6 months at a MNC vs a Startup

I have worked with a big company and start up for short amount of time(1.5 years in MNC and 6 months in startup). The blog is solely based on my views and observations working in two different culture.

First day

@mnc on a fine sunny morning I was rushing at 9am for my first day at job dressed up in formals and matching shoes. I was carrying a bag which had all documents I had earned for the past 22 years for this day. It was like my whole effort put on entire life has landed me in this job. For this day I have been waiting form past 4 months after graduation to get the joining date. It ended with lots of agreement signing and few of which were crazy that i should a have single source of income and rest of the day was just with HR and their policies.

@mavenhive 6 months back on a rainy day was heading to my new job and I was wearing jeans and t-shrit, with the same college look without a bag full of marks card and certificates, reaching office at 12 on the first day of my office. Only Chetan was present in office to welcome me. A a mac book was given to me with access to the email, slack and harvest accounts required to start with work. Then met with few collegues who shared their views and guided me with setups. Later they shared few books and online tutorials. They all just made me feel like its just another day at work and i felt like i am already part of the company as i met people whom i will be working with.

Probation Period

@mnc we were scared of telling next three months of training, analysis and exams, which was must to clear else fire. There was a time-table given to use with two hefty books and a trainer. Every day 8 hour session in a corner of building. It is just again exposing only a small part and the big thing like what and who and how we are going to work was still hidden. We had no clue of managers and directors. The training ended with a series of tests and finally results which everyone had cleared, you know how everyone clears!

@mavenhive it started with me analysing what to do, doing practical stuffs with experts, pair programming with different teams and learn process. I knew most of the projects which we are working on and the technology which i need to work on. I was getting more and more confident as nothing was abstract and most of the things were clear. I was also advised to work of few internal projects and build working systems. So by the end of two months I had already learnt a lot more along with doing active development. The online courses which were signed up helped a lot. I was ready to work with various new skills like Agile, TDD, pair programming, open source. Which i had hardly heard at my previous employer. A detailed blog is here by mavenhive.

First Project

@mnc After training it was waiting period for the projects. Yes we were in bench. We saw at least 100 chilling with us in the canteen. The one who got projects were in some remote location. Few were forced to relocate or resign if they were uncomfortable moving to other locations. Most of us were into some internal projects or resigning. Our batch of 30 reduced to 15 in a year.

@mavenhive I was already into projects by 2 months and in 6 months I got the opportunity to already work on 3 projects. The work is fun and challenging. We work as small teams focused on delivery and customer satisfaction rather satisfying managers or TL. I do various other stuff like recruiting, marketing, etc. Have attended conferences met various people learning and gaining knowledge continuously. I have interacted with the customers and really know how the whole business works. I have become more productive with the kind of people around who constantly help and support me with their immense experience.

Conclusion

Now If someone asks where I work, they fail to recognise my company. And few will be like “Duh!, why don’t you try XX!”. But i have the satisfaction of my work and I am not working just to please my managers to process my VISA or give me a better hike the next year. I am not just wasting my time in bench waiting for hr call.
But rather now I am doing work I love the most and have better satisfaction. I focus on business and delivery. I use my time and energy on productivity and doing real work rather than office politics. I feel working in a start up is an investment into the future to get more skills to be an entrepreneur