Anxiety over startup vs. FAANGMULA - choices on comp, promotion, and risk

Question

I want to be able to work at FAANGMULA and am considered an industry leader publishing work in my domain, however I am told the culture of Apple, Meta, Google (all of whom which called to hire me) is not open to this (this is all lower level employees whereas most of my friends who are directors of engineering all say I can negotiate this for my next big work and that I can just disclose this an interview and should be fine). Full disclosure: I've never worked at a larger FAANGMULA company (have either founded startups and worked on small teams, consulting etc.).

I am wondering if it is better to place my autonomy over a bigger salary and stability at a larger tech company vs an earlier stage AI startup (maybe not all the perks in the world), but is friendlier to my contributions outside of work (it is directly related) where they don't care and probably encourage that I do publish. How should I think about this in terms of long-term career growth?

I think that there is a chance the startup fails to productionize faster than I would prefer (they're a market leader already at the very top of FAANGMULA developing new foundation models are some of the OG AI people best in class), I wonder if the path I take is better at a FAANGMULA company who can likely compensate for further graduate studies or cover other benefits/perks and higher salary than at the startup, however, it would mean giving up being able to publish and feeling a sense of autonomy.

Rahul Pandey · Accepted Answer

I would strongly urge you to do at least one "tour of duty" in FAANGMULA if you can. Our careers are long, so you should expect to have dozens of jobs across several decades. Given the breadth of what we can do, joining a brand name company for at least a little bit is a smart call.

Unless you tell me you have some compelling reason why the next year, in particular, is essential for your contributions outside of work, I'd just put side projects on pause temporarily.

There are so many benefits to Big Tech:

It will give you more credibility for anything else you do
It will expand your network of potential collaborators
It will make you a better engineer
You'll have a stable high compensation which will give you optionality later on

There's another element to this as well, which I'll try to approach delicately: you need to understand the spirit of the rules within Big Tech. You mentioned a concern that you won't be allowed to publish your work or engage with industry leaders in FAANGMULA -- I don't think this needs to be true.

Follow the "ask for forgiveness, not permission" strategy here. For the most part, these Big Tech cos don't want to sue you or restrict you. Just make sure you're getting good ratings and getting all your work done.
Keep a low profile and don't advertise your external engagements at work. Worst case, if someone mentions this, you can decide at that point if you want to quit your external work temporarily.

Related discussion: What legal documents do I need to provide before joining FAANGMULA on an existing side hustle?

Anxiety over startup vs. FAANGMULA - choices on comp, promotion, and risk

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