Note: this is my perspective, one as a software engineer who has mostly worked at startups and now currently at a FAANG Pros: - Often easier to make lots of i

Note: this is my perspective, one as a software engineer who has mostly worked at startups and now currently at a FAANG Pros: - Often easier to make lots of impact/move up quicker - (Potentially) less bureaucracy around decisions - (Potentially) lots of vacation Cons: - Typically not as smart coworkers - Often can get into more dysfunctional situations, whether by process or individuals involved - Not good managers/engineers also have outside impact. One company I have worked for had half of engineering leave or be laid off in the span of half a year, and most of them were above average engineers (and on the upper half of competence in the company as well). - Poor management structures and managers really decimate engineering. - Bad/toxic engineers also wreck havoc. - Compensation is significantly lower - Senior engineers can easily make over $300k at a FAANG if they are good. Stock options at startups do not come close to keeping up to pace with top performers, and are pretty much regarded as having no value given a lot of the shenanigans/risks engineers have to put up with to maybe get an exit. Startup compensation would have to change drastically to get many to even think about taking that risk, and as a result, the risk of a startup failing increases due to less competent engineers being hired, which decreases the startup's velocity and increases the startup's likelihood of acquiring damaging technical debt. The worst part about this is that startups try to be demanding over all sorts of random small things in the hiring process, yet don't hold themselves to the same standard when it comes to compensation. - The big tech companies have special benefits as well, such as employee stock purchasing programs, or paid sabbaticals. They do a better job of compensating for loyalty than startups do. - Dilution of stock value and the stock value opaqueness in VC-funded companies make engineers skeptical of their value. In addition, the preferential treatment of investors over employees for stock selling/allocation gives a lot of people distaste over the sweat capital dichotomy. - Increased likelihood of stress from not being allowed to address crippling technical debt or make things better so the company could operate smoother. Just some things from my top of mind that I've observed/experienced. After spending about 4 years at startups, I'm not sure I'll ever go back - I was not a low performer either at any company I have worked at. At my last employer, one employee remarked that they would need to hire 3 senior engineers and a manager to replace my technical & managerial output & make up for the decreased output/morale of the team.