... I have joined a Technology Startup, right after my college.
By startup I don't mean one of these mushroomy, money-minded Indian companies (working on social-networking), whose sole aim is to be eaten by a bigger crocodile. I mean a real technology startup focused on innovation and steered by experienced, energetic and technical people (like Ximian, Sonus, Qumranet etc.).
However, to join a company like Qumranet, I should've used my latenight hours in college, working on Linux Kernel, instead of Java web programming or pointless browsing. Anyways, I have no regrets about joining Novell. It is the most suitable company for me, in the list of all companies where my classmates joined. I just believe things would've been far more challenging, positive, energetic and with more learning opportunities to have worked in a startup.
15 comments:
Even, I do regret some times for not being in a startup. But, I am fine with any place as long as I get the chance to learn something new every day.
Btw, any plans of starting one? :-)
@Varun: Even I get learning opportunities. But in big companies, people with learning curiosity occur only in small patches. Also, learning stops at managerial level in most of the companies.
No plan about starting a company. My town&middle-class-grown, mind is trained to be a loyal employee for so many years that I may never be able to start a company. Let us see what surprises future has (may be after 10 years or so) :-) Do you plan to start any ?
+1 I too wish the same!
All companies/start-ups are money minded. It is just enough to say "...dont mean Indian, social-networking related ..."
It just looks like you hate working in web-technologies(or envy friends working on them ;-)) If the current job is not challenging enough(over-qualified?), it is never too late...
"Your wish" and "you dont regret joining Novell" doesn't go well together. I guess, what you want is work like in Novell, but fame like stars of those start-ups(there will be lot of unknown people working on those lucky start-ups as well)
+1 Sankar. Start one! :)
I feel joining a startup just after college is very risky. As a fresher you don't know much about the industry and it trends, you may land up in a sinking company which might screw your career and I believe getting a new safe job in such case is not going to be easy.
But startups are always good once you have a stable experienced profile built.
If you are starting one after 10 years do let me know about it.. :)
@Vijesh @Jony I am happy to see that I am not alone :-)
@Arun Yes. There is this inherent risk. also, most of the startups that I have seen have not impressed me.
@Nikanth Nope. You got me wrong. I don't mind being invisible but want to be in a place where there is more learning. Learning of type "Improve the world" not like Buffer-overflow, aspect-oriented-programming, etc. I liked web-technologies initially when I learnt them, but got bored of it soon. As it requires more of a beauty-sense than a programming-sense (the client side pages not the backend) . All companies are money-minded but if earning-money is your primary goal, you start losing people who are interested in you(r) company. I have seen this in so many startups. There are a few Indian startups which I like working on (infact Sonus is in India as well (tho' US based)). Watch the video series by my favorite speaker/VC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU6ssv9ST6E (especially 4:25 to 6:00) I have observed this same feeling that Guy conveys, when I read the books of Narayanamurthy, and observed Nat, Miguel, Bill gates, hungry-bangalore, indiamatrimony, etc. If you have never observed good/badly managed startup(s) in close quarters, you may not be able to appreciate what I tend to convey.
0. Regd invisible/fame. By fame I also meant money and what ever benefits/desires.
1. Care to provide examples for learning of type "improve the world"?
2. client-side pages and beauty sense - totally wrong. Examples please.. None of the cool/successful sites including social-networking ones are not successful, only because of their color scheme nor they work mostly on aesthetics.(Of course except apple computers, but they improve the world ;))
3. If earning money is not a company's primary goal, then it is an NPO.
Also IMHO by wanting to work for world-improving-projects without an idea on how to change the world is just like waiting for lottery. But I am sure, you know, how you want to change^Wimprove the world.
unrelated: Regarding billgates foundation, why the hell one wants to make more money than reqd and then give back a part to the poor. IMHO the initially charging more money does have an indirect negative impact in those poor people's life as well. And a negative impact in the past does more damage than an equal positive help later.
p.s: I am ill today. So my idiocy could be more than normal.
@Nikanth: You took "improve the world" at an audaciously extreme level like "Eradication of world poverty, famine, floods, etc." . "Make Meaning" as a primary goal instead of just "Make Money" is a simple concept. We will discuss more in person, instead of keeping my blog look like a war :-)
Hehe.. ok. I didn't take improve the world in any meaning. I just want(ed) examples, and explanation how Ximian, Sonus, and Qumranet make meaning. Anyway, in-person, tomorrow, health permitting.
@Arun Raghavendar - I concur with your point 100%. These days I do not recommend any fresher to join a start-up where they can be exploited.
Start-ups need leaders and not just followers and when we look on these lines... its always better to get a hang of things and join a start-up.
Learning stops after you clear your probation.
I: As usual, you are right on the point. Thanks.
hacking on kernel that's a pretty cool things.keep working dude~
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