Why every developer should work for a startup at least once in their lives

Shortly before I graduated from the University of Washington, I joined the startup company Twango as a software development intern. We were a web 2.0 company whose premise was to provide a centralized place on the web where users could upload, manage, and share all their digital media with friends. Our tagline was “Share your life”. Think of a more advanced version of flickr that catered toward power users and also had support for video, audio, and office documents. I was offered a full time job there after completing my degree in computer science, which I gladly accepted. Looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life.

I got to experience a truly hands on learning environment that was far more in depth and educational than any of the projects that I had worked on in school. This is not a knock on the University of Washington, as there is only so much you can do in a quarter system and when you are constrained by the course material itself. The professor is not going to deviate much from her carefully prepared course plan*. The “curriculum” at a startup is much more fluid and dynamic. Because the team itself is so small, everyone actively participates in every aspect of running the company, from development, testing, design, operations, customer support, and even marketing. I had to master many different technologies and learn on the fly. This helped foster a “can do” attitude that has served me well over the years. It didn’t matter what language, tool, framework, or API was needed. I was willing and able to learn whatever was necessary to get the job done.

This amazing learning experience is free from the constraints of bureaucratic processes and red tape found in larger corporations. I am not saying that processes and development methodologies are bad, only that corporations tend to adhere to these things religiously, rather than exercising flexibility and common sense. At a startup, you are given a lot more freedom in what features you work on and how you will design and build them. For instance, Twango was missing a private messaging feature, so I went ahead and built one. At a giant corporation, something so simple would have required multiple meetings, requirements gathering, functional specifications, and a whole lot of other hurdles. That’s even assuming the higher ups would even OK the feature in the first place. At a startup, you can pitch your idea directly to the founders. At a corporation, you as a developer are typically pigeon holed into a narrow role working on a small subset of the functionality. At a startup, you have the freedom and the responsibility over the entire code base. It sounds daunting, but it’s actually quite empowering.

Of course, the best part about working for a startup? It’s a lot of fun! Sadly, most people forget that work can and should be enjoyable. Older, grizzled veterans of the development industry tend to become cynical over the years, and view their jobs as a way to collect their monthly paycheck. They forget the passion and enthusiasm that got them excited about computers in the first place. I’m lucky that I got to experience the startup culture straight out of school Otherwise, I wouldn’t really know what I was missing out on. As a result, I can screen the companies that I interview for, and tailor my search toward the types of places that evoke the same happy feelings I had when I was at Twango.

This is why I’d recommend anyone who recently graduated from school to go find a startup to work for. The pay will not be as competitive. You might never IPO or get bought out. But it is better to take that kind of risk when you are young. There will be plenty of time later on down the line to find a high paying job. Trust me, the skills you acquire at a startup will allow you to easily find one later. Not to mention, there will be other perks. The Twango founders constantly took us out for lunch, movies, and even the occasional ski trip. These are the sort of warm fuzzy memories that are truly priceless.

*To be fair, many of the University of Washington capstone courses do a good job of giving the student more freedom over their own projects.