Nobody has time for mentoring. Even larger companies don't have people sitting around helping the young buck become better programmers. What I would argue the

Nobody has time for mentoring. Even larger companies don't have people sitting around helping the young buck become better programmers. What I would argue the startup gives you though, is a chance to grow in an environment where someone will be there to bail you out in the worst of cases. At a startup, it's highly possible that you'll need to learn as you code, but you'll at least get a chance to work on something new. At a big shop, I can guarantee you'll be working on feature x forever because nobody will trust you to touch the other pars of the system, and BA's will tell you what new features are needed.