds and it is up to the individual to decide on the ways to develop their personal trajectory. There are also great advantages to working in multinationals or consulting firms. However, the irruption of technology has made the exploitation of startups as alternatives to start your career and perhaps as a career to entrepreneurship.