Jimbo

So I'm getting into the market for a job, starting after I graduate this spring. We just had two career fairs at my school, so I've just handed out my resume to a couple dozen companies and I'm starting to schedule interviews. But I thought I'd ask some of the people here if they have any advice regarding where to start a career. I'm just wondering what opinions you might have towards starting out at a start-up (there's a ton of 'em around here) vs. starting at an established company (e.g. Microsoft, Amazon, etc...).

As I see it the (dis)advantages of each are about as follows:

For start-ups:
+ work in a smaller environment, get to be in with the guts of a project where your contributions are very noticeable.
+ lots of encouragement for creative ideas
+ chances for job advancement are very good
- more pressure to perform, since the team depends on you more
- higher chance of company having financial/marketability issues

For established companies:
+ better mentorship/training programs in place
+ better benefits packages, possibly better pay
+ unlikely for the company to go under
- less opportunity for advancement
- contributions less noticeable ("Oh, I wrote the button in the save dialog...")

I'm thinking that it's better to start at an established company, and consider start-ups later on when I have more workplace experience (though I'll still be considering each offer I get). What do those of you who've been through this before think? Anything in particular to watch out for?

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