I agree with the "start your own company" suggestion but strongly disagree with the "get in earlier" advice. Joining a company as one of the first employees me

I agree with the "start your own company" suggestion but strongly disagree with the "get in earlier" advice. Joining a company as one of the first employees means taking almost all the risk as the founders, but almost none of the benefits -- unless the company is bought or goes public. Another option to getting better benefits/higher salary (sometimes significantly higher) is climbing the corporate ladder. This means joining management, working with customers, etc. This usually entails minimum risk and much higher value. [It does not address the issue of burning out, though]