Introduction

As you continue along your path to a career in tech, you’ll reach a point where you need to ask yourself: “Where do I want to work?”

There are a few factors to the decision: do you want to work in enterprise SaaS, consumer mobile or e-commerce? Would you prefer to work in the office or remotely? But one factor in particular can have a huge impact on the direction of your future career: Should you work in an early-stage startup or a large, established technology company?

It may be tempting to think, “Who cares? I’ll be happy with any job I can get”. While I understand the sentiment, it’s short-sighted. Startups and larger, more established technology companies (which, from now on, I’ll refer to as tech companies ) are not simply small and large versions of the same organisation.

There may be an optimal choice based on your goals, risk tolerance and career path, and choosing the wrong option could have adverse effects on your future finances and quality of life.