Re:How to Pick Your Next Gig: Evaluating Startups
by durgiston on Thursday August 17, 2017 @09:29AM
(#15036553)
How can you learn anything in a chaotic and disorganized environment? Either nobody has time to teach you anything, because everything is chaotic and disorganized and they need to fix it, or they are the reason everything is messed and you don't want to learn from that.
I feel that you would be much better off learning the right way to do things first, then going somewhere that is chaotic and seeing why best practices are in fact best. Much harder to unlearn the wrong way than just learn the right way in the first place if you ask me.
1: "will I get the chance to work on technology that I really want to work on?"
2: "will I get mentoring from great senior developers?"
I advise them to spend the first five years of their career honing their skills in the craft of software development, I advise them to pay no attention to money - I say "it will come later if you have become a great software engineer".
Interestingly, I feel alot more is to be learned from working at a disorganised and chaotic company, at least in the early stages of your career. When you later see things done right then you'll truly understand why things are done in the way they are, because you know how it can be done badly. Which is to say, it doesn't matter if the company you work at is well run or not.
It always makes me feel that a junior developer is off track if their primary selection criteria is anything but the opportunity to learn how to become a great developer.
I guess maybe its different in Silicon Valley.