Pro of startups: - Get responsibilities you couldn't get at a big company. Don't have a graduate degree in underwater basketweaving? Wearing many hats at a sta

Pro of startups: - Get responsibilities you couldn't get at a big company. Don't have a graduate degree in underwater basketweaving? Wearing many hats at a start up means you might get to do some basketweaving anyways. A few years of experience and wins to demonstrate with that and now you can get good basketweaving jobs everywhere. - Learn about lots of things. Learn a little about a lot. Learn what niche work you like. Learn learn learn. (caveats below). Cons of startups: - Terrible comp. Enough said elsewhere in this. Also, handcuffs are weird, and the current tax system means that if your company does well, then the IRS might handcuff you even harder than the company does. - Environment that encourages overoptimism/kool-aid. This is true everywhere, but startups seem worse. That lottery ticket? Going to be worth millions for sure! Our competitors? They're idiots! Our employees? The best! - Terrible work life balance. Everything is on fire always, and you're running out of runway and "passion" is so important. - Fewer experts to learn from. Startups have fewer people, tending younger and greener. 30 years experience at OldMoneyCorp? That's an old stagnant legacy company, so that experience doesn't count. Oh, and they have kids so won't work here anyways. This means you'll do more things wrong and spend time learn things you didn't need to. Self guided learning is hard and has lots of backtracking.