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Comment by aledalgrande | Hacker News Reader

Most big tech employees are not startup people. That's why they work at big tech.

You can't necessarily reach that conclusion.

Big tech employs more people than startups, which means it's more likely for someone to get a job at big tech than a startup. It's just a law of numbers and has nothing to do with whether they're suited for startup life or big tech life.

In addition, in the US, foreign students who just graduated are more likely to get a job at big tech than startup because more big tech sponsor H1B/Green card than startups. And the fear/circumstances around losing your immigration status means more of them might opt for big-tech than startup

Some of them are startup people, but the ones who have ground through a degree and leetcode before landing a job maintaining an esoteric part of Big G's internal systems assuredly aren't.

I’ve worked at “Big G” and a startup - big tech is a much more sane place to start a career than a startup. If you just graduated, it’s a good place to learn basic skills before considering a startup job.

Google for example is much more rigorous with code reviews and code quality. They maintain a high % test coverage, continuous integration and delivery… etc. startups can’t maintain those same standards and move quickly. learn the rules before you break them.

Losing a job, like any major life event, can cause a rethink on this sort of thing. The average age of a successful startup founder is 45 for a reason. Most of them spent some time employed in the industry of the startup. Before that, they probably bounce between a job and trying to make it on their own.

Our statements don't exclude each other.

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