MNC worked but didn’t liked the culture. Thinking to work in a startup and hoping for a good culture. Work life balance can not always be good ik.

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Software Developer

Want to join startup- Grapevine

Welcome to Software Engineers's Private Community

Hi Folks,

Want to understand what makes you stay at a startup vs shop around in other companies or leave after 6months- an year? 

Please tell things other than initial compensation because you can always find someone paying more. Assume a market standard here.

How to get people to stay at a startup?

Founder

Just a curious question, I like the idea of working for startups and building new teams, I am seeing massive layoffs and toxic culture news around , any good bets in-terms of work culture?

Are there any Indian startups with good work culture ?

Founder’s Office

Welcome to Office Gossip's Private Community

After reading replies in grapevine for dystopian policies, HR policies, work culture, companies to avoid(looks like all companies should be avoided), related questions I'm kind of regretting as I took the decision to stay back in India and not pursue masters abroad to live with my parents.

Given how pathetic the work culture is in almost all the startups(I'll go with 99.99%), politics and poor work life balance and living in a country where I don't get any tax benefits even after paying 30+% direct income tax, is it really worth living in this country anymore ? I'm feeling very sad, looks like I missed the opportunity to go abroad as I'm 25 now. Only my love towards my parents is holding me back since they both are around the age of 60 and I don't want to be the son who will make crores of money abroad and not be with them in case of any emergency. I'm don't want to leave them alone. Looks like there is no hope working in India. 😔

Is living in India worth it?

Backend Engineer

Hi folks, thinking of writing a regular mini blog here about my learnings being a generalist in the ecosystem.
I currently handle growth at an ecom startup and have previously been through 2-3 startups + a large corporate in my 7 year career.

#1: Why you should not stay only in startups

Recently started reflecting on salaries of many peers who are also startup folks and trying to see where it stands.
There are 3 cohorts:
a. People who started out in Big 4/Corporate & then became a generalist: They've been underpaid the most. First pay was 4-5L, and when they transitioned to startups, started at 7-9L. Over time, growing from there is difficult without MBA.

b. People who have forever been in startups: They earn more than A on average. But here too, there is a delta in their salaries vs. people with same YoE who went to an MBA and are in corporate now. Side note: I've seen this cohort has usually loved what they've done, and being in startups definitely has positively impacted their thought process.

c. People who went to a corporate/big tech etc. mid way: This cohort has done the best long term. Their pay got recalibrated when they went to a larger company in the middle through their career, and when they rejoined startups, they were respected more in salary negotiation.

This is to anybody out there who is a generalist and sees a similar path. Try to sandwich a proper, large company in your career. It gives you perspective on whether you like it and if startups is really your preferred route. And it also recalibrates your pay.

Startups will limit you basis your last salary. Corporates have standards basis bands. Just something to think over.

NOTE: Do share feedback, if this makes sense. And if you'd like to read more of these too.

The Generalist - #1: Why you should not stay only in startups

Not only compensation, corporates help you to learn saying “NO” to not-related tasks. I see young startup folks in the name of “learning” are forced to do anything and everything. In my first startup role, I was handling the responsibilities of a PM + ops, which burnt me like anything without any significant skills gain. Corporate taught me delegation, saying “No” to things which aren’t part of your team.

Product Manager

Corporate Strategist

What is your take on Software engineering learning in a startup than in a Big tech ? Like how does it impact one's career growth ? 


P.S. Please consider Zomato etc. to be big tech and not startups. Thank you

Startups vs Big Tech

Generalist

Hola 👋 fellow grapeviners, so in short, I currently work in an early stage startup and I really love the work. Recently, I have a dilemma that should I stay in the startup ecosystem or to go to big tech giants. Obviously 🙄, In mncs the work won’t be rewarded as much as the startups, but i will get good money and wlb. Can anyone show some insight to me?

which path? Startup or MNC?

Software Engineer

Welcome to Business Roles's Private Community

I have been interviewing for my next role and was interviewed by a well funded startup with high EBIDTA margins, great management but when it came to offer they offered me 10% to what I currently draw.  The CHRO stated that we are a startup and not a well established multinational firm who can pay well.  On the other hand the multi national company offered me 15% hike on my existing and their VP HR stated we are not some well funded startup who can pay well.  Now this makes me wonder who is actually paying well.  I have not shared my offers with either as it's against my negotiating principals to use offers against companies. .  I can negotiate based on my skills and talent.  It's a position of chief information security officer at the start up and Director Infosec at MNC.  Job profile is mostly same.

Offerd by Startup and a Multinational Healthcare company

Information Security

After going through so many posts on grapevine..I feel like all the startups in India are toxic only 😕😕

Really want to know which are the startups worthy of joining? Preferably in product roles

Non toxic startups in India?

Mention your reasons what and why as per your experience and future prediction

Best Place to Work Currently? MNCs or Start-ups?

Analyst

What’s the experience like? Have you thought if joining a corporate would be better?

Anyone who is 32+ and working in startups?

Investment Associate

Have you been in such a situation where you joined a 'high growth, super fast' organisation and 1 week into, you know you made a mistake.

Thinking you should give the company a chance, it's more than a year and you have not moved. Your mental and physical health have started taking a toll.

Has it happened with you?
How did you break free?

Joined the wrong company

Consultant

Both environments have benefits and drawbacks. It really depends on your personality and goals.

In a large corporation, you’ll be surrounded by people with a wide variety of working styles, expertise, approaches and backgrounds. You’ll have access to more resources and responsibility will be shared with other team members. You will have opportunities available to you, but you’ll likely have to pursue them yourself unless you have a really good manager supporting you. Otherwise, it can be easy to become a cog in the machine. The pressure is generally lower and so is the recognition. You can screw up royally and you’ll probably just get moved to another project. Even if you don’t screw up, you may find yourself shuffled between projects.

