I started out at a huge professional services firm. I only spent a year there, but I am really glad for that year. It was an introduction to the harsh realities

I started out at a huge professional services firm. I only spent a year there, but I am really glad for that year. It was an introduction to the harsh realities of the work world that most people deal with day to day. The startup that I went to work for afterwards was completely different in most ways. However, our clients were large enterprises like my former employer, and I was able to understand the pain many of our client contacts were going through while trying to do something that was obviously the right decision for the organization (buying our product) but dealing with red tape, politics, and morons in the approval process. Not to mention, if I'd started out in a startup without dealing with the idiocy and creative vacuum of a behemoth organization, I am sure I wouldn't have appreciated the opportunity of working in a small, intelligent meritocracy nearly as much.