In a startup, there will be more focus on you to deliver, train yourself and be independent. While you’ll likely be part of a smaller, more integrated team, there will be a much higher expectation that you can be self-motivated and deliver results. The learning opportunities that you have will be more along the lines of being tossed out of a plane with some fabric and a sewing kit and you’ll need to figure out how to make a parachute really quickly. The risks are higher, but so is the reward.

It’s like the difference between taking the bus or riding a motorcycle.

The bus is reliable and it will get you where you’re going, you have very little control over the specific bus, route, the driver, the other passengers, etc. You’re unlikely to get injured in a crash. It’s safe, minimal risk and ultimately putting your fate in someone else’s hands.

The motorcycle is fast, you’re in control every step of the way, you could easily get yourself killed if you do something stupid and if the weather, roads or other drivers get in your way, you’re not likely to get to your destination smoothly. But if you do, you’ll beat

𝐈𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐌𝐍𝐂 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐮𝐩?

Is it ok to switch the job from MNC to startup?

DevOps Engineer

I am a 6 yrs experienced Software developer and part of a mid-stage startup. This is my third job; I have been working here for 3 years. I was involved here as one of the core engineers at the start in developing the overall platform, After that, my growth as an engineer stagnated for 2 years . 

Constant importance and priority are given to business requirements and hacky work getting pushed to production in the name of fast iterations and business impact every week. 

My engineering manager lacks proper engineering skills and doesn't respect engineers even after their impact on the company and constantly keeps saying the engineering team doesn't contribute to the revenue of the company despite us pushing work that improves business positively. 

Last year around November, around 80% of the engineering team was subtly suggested to start looking out for work (basically a soft layoff) because management was too scared of a social media backlash

Due to all this,2 years' worth of technical debt has accumulated on the overall codebase and apart from giving justification for every code improvement that we try to make there, we still have to work on business/product requirements. 

My growth as an engineer has stopped and I am worried about missing out on the latest developments in the tech industry, especially with AI in the picture, and want to make my skillset somewhat AI-proof. I have come back to hands-on coding this year , so that's a positive start. I am considering taking a 3-4 month break after resigning from my company to study, develop side projects, develop a portfolio etc

Has anyone else been in this boat ? How did you come out strong?

Side Effects of working at startups

What’s the best way to get a job in a startup?

2.6 yoe
Full stack developer - reactjs, spring boot, docker, k8s etc.

Currently in a mnc.

Share your experience how ypu shifted from a mnc to a startup?

Thanks

How to get a job in a startup?

I mean early teams at series a plus.. I am 38. And if yes, how do you do it while being a good performer?

Is it okay to think about work life balance while working in a startup

I am seeing a lot of layoff related posts everywhere from news articles to LinkedIn.. Is the Job market really that bad now? Or just the media is projecting that way? 

If it's really bad, which department you think is the most affected? How's layoffs specifically in India? Or is it layoffs in US but more hiring in India due to cost cutting? 

Are layoffs in technology/engineering dept as in for developers or some other departments? Your thoughts please..

Job Market right now in India?

It is really bad right now 
 1. Layoffs in many of the companies, irrespective of whether they're a startup or a big MnC. 
 2. Almost everyone I know of wants to switch, because of no/less appraisals from last 2 years 
 3. Bad work life balance - people thinks switching might help 
 4. Too much competition for any open position. Because of too much supply, companies are low-balling and people would accept the offer.  
  
 Recruiters ghosting is too common. Even if you've killed in your interviews and recruiters get someone who's ready to join on less pay, they'll simply ghost you.

I'm seeing so many posts where startup employees are cribbing about things like layoffs, work culture etc etc. Doesn't seem like they have perspective on everything it takes to build a startup. I've built a failed startup myself and have immense respect for founders who are grinding it out there in such difficult recessionary circumstances. 

And then you have so many of the engineers and PMs cribbing about basics without talking about important things like learning growth, building for the future etc. Why such myopia? I work at a big tech and envy the speed at which startups move, the big responsibility everyone gets to handle, the fast career growth. All these things are being cribbed about. They crib about founders wanting more. Their job is to ensure success, not to give lifetime jobs to entitled people. They have more headaches you can imagine. In my small startup I had a million headaches. I can only imagine how hard it must be to run larger ships. Is everyone joining a startup these days looking for a get rich quick scheme?

Why are startup folks so entitled?

If you can’t run a business that lets people have a normal life then you’re the one who thinks they’re entitled to employees. 
 Businesses must take risk, employees don’t. Stop your whining that people won’t support shitty business plans

Growth Manager

So, I am an analytics guy with almost 5.5 YoE under my belt. My latest transition was to Phonepe that I made this year (feeling shitty here already, given the kind of work creating almost no impact)
I saw a post on LinkedIn where the CEO of this startup recently raised some pre-seed funding (~1.5mn). Since I was following them for almost 6-7 months before this, I reached out to the founder on LinkedIn. 
We first had a virtual call where we got to know each other and after that discussion, he called me over to his place where we further talked about the idea, the scope and the future while also discussing what I could bring to the table. Post that, we met again, and this time with the other co-founder who deep-dived a slight bit into the tech stack that I had worked on.
It seems that all is going well, but the founder, in the first face to face meeting told me that for the time being (for almost the next 3-4 months), he'll be able to pay me a monthly amount which is less than half of my current in hand pay, post which it'll be reviewed and adjusted accordingly. How do I negotiate this now? Also, since the team size is super small (only 5 full time folks and one customer support part timer), how do I negotiate on what equity I take (looking for a benchmark number here)?

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